THE SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA
...continued

BY HON. JOSEPH ADDISON WADDELL, STAUNTON, VA.

« previous page | Virginia Scotch-Irish homepage | start of this article | next page »

The French and Indian war arose in 1754, by which time the population of the Valley had largely increased by births and the influx of people of the same race as the original settlers, with scarcely any admixture of others. It is not for me to relate here the horrors of the period while the war lasted: the assaults by savages on the isolated cabins of the white people, the slaughter of many women and children, and the captivity and sufferings of many more. Nor can I tell of the pursuit of the retiring enemy by husbands, brothers, and sons; of the conflicts on the mountains and in the valleys; nor of the frequent expeditions into the Indian country to intimidate, or even exterminate, the savages. After the fall of Canada there was an uncertain breathing spell--the Indians for a time ceased to invade the settlements. But early in 1763, at the instigation of the celebrated chief Pontiac, the war was renewed with more vindictive fury, if possible, than before. Within a few miles of this town a peaceful settlement was assailed by a band of savages in the summer of 1763, and many people were slain, but none were carried into captivity. In the autumn of the next year the same community was visited again by a murderous band. The number of white people killed in the two invasions was from sixty to eighty, and in the second twenty-five to thirty women and children were carried off, some of whom never returned. When the Indians had recrossed the Ohio and felt safe from pursuit, they stopped to rest and celebrate their achievements. They demanded that the captives should sing for their entertainment, and a Mrs. Gilmore struck up in plaintive tone Rouse's version of the one hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm:

On Babel's stream we sat and wept,
When Zion we thought on,
In midst thereof we hanged our harps
The willow tree thereon.

For there a song requested they,
Who did us captive take;
Our spoilers called for mirth, and said:
"A song of Zion sing."

Late in the year 1764 Col. Bouquet advanced with a large force into the country west of the Ohio, and compelled the Indians to desist from war and deliver up their captives. Two companies of Bouquet's army were from the Central Valley, one commanded by Charles Lewis and the other by Alexander McClanahan. To these were assigned the posts of honor on the march, one going in advance and the other bringing up the rear.

Then followed ten years of peace, and this brings us to the battle of Point Pleasant, on October 10, 1774. This decisive battle, which stemmed the tide of Indian warfare for two years, was fought almost exclusively by Valley men; but we cannot speak of it further.

In the meanwhile, as early as 1749, sixteen years after the first settlement, a classical school had been opened by Robert Alexander, a native of Ulster, educated in Edinburg, some twelve miles from Augusta C. H. This school was subsequently removed, under different teachers, from place to place, and finally located in the vicinity of Lexington. Here it assumed the name of Liberty Hall Academy, and, presided over by the Rev. William Graham, a man of talent and learning, furnished education to many youths who became distinguished in Church and State. Next it was chartered as Washington College, and now it appears as Washington and Lee University, under whose auspices we have assembled. Long may it continue to diffuse its blessings through the country and the world, a monument to the early settlers of the Valley.

« previous page | Virginia Scotch-Irish homepage | start of this article | next page »