Frederick-Shenandoah County Virginia USGenWeb Archives History - Books .....Berkeley County History 1889
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Book Title: History Of West Virginia In Two Parts By Virgil A. Lewis

BERKELEY.

Berkeley, the central county of the Eastern Panhandle, has an area of 320 square
miles. It was created by an act of the House of Burgesses passed February,
1772—the twelfth year of the reign of George III. By it two new counties were
formed from Frederick, viz., Berkeley and Dunmore. By act of October, 1777, the
name of the latter was changed to Shenandoah. The act creating the counties
declared: " That from and after the said fifteenth day of May next, the
inhabitants of the said counties of Berkeley and Dunmore respectively, shall
discharge all fees due from them to the secretary, clerks and other officers in
said counties at the rate of eight shillings and four pence for every hundred
weight of tobacco."

Sir William Berkeley, from whom the county derived its name, was born near
London, England, about the year 1610. He graduated at Oxford in 1629, and
afterwards traveled extensively on the continent. He was appointed Governor of
Virginia, and arrived in the Colony in 1642. During the period of the
Commonwealth in England, he adhered to the Royal cause, and Virginia was the
last of the American colonies to acknowledge the authority of Cromwell. In 1652,
he was succeeded by Richard Bennet, but upon the restoration of the monarchy in
1660, Charles II. once more made Berkeley Governor of Virginia. Bacon's
Rebellion occurred during his second administration, and he rendered himself
unpopular because of his severity against the followers of that leader, twenty-
three of whom he caused to be executed. Charles II., when he heard of this,
exclaimed: " The old fool has taken more lives in that naked country than I have
for my father's murder." Berkeley, in describing Virginia in 1765, said : "Thank
God, there are no free schools or printing presses in this colony, and I hope
there will be none for a hundred years." He was called home and died at
Twickenham, England, July 9, 1677.

Martinsburg, the county seat, was made a town by legislative enactment in
October, 1778, on the lands of General Adam Steven with James McAllister,
Anthony Noble, Joseph Mitchell, James Strode, Robert Carter Willis, William
Patterson and Philip Pendleton, trustees. The titles to lots were vested in the
trustees, but notwithstanding, General Steven sold and made deeds to several
lots. A few years later these titles were disputed, and in May, 1784, the
Assembly passed an act making them as " valid and effective as if the conveyance
had been made by the trustees themselves." November 30, 1793, the Assembly
directed the trustees to establish a market house, and appointed a clerk for the
same. February 9, 1813, it was enacted that "all free, white, male persons,
being citizens of Virginia and freeholders of the said town," should meet at the
court house on the first Monday in April of that year and elect seven fit
persons to be trustees thereof. The Martinsburg Academy was established January
8, 1822, with David Hunter, Elisha Boyd, Philip C. Pendleton, John S. Harrison
and John R. Cook, trustees. March 6, 1856, the qualified voters of the town were
authorized by legislative enactment to elect a mayor and common council. The
town derived its name from Colonel T. B. Martin. The following in relation to
the county seat is subjoined from Kercheval:—

"Tradition relates that an animated contest took place between the late General
Adam Steven and Jacob Hite in relation to fixing the seat of justice for this
county; Hite contending for the location thereof on his own land, at what is now
called Leetown, in the county of Jefferson, Steven advocating Martinsburg.
Steven prevailed, and Hite became so disgusted and dissatisfied that he sold out
his fine estate, and removed to the frontier of South Carolina. Fatal remove. He
had not long been settled in the State before the Indians murdered him and
several of his family in the most shocking and barbarous manner."

/Darkesville/, which commemorates the name of the brave General Darke, was
established December 7, 1791, on lands of James Buckells, with Andrew Waggener,
James Strode, John Fryett, John Butler, John Chinowith and Edward Fryett,
trustees. December 31, 1810, the freeholders are directed to elect five fit and
able men, freeholders and inhabitants of the town, to be trustees thereof.

/Middletown/—now called Gerrardstown—was established by legislative enactment in
October, 1787. The town was laid off by Rev. David Gerrard, and contained one
hundred lots. William Henshaw, James Haw, John Gray, Gilbert McKewan and Robert
Allen were appointed trustees.

/Fort Frederick/, situated on the Maryland side of the Potomac, about twelve
miles from Martinsburg, was built in 1755 and 1756, under the superintendence of
Governor Sharpe, of Maryland. Its walls of solid masonry were four and a half
feet thick at the base and three feet thick at the top. It was erected at a cost
of sixty-five thousand pounds sterling. Braddock's defeat left the western
frontier more than ever exposed to the daring depredations of the savage foe,
who were now aided and abetted by the French. In the spring of 1756, a party of
about fifty Indians, commanded by a French captain, crossed the Alleghenies.
Captain Jeremiah Smith, at the head of twenty brave men, met and defeated them
near the source of Capon river, killing the captain and five Indians. Smith lost
two men. Among papers found on the body of the captain was one bearing
instructions to meet another party of Indians in the vicinity of Fort Frederick
and assist them in destroying the fort and magazine. This second body of Indians
was encountered and dispersed on the lower waters of the North branch of the
Capon by Captain Joshua Lewis at the head of eighteen men. The Indians
abandoning the meditated attack on Fort Frederick, separated into small parties
and carried their murderous work into the territory now embraced within the
counties of Shenandoah, Frederick and Berkeley. One party crossed the mountain
at Mill's Gap and within half a mile of the present site of Gerrardstown, killed
a man named Kelly and several of his family.

/Evans' Fort./—The same party then pressed on to the present site of
Martinsburg. Most of the people had fled for safety to John Evans' Fort, a
stockade within two miles of where the above-named town now stands. They
attacked the house of a Mr. Evans— brother to the owner of the fort. They were
driven off and the family immediately took shelter in the fort. The men had gone
in pursuit of the Indians when Mrs. Evans discovered them in the neighborhood.
She at once armed herself, the other women following her example, and directed a
little boy to beat to arms on a drum. This so alarmed the Indians that they set
fire to the house in which they were concealed and fled. They discovered the men
from the fort, but the latter finding the enemy too strong for them, made a
hasty retreat.

/Neallys Fort./—The Indians continued their raid to Opequon and attacked
Neally's Fort. Many of the inmates were massacred and a number taken prisoners,
among the latter, George Stockton and his sister Isabella. Of her it is related
that she was sold in Canada, where a young Frenchman, Plata, fascinated by her
beauty and manners, asked her hand in marriage. She consented, provided her
father's permission should first be obtained. Plata conducted her home, but met
with a peremptory refusal from the father, whereupon the young man persuaded her
to elope with him. Mounting two of her father's horses they began the journey to
Canada, but at Huntersville, Pennsylvania, they were overtaken by two of her
brothers, and Isabella and her devoted lover ruthlessly separated. The young
lady was carried back to the paternal home and the unfortunate Plata warned that
should he make any attempt to secure her, his life would pay for his audacity.

/Early Churches./—Within the limits of Berkeley county the first churches west
of the Blue Ridge were established. Presbyterian congregations came with the
early Scotch-Irish settlers. Semple's "History of the Virginia Baptists" states
that a number of that denomination removed from New England in 1754. "They
halted first at Opequon, in Berkeley county, Virginia, where they formed a
Baptist Church under the care of the Rev. John Gerard."

Andrew Waggener. Among the many German emigrants .who came to America in the
early years of the eighteenth century, were Andrew Waggener and his five
brothers. Andrew with one brother, Edward, settled in what is now Culpeper
county, Virginia, about the year 1750. They were among the volunteers who joined
Colonel Washington in his expedition against Fort Du Quesne in 1754. The
following spring they marched with their regiment — the 1st Virginia — to the
fatal scene of Braddock's defeat. Among the seven hundred English who lay dead
upon the field was Edward Waggener. After this disaster the Virginians hastened
to the defence of the frontier, now more than ever exposed to the storm of
savage warfare. Andrew Waggener was commissioned Captain and placed in command
of the garrison at Fort Pleasant. (See "Hardy county".) When the Indians ceased
to visit the Valley about the year 1765, Captain Waggener purchased land and
settled at Bunker's Hill, then in Frederick county, Virginia, now in Berkeley
county, West Virginia. Here he resided until the beginning of the Revolution,
when he once more entered the army and served with Washington throughout the
war. He bore a Major's commission and was at Valley Forge, Princeton, and
Trenton, and saw the British army become prisoners of war at Yorktown. Major
Waggener was one of the patentees for whom Washington surveyed land on the Ohio
in 1770. His lands were located on what has ever since been known as Waggener's
Bottom, on the Ohio river, within the present limits of Mason county. He never
settled on these lands, but after the Revolution continued to reside on his
homestead at Bunker's Hill. He was a personal friend of
Washington and a frequent guest of the first President.

Colonel William Crawford. Among the natives of Berkeley county whose names are
preserved in history, no other, perhaps, has excited so much attention and
sympathy as that of Colonel William Crawford. He was born in this county in
1734. In 1754, at the head of a company he marched with Washington against Fort
Du Quesne. His behavior on this occasion won for him the esteem of his
commander, which in after years ripened into a warm friendship. In 1765 he made
his first visit to the West, and two years later removed his family and settled
on the Youghiogheny river, within the present limits of Fayette county,
Pennsylvania. He was among the first settlers in the Valley, and his reputation
for generosity and hospitality lived long after his cabin home was in ruins. In
Washington's journal of his tour to the West in 1770, he frequently refers to
Colonel Crawford, with whom he spent several days, it seems, most pleasantly.
Crawford accompanied him to Fort Pitt, and thence to the great Kanawha, and
located most of his lands on the Ohio. When the Revolution began, Crawford, by
his own personal efforts, enrolled a regiment, in compensation for which he
received a Colonel's commission in the Continental army. This commission he held
when he unwillingly became the leader of an expedition against the Wyandots,
which terminated so fatally for him. His papers and records have all been lost
and his family scattered, so that very little is known of his personal character
save what has been preserved in the traditions of the pioneers whom he so
gallantly defended.

Charles James Faulkner, Sr., who at the age of eight years was left an orphan
without a relative in America, was born in Martinsburg, July 2, 1806. He was the
son of Major James Faulkner, a distinguished officer in the war of 1812, and
Sarah Mackay, whose father, William Mackay, was an officer in the Revolutionary
War. He entered Georgetown College in 1816, and graduating therefrom in 1822, he
attended the law school of Chancellor Tucker at Winchester, and in 1829 was
admitted to the bar. In 1832, he represented Berkeley county in the General
Assembly, where his argument favoring the gradual emancipation of slaves in
Virginia at once rendered him a prominent figure in State politics. At this time
Maryland instituted a suit against Virginia, the object being to establish the
claim of the former to a large tract of territory on the northern boundary of
the latter. Mr. Faulkner was appointed by Virginia to prepare a report on the
boundary between the two States. This he did, and so elaborate, and such a lucid
exposition of the points involved was it, that it at on«e settled the
controversy. The legal proceedings were dismissed, nor has the claim of Maryland
to the disputed territory ever been revived. His report is found in full in Part
First of this work. In 1833, he again represented Berkeley county in the
Assembly, after which, having wedded the daughter of General Elisha Boyd, he
retired from public life, and for eight years devoted his energies to the
practice of his profession, and the material development of his native county.
In 1841, he was elected a member of the United States Senate, but resigned his
seat before the expiration of his term. He was an earnest advocate of the
annexation of Texas, and in 1846, actively supported the government in its
declaration of war against Mexico. In 1848, he was again a member of the
Assembly, in which body he submitted a report, most of the provisions of which
Congress the next year embodied in the Fugitive Slave Law. In 1850, he was one
of the representatives from Berkeley and Jefferson counties in the State
Constitutional Convention, in which he championed the views of the people of the
western part of the State. He was elected to Congress in 1851, and by
consecutive reflections served four terms. Upon the election of Buchanan to the
Presidency, Mr. Faulkner was given the mission to France, and being promptly
confirmed by the Senate, arrived in Paris, February 18, 1857, and was officially
presented to the Emperor on the 4th of March. Upon the election of Mr. Lincoln,
he resigned his mission, and returning to Washington, was arrested and held as a
hostage for Henry S. Magraw, State Treasurer of Pennsylvania, and confined in
the city jail. Subsequently he was removed to Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor,
and later to Fort Warren, near Boston, where, December 9, 1881, he was released
by exchange, and returned to Virginia. He served as Adjutant-General on the
staff of Stonewall Jackson, and after the war, as soon as permitted by the laws
of West Virginia, resumed the practice of his profession at Martinsburg. He was
one of the counsel on behalf of West Virginia in the suit brought by Virginia to
determine which should exercise jurisdiction in the counties of Berkeley and
Jefferson. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention which framed the
present State Constitution, and in 1872 he was again elected to Congress, but
declined reelection. He died November 1, 1884, and was laid to rest in the
family burying ground at Martinsburg.

General David H. Strother was born at Martinsburg, Virginia, in 1816, and there
he spent his boyhood. He was graduated from Washington College, Pennsylvania,
and soon after went to Europe, spending two years as a student of art in Rome.
Returning to America, he immediately began his literary work. He continued to
contribute to Harper's Magazine, under the nom de plume of "Porte Crayon." A
series of articles published in this periodical, entitled " Virginia
Illustrated," attracted much attention. During the War of Secession he served on
the staff of General Banks. When the war ended, the United States bestowed upon
him the title of General, in gratitude for his services. During the
administration of President Hayes he was Consul General to Mexico. While in that
country he collected material for a work on the life and character of the
Mexicans, and was engaged in compiling it at the time of his death. General
Strother was twice married, his first wife being Miss Wolf, of Martinsburg, and
the second Miss Mary E. Hunter, of Charlestown. He died at Charlestown, West
Virginia, March 8, 1888.

Raleigh T. Colston, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2d Virginia Infantry, Confederate
Army, resided at Honeywood, in this county. He was born in Richmond, Virginia,
February 18, 1834. His mother, S. Jane, was the daughter of Judge William
Brockenbrough, of the Virginia Court of Appeals. His father, Colonel Edward
Colston, was the son of Raleigh Colston and Elizabeth Marshall Colston, the
sister of Chief Justice Marshall. The subject of this sketch entered the
Virginia Military Institute in the summer of 1850, but in the following year was
called home by the death of his father, and then remained engaged in the
management of the family estate. Soon after Brown's attempted insurrection at
Harper's Ferry a military company was organized in this county, of which young
Colston became captain ; and when it became apparent that civil war was
inevitable, the company rendezvoused at Hedgesville, and thence marched to
Harper's Ferry, where it was enrolled as Company "E," zd Virginia Infantry, then
commanded by Colonel Thomas J. Jackson. From that time until his death his
fortune was that of the famous " Stonewall Brigade." On the morning of November
27, 1863, while leading his regiment -— of which he was Lieutenant-Colonel —-
into action, his leg was shattered by a ball and he was taken to the rear, where
the wounded limb was amputated. He was then taken to Gordonsville, where, at the
home of a relative, John B. Minor, he soon died from the effects of an attack of
pneumonia, brought on by exposure to cold and rain after he received his wound.

George N. Hammond, captain of Company "B," 1st Virginia Confederate Cavalry, and
a son of Dr. Allen C. Hammond, was a native of this county, having been born at
the village of Georgetown, June 8, 1833. He entered the Virginia Military
Institute, where he became a favorite pupil of Stonewall Jackson, and was
graduated therefrom with high honors. On the morning of October 17, 1859, the
intelligence of the occupation of Harper's Ferry by a band of insurgents reached
Martinsburg. Alarm bells were rung, and soon a body of hastily-collected men
were on the march to the point of danger. One of them was George N. Hammond, who
was stricken down, severely wounded, by a rifle-ball discharged from the engine
house, the last retreat of the invaders. Recovering, he entered the company of
Captain Hoge, which was, with the regiment of which it was a part, attached to
the command of General J. E. B. Stewart, and with it served until he fell
mortally wounded on the field at Yellow Tavern. From here he was conveyed to
Richmond, where he died May 16, 1864. His remains are entombed beneath the
shades of Hollywood Cemetery.

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