Gloucester County, VA - Some History Notes from William and Mary College Quarterly "A Few Things about Our County" William B. Taliaferro William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 1. (Jul., 1894), pp. 19-27. Page 19 "A Few Things about Our County." (1) _________ BY GENERAL WILLIAM B. TALIAFERRO. _______________ The county of Gloucester in which we live, is (for Ameri- cans) classic ground; rendered so by events which have trans- pired within its borders, the narrative and "true relation" of which, would furnish a volume full of interest to our own people and to every student of Virginia history. More than one writer of romance in books that have fully vindicated the capacity and genius of Virginians for the production of books of fiction have sought our county for the theatry and field, upon which to move their characters in their portrayal of the historical or legendary incidents they have commemorated; but Tucker and Dabney and John Esten Cooke have still left unutilized a rich store for future aspirants to literary fame. Gloucester is one of the oldest of our counties; estab- lished on the authority of Beverley in 1642. WEROWOCOMICO. At first the settlement of the Colony on the banks of the magnificent Pawmunkey, now converted into the English York, resided the great werowance Powhatan, chief of many tributary tribes. With many seats scattered from the head tidal waters of the Powhatan, the Pawmunkey and the Rappahannock to the shores of our inland sea of Chesapeake, __________ (1) A paper read by Gen. Taliaferro before a Literary Society in Gloucester, several years ago. Page 20 20 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY. his principal and favourite abode was Werowocomico; a vil- lage or town, stretching for some distance along the margin of the river. There is was that the Dutchmen sent for that purpose by Capt. John Smith constructed for him the huge stone chimney yet to be seen, the first structure of the kind ever erected in America;and it was there that was enacted the memorable and dramatic scene of Smith's rescue by the loving Pocahontas, a love, alas, which, if we credit the histori- an Anas Todkill, was never reciprocated. BACON'S REBELLION. The history of Bacon's rebellion in 1676 is intimately connected with that of this county. It was here he held his convention, here resided the Speaker of the House of Bur- gesses, Augustine Warner of Warner Hall; it was to Gloucester that the Governor, Sir William Berkly fled; it was here that Bacon, at the house of his friend Mr. Pate, died, and it was here, where none know now, few ever knew, that he was buried. THE LINNAEUS OF AMERICA. The office of County Clerk or Clerk of the Court, in the early period of the country was one of the most important and responsible in the Colony-- for there were no public Clerk's offices, the records being kept at the private residence of the officers. The Clerk of Gloucester County of that time, by his cosmopolitan reputation, reflected much lustre upon our County. This gentleman whose official autograph I have, affixed to the deed for part of "Dunham Massie," was induced by his inclinations to devote much time to natural science; and attracted by the variety and wonderful beauty of the flora of our country bestowed most of his spare time upon the study of botany. The result was a volume which extended his fame not only through the Colonies, but through- out Europe and achieved for him the proud distinction of being called the "Linnaeus of America." He was John Page 21 A FEW THINGS ABOUT OUR COUNTY. 21 Clayton,(1) and his beautiful home was between the North and the Piankatank rivers. CHARLES 1'S CORONATION ROBE. The mulberry trees we sometimes see scattered here and there could tell and interesting story of a remarkable early achievement of our people. When these trees were first trans- planted from their native Italy, this was the principal field for the production of silk in the Colonies and was then a thriv- ing inductry in Gloucester, for which handsome bounties were established and paid. It is said, and we need not ques- tion its truth, the silken robe of royal purple worn by Charles the first at his coronation was the production of his loyal county of Gloucester in his loyal Colony of Virginia. THE BISHOP OF LONDON. "Concord," on the York river is distinguished as the birth- place of another son of Gloucester, whose fame has reflected honour upon his native county--a reputation like that of Clayton not confined to America. He was the celebrated Dr. Porteus,(2) Bishop of London. _________ (1) John Clayton, son of John Clayton, Attorney General of Vir- ginia, was born at Fulham England in 1685, and died in Gloucester Co., Dec. 15, 1773. He came to Virginia in 1705, was an eminent botanist member of some of the most learned societies of Europe, President of the Virginia Society, for promoting usefull knowledge 1773, and author of "Flora Virginia." He was for fifty years clerk of Gloucester, and at one time had a botanical garden at his estate "Windsor" in that county. A letter book is preserved by one of his descendants filled with the letters of himself and father which give many particulars of their lives, and contain orders for instruments and books in various languages. A letter now in the Virginia State Library describes a visit to "Windsor," and a number of portraits by Kneller and others. He was brother of Dr Thomas Clayton, whose inscription was printed in the last number. See for "Clayton Family" Wallace's Historical Magazine, October, 1891--article by W. G. Stan- ard, who freely used the letter book. (2) As seen from a more extended note in this number, Bishop Porteus was born not in Gloucester but in York, England, in 1731 His father, Robert Porteus, was born in Gloucester Co., Va. Page 22 22 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY. LORD DUNMORE. In the beginning of the Revolutionary war, when the Governor, Lord Dunmore, fled before the patriotic outburst of Burgesses and people, following the example of his Vice- roy predecessor of a century before, he sought our borders; not because of the disloyalty of our people to the cause of the Colonies, for none were more loyal, but because of his discomfiture near Norfolk. He required the protection of the insular position of Gwynn's Island, then part of Gloucester, where he entrenched and remained until dislodged by Gen- eral Andrew Lewis. LINEAGE OF GENL. WASHINGTON. In connection witht his the beginning of that war, may we not call to mind and proudly boast that the blood of a Gloucester woman, Mildred Warner,(1) courses through the veins of a grandchild, who was called to the command of the Continental armies, guided the destinies of that great strug- gle, secured the independence of the Colonies and gained for himself the imperishable title of "Father of his Country"? THE DUKE OF LAUZUN In one of the remarkable letters of Madam S avigne written about the middle of the 17th century, occurs a sen- tence which for volubility and adjective redundancy stands, I think, unparalleled in any language. "I will tell you," she writes, "of a thing the most astonish- ing, of a thing the most surprising, the most wonderful, the ___________ (1) Lawrence, eldest son of Col. John Washington the immi- grat, married Mildred, daughter of Col Augustine Warner and Mildred Reade his wife (daughter of Col. George Reade, of the Virginia Coun- cil.) They had John, Augustine and Mildred. The inscription on John's tomb was given in the last number. Augustine married JaneButler, the daughter of Caleb Butler of Westmoreland and had Butler, Law- rence, Augustine and Jane. Augustine married 2dly Mary Ball March 6, 1730 and had issue President George, Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and Mildred. See Spark's Washington, vol. 1,p. 548. Page 23 A FEW THINGS ABOUT OUR COUNTY. 23 most miraculous, the most triumphant, the most unheard of, the most singular, the most extraordinary, the most incredi- ble, the most unexpected, the greatest, the smallest, the most striking, until to-day the most secret, the most brilliant, the most to be envied, a thing of which one finds only an exam- ple in past centuries, a thing hardly to be believed in Paris, a thing which makes the whole world astonished:" she wrote of the marriage of the Grand Mademoiselle, the granddaugh- ter of Henry the 4th, the cousin of Louis the Fourteenth, to a man whose history exceeded the vision of romance; the Count de Lauzun. You will wonder what connection this can have with the county of Gloucester. The name of Lau- zun connected with the person of the successor of the hus- band of the Princess of France is intimately associated with perhaps the most brilliant episode in the history of our County. In 1781, Col. Dundas, and Col. Tarleton, the renowned Cavalry leader, a bold, adventurous and skillful soldier, whose memoirs are most interesting contributions to the litera- ture of war--with their British troops occupied the lines of Gloucester Point. Above them, a point now called "The Hook," a name not suggestive of its historic associations, was the scene of a memorable engagement that called fourth the admiration of Washington expressed in general orders to his army on the 3d of October, 1781, from the historic place, now known as Robin Mill, then the Head Quarters of an allied army number- ing over three thousand five hundred men, a large force for that war--on whose commingled banners shone the new born stars of America and the undying belt of stripes. Genl. Choise, the Lieutenant of the Count de Rochambeau, moved his forces to Gloucester Point, not to attack the entrench- ments of the enemy, but to check and punish the presumption of Tarleton, who with a considerable force was levying contri- butions upon the adjoining country. Movingin two divisions, one took the Saddler's Neck and the other the Piney Swamp Page 24 24 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY. road. The van, however, so far outstipped the main body that the enemy was encountered and discomfited before the latter reached the field. The leader of the troops engaged and the hero of the brilliant affair at the intersection of the "York and seven Roads" was the Duke de Lauzun. Our Court House is also entitled to recognition as a his- toric point. During the summer and early autumn of 1781, it was the Head Quarters of the allied forces on this side the York. The State Militia under Genl. Weedon, a capital body of men officered by old veterans of the Continental line, with Mercer, a distinguished officer in command of the Horse were encamped there, and these troops were reinforced by the flower of the French army, the Legion of Lauzun, the whole commanded by General Choise--charged with the re- sponsible duty of checking, if not preventing, the northward march of the British army. COLONIAL RESIDENCES The old residences of Gloucester, ante-revolutionary and colonial, afford an interesting theme for descriptive history or romantic story. Warner Hall, perhaps the oldest, Churchill, Carter's Creek, Sarah's Creek, named for the famous Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, Timber Neck, Elminton, Belle- ville, Newington, Poropotank--now Violet Bank, Rosewell, Hesse, North End, White March, White Hall, Toddsbury, Airville, Mount Pleasant, Goshen, Eagle Point once Vue de l'Eau--Seaford, Wareham, Isleham, Gloucester Place, Belle Farm, Wilson's Creek, Hail Western and many others, the names of whose refined and opulent propietors of one or two centuries ago I would mention if time permitted. These old seats have all of them their histories and tradi- tions full of suggestions to romantic or imaginative minds. Church Hill has a tradition--of a ghost--the disembod- ied spirit of a love-born maiden--the unhappy victim of un- requited passion, who wanders at night through its rooms, Page 25 A FEW THINGS ABOUT OUR COUNTY. 25 an evil genius to the bliss of married life, tapping with her ghostly fan the doors of chambers and voicely invoking the curse of unhappiness upon the sleeping inmates who dare so much as to even dream of love. The spell she has laid upon the place is unhappily illustrated by the fact that in eight long decades of the present century Church Hill has known no mistress. It is to be hoped, however, the power of Love "qui vincit omnia," which conquers all things animate and inanimate, may come to the rescue of the present propietor and enable him to exorcise and lay the ghost. WAR OF 1812. The war of 1812 subjected our county again to the incur- sions of a hostile force. Our scaboard situation rendered us liable to maritime incursion, and my father has often told how as a boy he watched from the portico at Airville the manoeuvres of the British fleet. Our militia was under arms, and Col. William Jones of "Concord," and Capt. Catesby Jones and Capt. Baytop and Capt. Richard Jones of "Lowland Cot- tage," and others commanded the troops defending our shores. The Gloucester Horse, a splendid company of Cavalry, at least so I believed from the glowing description of its gor- geous uniforms and glittering equipments which was poured into my infant ears, long after, by one of its veterans! under the command of Col. Skaife Whiting was ordered to Hampton, when the enemy landed there, and achieved the glory of capturing at least one red coat, whose exhibition at Head- quarters marked a day of triumph to the company, the re- curring anniversary of which was celebrated by the survivors for many years after at Capt. Rogers' new tavern at Glouces- ter Court House, in copious libation. ANECDOTE OF GENL. WINFIELD SCOTT. Apropos of the occupation of the Chesapeake by the English Squadron, Gen. Winfield Scott related to me a rem- iniscence of is life which is interesting and instructive. In Page 26 26 WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY. 1812 he was a Corporal in the Dinwiddie troop of cavalry-- and in a skirmish with a barge crew of the enemy on the shore of Lynhaven bay, succeeded with his little party in captur- ing a midshipman of the British fleet. This young gentlyman was handsomely treated by his captors, and then sent to the head-quarters at Norfolk. Some years after the war Genl. Scott was in London and was invited to dine with a nobleman of high rank. At the dinner he was presented to a captain in the British Navy. This officer mentioned the circumstance of his being cap- tured when a midshipman by a corporal and party in the Virginia waters and remarked upon the astonishing resem- blance which Genl. Scott bore to his humble captor, but at the same time begged pardon for alluding to it, remarking that whilst it was impossible in the nature of things that they could be the same persons yet the resemblance was striking and what was almost as remarkable they bore the same name. He begged the General on his return to America to ascertain the whereabouts of the soldier and convey to him his thanks for the generous treatment he had received when a prisoner. The General, then swelling (as he told me) with patriotic emotion, replied. "I am the same man. The Major General of the United States Army now before you was the lance cor- poral of the Dinwiddie troop. Such promotion may be im- possible here, but in my own free country of equality noth- ing is impossible; the highest stations are in the grasp of any who have the boldness and the merit to achieve them, and I in three years rose from lance corporal to Major General." THE FIRST HOSTILE SHOT IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. In the war which was fought in our time between the sections, for the preservation of the rights of the States on the one side, and for the unification of the country on the other, the first hostile shot that was fired in Viriginia fell upon the soil of Gloucester--at the historic Gloucester Point. It was the brief engagement between the United States gun- Page 27 A FEW THINGS ABOUT OUR COUNTY. 27 boat "True blooded Yankee" and a section of the Richmond Howitzers--and was the prelude to the terrible drama of which our beloved Commonwealth became the principal theatre. Of the devotion of our Gloucester women, their patient en- durance of the sufferings and horrors of war, their active self sacrificing co-operation in patriotic "aid of the rebellion," enough can never be written, and the tythe can never be told. The loyalty to their State, and the sacrifices and the superb heroism of the fathers, husbands, sons and brothers of those women will be feebly commemorated in a few days by a mon- ument on whose faces of enduring granite will be inscribed the names of more than six score who offered their lives upon the altars of their country.(1) I have written this much, this meagre outline of some events, merely to suggest topics or subjects for papers to be writeen. I had intended to select one of them, "Bacon's Rebellion," as the subject of the essay I was appointed to prepare--but my pens has run away with me, and sincerely begging pardon for the abuse of your patience, I will reserve the subject I have selected until my turn shall come again. _____________ (1) The monument, a handsome granite shaft, stands at Glouces- ter C.H. Gen. T.L. Rosser delivered the address at the unveiling.