CHAPTER 39
The Tracy Family History
The French and Indian War
Back to the Donegal Presbytery in
Pennsylvania: It was this presbytery that first approached the Virginia Colonial
governor with this deal: Let us Scots go to the frontier of your colony and save
your English scalps from the Indians. (While doing so, paying quit rents to the
king.) In return, leave us alone. Let us have our own churches, our own militia,
our own everything else. Let us do what we want, and look the other way. Within
reason, considering he was dealing with England’s enemy people and enemy church,
the Virginia governor did just that.
Benjamin Borden Jr., imported many of his settlers from the
Donegal Presbytery. Now many were dead, and would continue to bleed and die.
Hundreds would be massacred, tortured and scalped, and kidnapped in the Valley
of Virginia. Hundreds of families, entire communities, entire congregations
would flee. This was the French and Indian War.
The French Catholics never trusted the Presbyterian Irish,
and vice-versa. (You will notice that I have used a different term for the
Scotch-Irish that I have not mentioned before. The term Scotch-Irish has been in
common use for generations. However, at the time, the term Presbyterian Irish,
or Irish Presbyterian, was just as commonly used, or even more simply, the
Irish.)
Woods Fort
Photo by Sherry Williams
This photo and information was provided by the Giles County Historical Society, Pearisburg, Virginia.
"This small fort located along route 219 near Fountain Springs golf course is a reminder from the past. The small fort and fountain once was well-kept is now over grow with brush and debris. The sign located at the other side of the highway reads that Wood’s fort was a defense erected in 1773 by Captain Michael Woods and was of importance during Lord Dunmore’s War. Troops from here were engaged in the Battle of Point Pleasant the next year and later were with George Roger Clark."
This is in reference to other battles and
other wars that if I were to go into my family history would never be finished.
For those of you who wish to know more, there are many books that go into these
other episodes of history, which were also our families' histories.
In the same year of the death of Benjamin Borden, Jr., and
their daughter in 1754, the French and Indian War would begin. (One historian
gives Benjamin Borden, Jr’s. death in April of 1753.) The French and English had
been fighting one another for centuries in Europe. This was just an extension of
their bickering, except that it now spilled over into the American colonies.
This was the fourth war between the British and French in the
American colonies. These wars were not just between the traditional British and
French soldiers but also included the colonial militias and their Indian allies.
The colonists had no choice but to fight for the British as
they were under British domain. Also, it was their land and lives at stake. The
Indians had a choice and would choose the side they thought would give them the
best deal when the war was over.
In reality, the Indians had always been more comfortable with
the French than the British and their colonial subjects. The French were not
interested in the Indian land. They took just a little plot to build a cabin and
raise enough food to eat. The French main concern was mutually beneficial trade.
Once the Indians came into contact with the white man they could not exist
without their trade. The whites provided the manufactured goods, now so
essential to improve the Indian way of life. Example: The white man would
provide the Indians with rifles, shot, and gunpowder. The rifles had to be
repaired. Whoever heard of an Indian gunsmith? It was a good deal for both.
The settlers, under the British flag, took all the land they
could get and subdivided in ad infinitum, a la the Borden Grant.
It was actually three wars in one: In the colonies, it was
called the French and Indian War; In Europe, it was the Seven Years' War; In
Asia, it was the Third Carnatic War. In Virginia, it was called Braddock’s War.
In the Americas, it was a contest for Empire. Both countries
wanted our land and fur. The English gave large land grants farther and farther
westward. This encroached on the territories claimed by France. The French
retaliated by building a string of frontier forts. As they both encroached on
one another's land, the war commenced. The French had one big disadvantage.
English settlers vastly outnumbered the French, at one time 20 to1.
Both sides made Indian allies and unleashed them against the
enemies’ white settlers. Fighting the Indians was bad enough before the war, but
made worse by the fact that the Indians were now supplied, and sometimes led, by
one of Europe's most powerful nations. The war would last for nine years.
It was not just a colonist's war against the Indians. Both
the British and French sent regular army units to the Americas.
General Braddock was sent to America with two regiments of
British regulars. He gathered an army of Colonials (provincials) and joined them
with his regulars. Braddock gave all of the Colonial officers equal British
rank.
A year into the war, he marches off to take the French fort
at Duquesne (Pittsburgh). George Washington and the other colonials try to
explain to Braddock that you did not fight the French and Indians as you did in
Europe. Braddock, an experienced and capable commander in European method of
warfare, dismisses their pleas. He gives the Indians no thought and believes the
French will fight like "gentlemen.”
It is 110 miles to the French fort. To the military staff in
England, the maps make the march look easy. In truth, it is 110 miles of
wilderness, steep rocky terrain, mountains, and creeks. It is a morass.
Braddock begins hacking a road to haul his ponderous army
train of supply wagons and huge siege cannons. He stops constantly, leveling
every undulation of the land, and at every trickle of water he would build a
bridge. (This part of the world had no roads or bridges before Braddock.)
Amazingly, Braddock makes it to within a few miles of the
fort. As the Colonials expected, the Indians laid a trap. The British regulars
were out of their element; they were never trained for this type of warfare. The
soldiers and officers dropped like flies. Braddock would have four horses shot
from under him. While mounting the fifth, he was fatally wounded. The battle
would last for several hours.
Finally, due to attrition, George Washington takes command.
One Indian chief fires at Washington repeatedly, and misses repeatedly. The
chief orders his braves to fire at Washington, and they miss. Washington has two
horses shot from under him. Four bullets would pass through his coat and miss.
The Indians believe Washington to be protected by the "Great Spirit" and change
targets.
It is a stunning defeat. The British retreat. Four days later
General Braddock dies and is buried in the middle of his mighty road.
There are 300 Virginia militia soldiers who take part in the
battle. 90% are killed. Few would return home. These are our people. The
Virginia settlements are now open to Indian attacks, which strike sheer terror
into the hearts of our people.
A traveling missionary, Hugh McAden, tells us of the fear
that our people faced in their daily lives after the disastrous defeat:
Terror.. “struck every heart. A cold shudder possessed every
breast, and a paleness covered almost every face,” there was “universal
confusion.” “Scarcely a man durst sleep in his own house–but all met in
companies with the wives and children, and set about building little
fortifications to defend themselves from barbarians and inhumane enemies, who
they concluded would be let loose upon them at pleasure...”
It has gone down in history as the ”time of outrages.” Every man fortified his
dwelling as best he could, the little shacks to the more solid cabins. Now you
see why the churches, as soon as possible, were upgraded to solid stone or brick
buildings with thick walls and rifle slits for windows. In church, every man
carried a bible in one hand and a rifle in the other.
Now you see why the land sold at a “ridiculously cheap price.”
“...we know that the Woodses, Wallaces, McDowells....were there with their
wives, their helpless little children and all there worldly possessions, and
were in sore peril an distress, such as but few of their descendants have ever
known.”
–Neander Woods
Clover Fields
(Cismont Neighborhood)
Home of Mrs. Frank M. Randolph
We now go back to Albemarle Co., in Virginia, where our
people first settled. Here is the mansion of the Meriwether family. This drawing
is of the house built in 1846. There was a previous dwelling, the home of
Colonel Nicholas Meriwether. He was one of the four soldiers belonging to the
Virginia Regiment who bore the wounded Gen. Braddock from the field of battle.
These were our people in this famous battle.
The Meriwether's were the largest landowners in the county.
Meriwether Lewis, of the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition was
born in Ivy. You remember that little village and cemetery not far from Mountain
Plains? (That is the Episcopal graveyard with our unexplained Church of England
cousins.)
The British build a chain of forts, about 20, along the frontier. Compared to
the castles and mighty fortifications in Europe, these would be considered to be
mere outhouses. On the Indian frontier you did the best you could.
Near the end of the year of 1755, Washington is given command
of all the Virginia militia. He has an impossible job. The border he must defend
is 300-400 miles long. He has 300-400 troops. The Americans have one defense,
the mighty barricade of the Allegheny Mountains.
A year after taking command, George Washington makes a tour
of the forts and is not impressed. Manic depression is the best description of
George Washington’s feelings.
You will remember our people came down the Valley of Virginia
and crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east (Albemarle). Then our other
people came down the Valley of Virginia and settled between the Blue Ridge
Mountains to the east, and the Allegheny Mountains to the west (Rockbridge).
The French controlled the land on the other side of the
Allegheny Mountains. To move from one side of the mountains to the other with a
military force, be it conventional or Indian, you had to cross what military
experts today call “choke points.”
This would be a pass, such as Wood’s Gap, already told. Or,
it would be a ford. This would be a shallow spot in a river, creek, or stream
that a person could wade or ride a horse across. Or, if there was no ford, then
you had to carry your own canoes to cross the waters. Then you had to carry the
canoes across land from one river or stream to the next. These land crossing
were called portages.
Whoever controlled the passes, fords, and portages would
control the war. The French controlled the Allegheny passes. To stop the enemy,
the Americas built their forts on the mouths of the passes, at the fords, and
across the portages. Thus the forts were built on the “choke points,” 12 to 26
miles apart.
What was the nature of these forts? Some were merely
fortified log pens; others, more strongly built cabins or stone structures; some
were more substantial blockhouses; and the ultimate, stockade forts manned by a
company of soldiers.
The manning of the forts was usually the responsibility of
the neighborhood men. A fort could be manned by many, or just a few.
The Indians preferred attacking the unsubstantial forts,
which were easy pickings for a larger war party. As meager as some of these
forts were, they had a chance of holding their own against Indians who did not
have cannons.
The America soldiers manning the forts, and on expeditions,
maintained their own discipline, which meant none. A man’s first obligation was
to his family, to protect them from Indian raids, to see that the crops were
harvested, so the family could eat to stay alive to protect themselves from the
Indian raids.
The forts are constantly undermanned with soldiers coming and
going at will. One-third of the militia was scheduled to be on duty at any given
time. “One-thirteenth is out.” (Meaning militarily active)
The men were willing to go on expeditions as long as they
were assured the Indians were not near. Thus, the men only enlisted for short
terms. This does not provide a reliable army for a war that would last nine
years. (The age of enlistment on paper for the militia was 18 to 60. However,
when the Indians attacked, age did not matter.)
Woods Fort
The size of our fort is a mystery today. Our
cousin, Scott Hosier Jr., is great in years and has a life long study of our
family history. We are indebted to him for the following information as this is
his direct line.
“Where the Kanawa (New River) cuts through the Alleghenies,
the Indians had a detour around the impassable portion and William Woods, an
uncle of Capt. Andrew Wallace, built a fort at that point to cut off the
Indians. Captain Michael Woods, his son, and also double first cousin of Capt.
Andrew Wallace, commanded this fort during the Revolution. There are no remains
but the site is known and marked.”
From one reliable map, it is indicated that this was not one
of George Washington’s chain of official forts. It is listed as “Other forts and
Stockades 1754 -1776.”
It is documented that during the Revolutionary War, not too
far in the future, date known on 7 Oct 1777, that a hog was purchased for use by
Capt. Taylor’s company of militia stationed at Wood’s Fort on Rich Creek.
If we know the size of a militia company then we have a good
guess at the size of the fort.
From various sources, F&I War: “3 Ranging Co’s which should
have 120 men (40 each) did not have 30.” “A company of fifty men (50) from
Lunenburg to come into your county; another company of 40 to be raised by Capt.
Smith; with Capt. Lewis’ company, I think will be sufficient for the Protection
of your Frontiers;“”...Captain Samuel Overton’s company consisted, he supposed,
of forty (40) men, and Captain Obadiah Woodson’s of forty (40) more.”
“...December, 1775, also provided that the committee of Augusta county should
appoint officers to command a company of fifty (50) men, to be stationed at the
mouth of the Little Kanawha.” (Woods Fort?). Revolutionary War: “...to serve
till January 1, 1779...making a company of fifty (50) men.” Back to F&I War:
“...you may raise forty (40) men, which with the company commanded by captain
Preston and a company from Lunenburg of 50 men...” “Co of Rangers to consist of
50 men.” “If he brought (60) Indians [recruited as soldiers] he was to receive a
captains commission.” “...to reduce the different Co’s in Augusta to 3 in pay
with 60 men each.” “Captain Allen’s company in1756, consisted of sixty-eight
(68) men...”
On page 45 of Militia of Montgomery Co, VA, 1777-1790,
compiled by Mary B. Kegley, it states “List of Capt. John Taylor’s Company of
Militia” with 77 names. It does not specifically give the name of Woods Fort,
but the number is of interest in our detective work. "The official size of a
company, both Continental and militia, 40 men." In this war official rarely
meant actual.
The information that exists today on Woods Fort is so sketchy
that I feel we are lucky to know what little there is. In various
correspondences with Scott Hosier Jr., he has second thoughts about the size of
the fort.
“It is my understanding that Woods Fort was just a cabin, a
little better protected than most dwellings, better than any other close by. It
is known locally.”
“I am pretty sure that the Woods fort (or stockade) was built
later but before the Revolutionary War by William Woods or his son, Michael. It
was on Rich Creek and blocked the portage around the gorge of the New River
through the Allegheny Mountains between Virginia and West Virginia. Michael was
commissioned Captain and was in command of this fort. I am not sure that there
ever was a garrison assigned to help him. I expect that it was up to him to
secure what assistance he could from his neighbors.”
“...he built it about 1772. It was larger than I first
thought, holding 140 refugees at one time...”
From these records I assume that a small or undermanned
company consisted of 30 men. The regular size company was 40 to 60 men. In time
of pending battle the regular assigned company would be re-enforced by local
settlers, I guess. This would be too many men to fight within the confines of a
log pen or fortified log cabin. There is no indication from any source that this
was a blockhouse. If the fort could hold 140 refugees, plus the garrison, then
it was obviously stockade. Scott Hosier would not have pulled the number of 140
out of his head. He had to have historical reference. My conclusion is that
Woods fort was a stockade.
From published historical information provided by the Giles
County Historical Society: “Wood’s Fort on Rich creek was built in 1773 by
Captain Matthew Wood...no white settlement existed between Fort Wood and the
mouth of East River In 1779.” I am sure that it was Michael Woods, they simply
have a misspelling of the name.
“Michael Woods, the immigrant, (of Blair Park) had seven
grandsons named Michael. And the entire family lived on the frontier!” – Scott
Hosier Jr.
Michael Woods escapes from the Indians: The premier research
source for this sort of information is the famous Draper manuscripts. In the
guides to the Draper mss. there can be found several letters written by Capt.
Michael Wood(s) from Western Virginia about 1774. It is possible these are
copies of the original and might have a sample of his signature.
Also found in the Draper mss. is a more complete account of
Michael Woods escaping from the Indians with quotes from Michael and the
Indians.
If any of you wish to research this information further then
here are the sources: The Draper manuscripts consists of 491 volumes, so you
must have the volume and page numbers to find anything. Researching the Draper
collection should only be done by an experienced professional who has worked
with this source before. (I am totally out of my element in this type of
research.) Be careful...do not use the older films of the mss. as many are
illegible! Request the later versions.
Here are a listings for the letters Michael Woods wrote which are in the
Draper Manuscripts:
Preston and Virginia papers, volume and page number:
3QQ 30 [volume 3 of the QQ series, page 30]
3QQ 56
3QQ 88
3QQ 97
In the Kentucky papers:
12 CC 45-53 Shane interview with Mrs. Sarah Graham in Bath County, KY.
A word of caution: The page numbers can be mixed up or destroyed. There is a
chance of obtaining a sample of Michael Woods' handwriting and signature from
this interview.
1774 29 May. Rich Creek [a branch of New River not far from Grey Sulphur
Springs], VA. Letter from Michael Woods to Col. William Preston...”there is in
that Bounds from Rich Creek Mountain to where the County line strikes the river
thirty men which is: ...
Andr Woods...[A]dam Woods...Michl Woods... Also is a few men that lives in a
String on the ther side of the River that ever will be unconvenient to any other
place to Muster at for they would not have above 7 or 8 Miles to a Muster
here...” – from Documentary History of Dunmore’s War, 1774. Madison, Wisconsin
Historical Society, 1905. P. 397.
Story
There is an old tradition that an Indian was killed near here
on Rich Creek near Fort Wood. It seems that the Indian was imitating the gobble
of a wild turkey, hoping thereby to lure some hungry inmate out of the fort into
the woods and to his death. A settler, detecting a false note in the turkey
call, slipped out of the fort and stealthily crawling up on the Indian from the
rear shot him dead.
At different places, at different times, at different
battles, in different wars and even times of peace between battles and wars, our
people start adding military ranks in the front of their names. John Bowyer, the
third husband to Magdelene, becomes Colonel John Bowyer. It is Colonel John
Woods, and Colonel Michael Woods. According to the custom of the times, the
social positions of our people would require that most, if not all, would enter
the military with an officers commission. The higher the social positions, the
higher the rank.
These military titles, ranks, were held for life.
A foreign traveler to America in the early 1800s noted that
everywhere in America it seemed as if every man held a military title. Nowhere
was this more pronounced than in Staunton, Virginia. (Just 30 miles north-east
of Lexington on the mighty Beverly Grant.)
To understand how terrifying it could be for our people
living on the Virginia frontier during the French and Indian War, I would
suggest you read the book Follow the River, by James Alexander Thom. A word of
warning; it is not for the squeamish.
The book is fiction. However, the author spends at least a
year researching each of his novels. Everything he writes is based on reality.
The novel is based on the true story of Mary Ingles. At the time, she lived at
Drapers Meadows (now Blacksburg, VA, 25 miles in a straight line, SE, from Woods
Fort). This is the same area that some of our people lived, and takes place at
the same time in history.
Mary Ingles is a happily married twenty-three-year old with
two children and pregnant with a third. Her neighborhood is raided by the
Indians, with some of the whites being killed and some taken captive. Mary and
her children are captured by the Indians and taken an enormous distance of 1000
miles from their home. (This shows how far the Indians would travel when making
a raid.)
At the Indian village her two sons are sold into slavery. She
leaves her new born with the Indians and makes her escape. She then travels
hundreds of miles through the wilderness back to Drapers Meadows.
The Indians during the war captured more than 2,000 white
settlers. They would suffer not only capture, but also torture even unto death.
The Indians did not kill in a humane manner, by lethal injection.
It is a classic story. The author is a masterful storyteller.
The book was a best seller.
When reading the book it is interesting to know that (dime)
novels telling the stories of Indian capture, torture, death, and etc.… were
quite popular reading for the colonists before, during and after the war. You
are just reading an updated colonial dime novel.
Years later, Mary Ingles and her husband would ransom one of
their teenage sons from the Indians. The son would marry and have children. Then
his family would be raided by the Indians, with some of the family killed and
the rest taken captives. I tell you this story to show that our people's
problems with the Indians did not last for just two or three years, but for
generations.
A footnote to history: Mary Ingles was the first American to be taken
hundreds of miles into this unknown country and return. The colonists were very
interested in what she could tell of this new country. It is not recorded but
almost certain that she was interviewed by George Washington himself.
Now you can see why it was not unusual for some Scots, by
Indian capture, to grow up to be Indian braves and even chiefs. I tell you the
story again, at least one Indian chief, almost a full-blooded Scott, would lead
his braves into battle against the whites.
"Would ye come over here Macdonald."
There are many books on this little known chapter of American
history, the French and Indian War.
The Indian raids would continue into the Valley of Virginia as late as 1766. Our
people were not free of the Indians even then for some of our cousins were
starting to immigrate into the Kentucky and East Tennessee...and it was the
"same old broken record."
The French and Indian War would end with the Treaty of Paris
signed in 1763. The French lost everything in America: Canada, everything east
of the Mississippi River. They did keep the port of New Orleans, which means
that in a way they controlled the Mississippi River and all the land that was
important to this mighty river and its only seaport. They held onto the land
west of the Mississippi, which was unknown territory and existed only on paper
in the minds of the French rulers in Paris.
Even this land would go to the Americans in the Louisiana
Purchase some years later. Napoleon decided to make a French Colony of
Louisiana, abruptly changed his mind and sold cheap.
The Fountain Springs golf course is located two miles east of
the village of Peterstown, West Virginia. (Pop.500), on Route 219. The golf
course address is 93 Fountain Spring Dr., Peterstown, WV. The best I can tell
you is that it lies in a straight line, 80 miles SE of Lexington, VA. Look it up
on the map as to the best way to go there.
David Bradley is one of the owners of the course and has been
most helpful in contacting the locals to get information on the fort. Here are
some of the things he told me: The monument was built in the 1930s, is made of
stone and sits on the golf course today, next to the road. It is a square block,
12 feet by 12 feet at the base and 12-feet-high, made of stone. The fountain in
the middle of the monument no longer is used due to contaminated ground waters.
The brass marker on the other side of the road was stolen years ago.
Do not be confused by the two replicas that stand at the
entrance to the golf course.
The locals say that the monument does stand on the original
site of the fort. David Bradley has more information on the history of the
monument that he is willing to share with any of our cousins who visit.
The golf course lies on the west side of the Appalachian
Mountains, that is the French side. Our people were encroaching.
Entrance to Fountain Springs Golf Course, Rt. 219, Peterstown, West Virginia.
(Photo provided by David Bradley, one of the owners.)
There is no history or tradition of any serious encounters
between the settlers and the Indians in this immediate community, but on Sept.
23, 1779, a white renegade named Morgan with five Shawnees attacked a party of
emigrants on their way to Kentucky traveling the Indian trail on the East River,
killing and capturing the whole party with the exception of John Pauley, who,
though fatally wounded, escaped and finally made his way back to Fort Wood,
dying there from his wounds.”
My family history web site has 79 chapters. If you would like to
know more about the other chapters then go to my Home Page
www.thetracyfamilyhistory.net
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