Class u Book. . Copyright 1^^ -U. COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. THIS &To:Ef^r OF TEE YOUNG SURVEYORS. ^ WASHINGTON AT FORTY. COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATEP B^sr >V. H. SIVOWOEJX. k ^ ,cp 18 '% r 1 OF T^HK KXF^KDIT^ION OF ..:The Young Surveyors:.. GBORGE WASHINGTON ~sT7~ AND GEORGB WII^IvI AM KAIRFAX TO SURVEY THF VIRGINIA I^ANDS OF Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, V* BY Copiously Illustrated by Miss Eugenie De Land. SXRICXl^Y AUTHE^NXIC. FIRST EDITION. :• , > ALEXANDRIA, VA. PRINTED BY G. H. RAMEY & SON. 1902. u>/ cz 1 1 .5^7 THF L'.BRAftV OF COMGRtSS. T whj GfiPitt ftf.OBlVCD SFf-. r? 1902 Cffl»/BIOHT ITNTRV Oi..AJ?3 «- XXo Mo CO^Y 3. Copyright, 1902, BY William H. Snowden. THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS IS STRICTLY AUTHENTIC IT WILL BE FOLLOWED BY THE STORY OF THE VOYAGERS GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HIS HALF BROTHER LAWRENCE WASHINGTON IN 1751-2. AM:-^^ ^y u<\o ^3 u r V c \^ o ^"5 (, e^.^^ ^^hsuA-^^-tH-rx^ "And he dragged the mountains over with chain and rod — The blue sky was his cover, the Indian his lover, And his duty was his sovereign and God." One spring morning, early in the month of March, 1747, eight years before the French and Indian war, two young men might have been seen standing at the gates of "Old Bel voir" the elegant home of the Hon. Wm. Fairfax on the Virginia shore of the Potomac river, two miles below Mount Vernon, which latter place was then the residence of Major Lawrence Washington, son of Augustine, and half brother of George Washington of ever honored memory, not yet sixteen years of age, though already nearly of manly stature and possessing much of manly bearing and dignity. The other was George. William Fairfax, son of the Belvoir proprietor, and older by eight years than his companion. The former after having completed his school education under the limited tuition of school masters, Hobby and Williams in the county of VV^estmoreland, Virginia, had come up from the lowlands a short time pre- viously to make his home temporarily with his brother Lawrence until he could find some employment suited to the drift of his natural inclinations. It was here that the two Georges had first met and commenced an acquaintance which was very soon to ripen into confidential friendship, and ultimately, into a brotherly attachment and affection which no circumstances of their after lives were sufficient to mar or change. The inclinations of both these young men were much the same. Integrity of pur- pose and action was the basis of both their natures and characters. Both were quick of perception, ardent and eager in their purpose, and anxious to supplement /^their school rudiments with wide and varied experiences in the greater and more thorough school of the world. Both were fond of adventure which at that early 71 4 THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. time in the history of the colony was everywhere opening hefore them. They were both physical!}' sturdy and capable of great endurance and hardshi])s. They had been receiving of late more advanced instruction together in the art and mystery of trigonometry or land surveying, botli theoretical and practical, from Lawrence Washington who had received a thorough course of education in old England; for the most promising field of employment then oi)ening for a young man of energy and talent was the "laying off" of plantations in the wilderness territory of the ])Vo\- ince. And now, they were about to start together on an expedition over the Bkn; Ridge mountains to the valley of the Shenandoah river, almost a terra incognita and the home of wild beasts and prowling Indians. Their way was to lead them through the primitive forests and jungles — a way which the bison, the deer and the bear had first marked out, long centuries before between the mountains and the sea, and which the roving red man as well, had long threaded. In all the region thi'ough which they were to pass, plain wagon roads or highways were then unknown and only at long intervals was there to be seen a human habitaiion or other sign of civilized life. For guidance in their course they had only their compass and the blazings of the axe on the great tree trunks, made bv the earliest pioneers after the coming of Cai)tain John Smith in 1608. YOUNG SURVEYOIIS STARTING ON THEIR EXPEDITION FROM BELVOIR. Thomas Fairfax, sixth Lord and Baron of Cameron, and cousin (if General Fair- fax of (Jrom well's })arlinientary army, born in England in IGUl had inherited his mother Catherine's extensive landed estate known in history and geography as the Korthern Neck of Virginia lying between the Potomac and Ivapj)ahannock rivers THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 5 and their tributnries comprising? in its vast area the counties of Northumberland, Lancaster, Richmond, Westmoreland, King George, Prince William, Stafford, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madison, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy, Hamp- shire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson, Frederick and Clark. His possessions in this valley had never been regularly settled nor surveyed. Lawless intruders, squatters as they were called were seating themselves along the finest streams and in the richest valleys and virtually taking possession of the whole countr3\ It was the anxious desire of Lord Fairfiix to have these lands ex- amined, surveyed, and portioned out into lots or parcels, preparatory to ejecting the interlopers or bringing them to satisfactory usage. He had come over to Virginia in 1745, and since, had been passing most of his time with his cousin William at Belvoir, who had some time previously opened a land office for the sale of his lands to the incoming settlers. Here he made the acquaintance of the two young men already described, by whose abilities and char- acteristics he was so favorably impressed that he employed them as his surveyors. WAY OF THE SURVEYORS THROUGH THE WILDERNESS. For George William he obtained a commission from the provincial legislature of Virginia, and Washington was chosen to accompany and assist him in the pro- spective work. The compensation of each was to be a doubloon, or a little over fifteen dollars a day. They were both delighted by his Lordship's proposition and 6 THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. libf;ral offer of remuneration and had made their arrangments for the expedition with alacrity. Our youno; adventurers seemed not to have shared in a popular superstition ; for the day they chose for starting was Friday, March eleventh, and it does not appear from the journal of tlieir exploits that any very ill luck befell them through- out their perilous undertaking. Circumstances seemed propitious for them from the start. The winter had past and gone. Its last lingering snow drifts were fast disappearing from all the hill sides and valleys. Spring time was again bringing the possibilities of bud and leaf and blossom to the glad earth around them and to their young and impulsive natures it brought hopes and expectations which elated them and gave them the incentive and persevering forces they needed and found. As they cantered briskly away from the "Belvoir Home" down the plantation road leading to the King's Highway from Williamsburg to Alexandria, doubtless their only presages were of good fortune and success. Ten miles on their way thev halted at Great Hunting Creek to exchange courtesies with their friends the Wests, the Alexanders and the Carlyles who were then busy laying the foundations of the new settlement of "Belle Haven" afterwards Alexandria town. From Belle Haven they struck the old Indian trail running through Cameron Manor in a direction nearly identical with that of the present Little River turnpike of Fairfax and Loudoun counties, the same trail followed by Washington six years after, when sent b}^ Governor Dinwiddle on an expedition to expostulate with the French command- er near Lake Erie for his aggressions on the territory of the King of Great Britain — NEVILLE S HOSTELRY WHERE THE SURVEYORS LODGED. the one he followed a year after on his expedition in which occurred tlie ca])it- ulation of Fort Mecessity; and the one over whicli marched in 1755 a ])ortion of the army of General Edward Bruddock against the French and Indians. At nightfall on the first day of their journey bad as the roads or paths must have been at that time of the year,' and full (lowing as were all of the intervening streams from the snows and winter rains, the surveyors had made over forty miles of their journey, which brought them to the head waters of Bull Run, a stream flowing into the Occoquan river and which a hundred years after was to become so famous for its ccjntlicts of the civil war. Here they found generous hosi)itality in the THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 7 back-woocls-manst3^1e, arid a good night's rest under the cabin root" of "Squire Ne- ville", a cousin of the Fairfaxes and well known to them both, who had come up to the isolated locality near twenty years before from his first place of settlement in the western part of Prince William county, anc], selected a large tract of land lying on the main traveled way by Ashby's Gap fi?6m Fredericksburg on the Rap- pahannock to the straggling trading post of \Vin9l1ester. His house or cabin was an "ordinary" or inn and also served as a storehouse for general merchandise and provisions to accommodate all incoming pioneers, settlers and wayfarers. Washington does not tell us in his diary what comprised their bill of fare on the table of this wilderness hostlery after their fatiguing joi^rney, but we may im- agine and perhaps very correctly, that smoking venison and other wild game was set before them. This ordinary was not far from the village of Aldie in Loudoun county. It was a low, long rambling building of stone and was kept up as a wagon stand for several generations after that time. For many years it was known as Lacy's ordinary. The main part of this ancient structure is still standing as it has been for more than a hundred and fifty years on the old Braddock road, near where the old Caro- lina road crosses, it and about one mile from the Little River Turnpike leading up from Alexandria to Aldie and which from that village extends to the Shenandoah 20 miles distant passing through Ashby's Gap. The Carolina road comes up through Haymarket and extends to Leesburg and beyond. When the house was built is not now known as it has no date but doubtless it goes back to the time before the counties of Prince William, Fairfax and Loudoun were established from old Stafford. Its length is 60 feet, its width 40 feet. It has 8 rooms on the ground floor and an attic. The fire places are 8 feet wide and the stone chimneys are massive. As may be seen by the picture a metallic roof has replaced the old one of riven shingles. This detracts much from the primitive appearance of the old hostlery as the old roof was set with a row of quaint dormer windows. The interior arrangements of the building remain much the same as when the young surveyors were sheltered there. The great outside kitchen in which so many bountiful repasts were served up through the long vanished years to regale the hungry wayfarers, imigrants, traders, surveyors, hunters and wagon- ers, has fallen and only the stones of the wide chimney and capacious fire place and oven remain. Often after this expedition of 1747, before his name and fame had gone to the utmost parts of the earth, Washington was entertained in the same ordinary as he made journeys to the Shenandoah Valley to look after the lands he had there pat- ented. Many other noted historical personages in the colonial days were guests in the lowlv inn, among them Daniel Boone and his hardy companions on their way up the old Carolina road from the Sand Hills of Carolina to their remote pos- sessions in the wilds of Kentucky. Louis Phillip, King of France and his two brothers the Duke de Montpensier, and the Count de Boujealais were guests there. Volney tarried there; Lord Fairfax in his hunting excursions often crossed its threshold, and Nellie Castis Lewis always made it her midway stopping place in her later years after removuig from Woodlawn to the valley. Near by is a family burying ground where many of the early residents of the neighborhood lie buried. While scores oMhe old tavern stands which once dotted the highways leading, down from the Shenandoah valley and under whose roofs the army of hardy wag- oners found entertainment for "man and beast" in the years before the coming of railways, have ceased to be, and are now forgotten, this historic tenement still stands and is occupied, and with care may yet remain a landmark for another generation. Our surveyors on the following morning resumed their journey and crossed the Blue Ridge through Ashby's Gap swimming the yhenandoah and then were in the THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. SWIMMING THE SHKNANDOAH. great valley of Virginia where it is about 25 miles wide, a region diversified by gentle swells and slopes, watered by plentiful springs and streams, and admirably adapted to cultivation. The Blue Ridge bounds it on one side, the North Mountain, a ridge of the Alleghanies on the other ; while through it flows that bright and abounding river which on account of its surpassing beauty was named by the Indians "'Shen- andoah", that is to say the "daughter of the stars". Pushing on their way, they found rest again at nightfall under the roof of Captain Ashby on the river just named, a short distance above Burwell's Island at the "great bend" of that stream. This was another station for the i'errying and entertainment of wayfarers and the selling of supplies to traders and squatters. On Sunday, March the thirteenth, ^-%m IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHENANDOAH, THF STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. 9 they rode to his Lordship's "quarters" four miles higher up the river, passing through beautiful groves of sugar maples and fertile bottom lands. They had reached a veritable wilderness, such as the}'' had never beheld in all the Potomac or Rappahannock regions. Every object around them was bewildering to their minds we may imagine, and awe inspiring. Remnants of the old Indian tribes still roaiTied tlie vast hunting grounds, alive with wild game, to the dismay of the defenceless traveler and pioneer, for be it remembered, the time was eight years before the French and Indian war in which General Braddock figured so inglorious- ly, losing the battle on the Monongahela and his own life. X ARRIVAL AT LORD FAIRFAX'S QUARTERS. Lord Fairfax had come to tlie valley a year or so before and had built for him- self about twelve miles south east of Winchester a stone "Hunting Lodge" of ample ])roportions with quarters lor servants, in the centre of a m.anorial estate often thou- sand acres, on which he liad designed to build at sometime, a palatial residence. He had called his new home "Greenway Court", where he lived a recluse with his attendants, and scores of hoaads, but the latch string always hung outside of his door, and this was always open wide for the entertainment of the way- farer. Heestablislied here a branch of the Belvoir land office and became popular with all classes around him and was very useful and influential in the organization of the county of Fredericksburg, and in building up the town of Wincliester. Young Washington and his friend found under the roof of Greenway Court wel- come and good cheer, and while they were engaged in surve3ang and mapping the surrounding lands the place was to be their home. Henceforth for a time our adventurers were to be surrounded by perils and dan- gers as well as by sights novel and interesting, but their new field of action was to 10 THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. o-ive them valualile experiences, and for one of them it was to lay the foundation of great usefuhiess to himself, to his country and to mankind the world over. Washington during this expedition kept a diary not only of all surveys of the tracts and lots made,but also of many curious and interesting circumstances incident to the wild, romantic life which iheir business required. From this diary we make the Ibllowing extracts, which will give to the reader some idea of the daily lifeof the two Georges as they penetrated the primeval forests of the great valley and with compass and chain established the "buttings and boundings" of those wide areas over which are now to be found so many of the fertile valley farms. CABIN OF LORD FAIRFAX. The surveys were commenced in the lower part of the valley, some distance above the junction of the Shenandoah with the Potomac, and extended for many miles along the former stream. Here and there only partial clearings had been made by adventurous squatters and pioneers, but even their rude tillage of the virgin soil had })roduced good crops of grains, hemp, and tobacco. The extracts arejust as Washington hurriedly noted ihem down from day to day in his field book, and if his modes of expression and or- thography at that time are not up to the standard of the present day we feel sure that no sensible student will indulge in unkind criticism of them, as evidently they were not intended for the public eye. They are some what quaint in style, but thev give us fond glimjjses ofrthe great personage in his boyhood and make us for the time companions with him as he roughs it in the Virginia wilds. Tuesday, March 15th. We set out early, with intent to run round ye s\l land, but being taken in a rain, and it increasing very fast obliged us to return. It dealing about I. o'clock and our time being too precious to lose, we a second time ventured out and worked hard till night, and then returned to Pen- nington. We gotmir suppeis and was lighted into a room, and I not being so good a woodsman as ye rest of my company siripped myself very orderly and went into ye bed as they called it, wh< n to my surprise I found it to be nothing but a little straw, mitted together without sheets or anything el-^e, but only one threadbare blanket, witii double its weight of vermen.sucli as lice, fleas &c. I was glad to get up; as soon as the Itgiit was carried from us I put on my clothes and lay as my companions. Ilad we not have been THE STORY OF THE YOUNG SURVEYORS. roru/ very tired I am sure we should not have sleepe'd much that night. I made a promise not to sleep so froru, that time forward, chusing rather to sleep in ye open air before a fire as will appear hereafter". March ye 15th. Surveyed a tract of land on Gate's marsh. Ye chain men were Henry Ashby and Richard Taylor. Ye marker Robert Ashby. Ye pilot Wm. Lindsy. March the l6th. we set out early and finished about one o'clock and then travell'd to Fredericks- town now Winchester where our baggage came to us. We cleaned ourselves to get rid of ye game we had catched night before, and took a review of ye town, and thence returned to our lodgings where we had a good dinner prepared for us, wuie and rum punch in plenty, and a good leather bed with clean sheets which was a very aggreeable regale. RUNNING LINES, March 17th. Rained till ten o'clock, and then clearing up, we reached as far as Major Campbell's, one of the Burgesses, about 25 miles from town. Nothing remarkable this day nor night, but that we had a tolerable good bed to lie on. March l8th. We travelled up about 35 miles to Thomas Barwick's on Potomac where we found ye river so exceedingly high by reason of ye great rains that had fallen up about ye Allegany Mountains as they told us, which was then bringinsj down ye melted snow, and that it would not be fordable for several days; it was then six foot higher than usual and was rising, we agreed to stay till Monday — We this day called to see ye famed warm springs, we camped out in ye field (his night. Nothing remarkable happened till ye 2oth. When finding ye river much abated in ye evening swam our horses over and carried them to Charles Polk's in Maryland for pasturage till ye next morning. ^Iarch 2 1 St. Travell'd up ye Maryland side in a continued rain all ye day to Col Cresaps, right agains ye north branch, I believe ye worst roads ever travell'd by man or beast^ 12 THE STORY OF THE YOU^"G SURVEYORS. TAKING A NAP. March 22. Continued rain and ye freshet kept us at Cresaps. March 23. Rained till about 2.oclock when we were surprised by thirty odd Indians coming from war with a scalp. We had some liquor with us ot which we gavelhem part, it elevating their spirits, put them in a humor for dancing, of whom we had a war djtnce. Their manner of dancing is as follows: They clear a large circle and make a hre in ye miiidle, then seat themselves around it, ye speaker making a great speech telling them in what manner they are to dance. After he has finished, the best dancer jumps up as one awakened out of a sleep and runs and jumps about ye ring in a most cornicle manner. He is followed by ye rest, then begins their musicians to Jjlay. Ye music isa pot half of water with a deerskin str^'tch'd over it as tight as it can and a gourd, with some shot in it to rattle, and a piece of a horse's tail tied to it to make it look fine. Ye one keeps rattling and ye other drumming all ye while ye others is dancing. March 25ih, 1748. Went up to ye mouth of Patterson's creek and swam our horses over; got over ourselves in a canoe and travell'd up the following part of ye day to Abram Johnstone's 15 miles from where we camped. March 26. Travell'd up ye creek to Solomon Hedges, esq., one of his majestie's justices of the pence for the county of Frederick, where wecamjied. When we came to supper there was neither a cloth upon ye table nor a knife to eat with, but as good luck would have it we had knives of our own." March 29. Went out this morning and surveyed 500 acres of land and went down to one iMichael Stump's on ye south fork of ye branch; on our way shot two wild turkeys. April 2nd. Last night was a blowing, rainy night. Our straw calch'd fire y't we was laying upon and was luckily preserved by one of our men's awaking. THE STORY Otf THF YOUNG SURVEYORS. 13 April 3d. Last night was a much more blustering night than ye former; we had our tent quite carried off with ye wind, and was obliged to lie ye latter part of ye night without covering. April 6th. Last night was so intolerable smoky that we were obliged all hands to leave ye tent to ye mercy of ye wind and fire. This day on our journey was catch'd in a very heavy rain. We got under a straw house until ye worst of it was over and then continued our journey. April 7. Rained successively all last night. This morning one of our party killed a wild turkie that weighed 20 pounds. Slept in Cassey's house which was the first night I had slept in a house since I came to ye branch. April Sth. We camped this night in a wood near a wild meadow where was a large stack of hay. SWIMMING THE POTOMAC. After we had pitched our tent wc made a very large fire. We pulled out our knapsacks in order to re- cruit ourselves. Every one was his own cook, our spits were forked sticks; our plates were l.irge chips. As for dishes we had none. April loth. We took our farewell of ye branch and travelled over hills and mountains to Coddy'son Great Cacapefaon about 40 miles. April nth. We travdled from Coddy's down to Frederick Town where we reached about 12 o'clock. We dined in town and then went to Ciptain Hite's and lodged. April 12th. Clot over Wms. Gap and as low as Wni. West's in Fairfa.x county, iS miles from ye top of ye ridge. They were now on the home stretch and on the 13th reached their homes of Belvoir and Mount Vernon after an absence of thirteen months. The foregoing extracts are onl}' such portions of Washington's journal as serve to acquaint us with a few of the hardships and perils which beset the young surveyors in their romantic work in the Virginia wilderness a hundred and fifty years ago. While on this expedition Washington wrote to a friend the following letter : Dear Richard : The receipt of your kind favor of the 2nd. of this instant afforded me unspeakable pleasure as I am convinced I am still in the memory of >