Indians of Augusta County, Virginia

The following is a list of the various tribes who resided in or resorted to the Valley of Virginia in 1716-32, and they all spoke the same language or a dialect of it. This was the mother tongue of the natives from North Carolina to Massachusetts. This mother tongue received from the French the name of Algonquin, and under it all the wild tribes of this region were grouped:

I. The Shawanese, the most considerable of the Algonquin tribes, had their principal villages east of the Alleghenies, near the present town of Winchester, but their possessions extended west to the Mississippi river. Foote asserts (Second Series, p. 159) that the Shawanese owned the whole Valley of Virginia, but had abandoned it. He gives no authority for the statement, and we have found none in our researches. Of all the Indian tribes with whom our ancestors came in contact, the Shawanese were the most bloody and terrible, holding all other men, as well Indians as whites, in contempt as warriors in comparison with themselves. This estimate of themselves made them more restless and fierce than any other savages, and they boasted that they had killed ten times as many white people as any other Indians did. They were a well-formed, active and ingenious people, capable of enduring great privations and hardships, were assuming and imperious in the presence of others not of their own nation, and sometimes very cruel.

II. The Tuscarora, whose villages were near Martinsburg, in the present county of Berkeley.

III. The Senedo, who occupied the north fork of the Shenandoah until 1732, when it was exterminated by hostile natives from the South.

IV. The Catawba, whose headquarters were on the Catawba River in South Carolina.

V. The Delaware, who frequented the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. "

VI. The Susquehanough, who originally occupied the headwaters of the Chesapeake bay, but were driven out by the Cinela tribe and took up their residence on the upper waters of the Potomac, supposed to be one of their favorite places of residence, as the remains of their villages are more numerous in this region than elsewhere in the Valley.

VII. The Cinela, on the Upper Potomac.

VIII. The Pascataway tribe, on the headwaters of the Chesapeake.

IX. The Cherokees, who occupied the Upper Valley of the Tennessee River and the high lands of Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The Cherokees were the tallest and most robust of the Southern tribes, their complexions brighter than usual with the red men, and some of their young women were nearly as fair and blooming as European women. They owed allegiance to the Muscogulgee, who stood at the head of a confederacy composed of Cherokees, Seminoles, Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks, and it is probable that bands from all of these tribes, or at least warriors, accompanied the Cherokees in their annual visits to the Valley. Without exception, these Southern Indians were proud, haughty and arrogant, brave and valiant in war, ambitious of conquest, restless and perpetually exercising their arms, yet magnanimous and merciful to a vanquished enemy when he submitted and sought their friendship and protection. These vagrant tribes camped or resided at great distances from each other, were widely dispersed over a vast country, and any connection between them and particular localities was of so frail a texture that it was broken by the slightest accident.

The different tribes or nations were small in number as compared with civilized societies in which industry; arts, agriculture and commerce have united a vast number of individuals whom a complicated luxury renders valuable to each other.

No accurate information exists as to the numbers composing these tribes, but it is most probable they did not exceed a few hundred warriors each. At the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, the number of Indians in New En gland did not exceed 123,000, and a few years later the number was greatly reduced by a plague. It is probable that the Indian population of Virginia was larger at this time, as the climate of our Valley and State is generally better adapted to the wants of man than that of New England.

Bancroft, however, ventures the opinion that the whole Indian population east of the Mississippi and south of New England did not, in 1623, exceed 180,000.

Detached parties of armed barbarians from the Northern and Western tribes occasionally came to the Valley, and the Massawomee penetrated to Eastern Virginia and were a terror to the low-land tribes Armed parties also visited the Valley from the five nations situated on the rivers and lakes of New York the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca.

There was little difference in character and person between these wild men of whatever tribe, and the remark of Capt. Jno. Smith in his general history. Vol. i, p 120, that the Cinela were of gigantic size, is now rejected as incredible-a statement as little to be believed as the fabulous origin-assigned by the Goths to their enemies, the Huns, namely: that the witches of Scythia had copulated in the desert with infernal spirits, and that the Huns were the offspring of this execrable conjunction.

We distrust whatever is marvelous, but it is proper to mention in this connection that the historian of the Valley gives an account, in his second chapter, of the discovery, in Hardy county, of the under jaw bone of a.hu man being of great size, with eight teeth in each side of enormous size, and the teeth standing in the jaw bone transversely! What is repugnant to experience and common sense we discredit, and consequently have little faith in this story, though given upon the authority of a gentleman who represented that he had himself seen the jaw bone. Within the present year mastodon bones have been excavated on the Kentucky Central railroad. The supposed human jaw bone found in Hardy, was doubtless the fossil remain of some extinct animal of the genus mammiferous.

That portion of the Valley now embraced within the County of Augusta, is not known to have been the home or fixed residence of any tribe of Indians at the period of its settlement, nor is it known that it was not the home of some tribe or branch of a tribe. Such red men as Lewis met on entering Augusta, in 1732, were friendly, and so continued for over twenty years.

That the country had been, previous to 1732, permanently occupied, is indicated by the remains of barrows, cairns and ramparts, composed of mingled earth and stones, found at different points in the county -notably near Waynesboro, on Lewis creek, a few miles below Staunton; on Middle river near Dudley's mill, and at Jarman's Gap, north of Rock fish. The cairn at Jarman's Gap is probably sepulchral, and may have been intended and used as a place of worship. In the lower Shenandoah Valley and the country west of the Alleghenies in fact over every part of North America, especially in the Mississippi Valley-there are remains of fortifications, mounds and other monuments of a primitive race, bearing marks of great antiquity, which " whisper mysteriously of a shadowy race, populous, nomadic, not altogether uncivilized, idolatrous," worshipping " in high places." It does not come within the scope and design of this volume, however, to investigate the question whether they were the work of the progenitors of the Indians or of a race long since extinct. That and all similar matters must be left to those who have taste and leisure for such abstruse enquiries. We may remark, however, that no remains exist in the Valley which indicate labor on a large scale or which were worthy, in Jefferson's opinion, to be styled Indian monuments. He would not dignify with that name their stone arrow-points, pipes, &c. The Valley of Virginia was, in 1716, when visited by Spotswood, without extensive forests, but the margins of streams were fringed with trees; there were pretty woodlands in the low grounds, and the mountainsides were densely covered with timber trees. The wood destroyed by Autumnal fires was replaced by a luxuriant growth of blue grass, white clover and other natural grasses and herbage. The spontaneous productions of the earth were everywhere numerous and abundant, and there were many varieties of game and wild animals. The luxuriance of the vegetation evinced the fertility of a soil, which required only the hand of art to render it in the highest degree subservient to the wants of man. But the nomads of the Valley were averse to improvement; their indolence refused to cultivate the earth, and their restless spirit disdained the confinement of sedentary life. To prevent the growth of timber and preserve the district as pasture, that it might support as much game as possible, and that the grass might come forward in the early Spring, the savages, before retiring into Winter quarters, set on fire the dry grass and burnt over the country. The absence of trees in an extensive quarter of the county N.' W. of Staunton led our ancestors to style it "The Barrens," a name that it still bears, though it is interspersed at this time by handsome woodlands, the growth of the last eighty years.

As we shall speak in a subsequent page of the physical character and resources of the present county, nothing further need be now said beyond this, that the climate of the region west of the mountains was found by the first settlers to be mild and agreeable, the winds light and bracing, the rain fall ample, storms and mists rare, the soil fertile, producing trees and grass, and the earth apparently rich in ores, as indicated by mineral springs.

The two principal non-resident tribes, who frequented this fine country in 1716-1745, were the Delaware from the North and the Catawba from the South. At the time Augusta was settled, 1732, a bloody war was progressing: between these tribes, and the Valley was the theatre of action. In this war other tribes now and again participated as the allies of one or the other party, and it was at a battle on the North fork of the Shenandoah, in the county now bearing that name, that the Senedo tribe was exterminated. There is a burial place there eighteen to twenty feet high and sixty feet in circumference, filled with human bones, which testify to the truth of this tradition.

Wars between the tribes who frequented the Valley were of constant occurrence, and much speculation has been indulged in as to their origin -some inclining to the opinion that there is a natural state of hostility of man against man. It is more probable, that these wars resulted from the restless and turbulent nature of mankind, the ambition of leaders and disputes as to the hunting grounds. Such, indeed, was the red man's martial and independent spirit, his love of arms, that he considered war and rapine as the pleasure and glory of mankind. It was the wars of the Iroquois and Massawomie, on the Ohio, which gave that beautiful stream its significant name of the " River of Blood." The warpaths conducting into the Valley were through Rockfish and Jarman's gaps, thence by the present site of Staunton and down the Valley, branching at different points. Armed parties during this period constantly passed and repassed the white settlements without disturbing them. Sometimes they spent the night near the whites, and, when in need, asked for food and other supplies, which were always given them. If in want of provisions, and no white was near to supply them, they would kill pigs or cattle running at large, which they considered lawful game. The settlers were too few and too wise to resent these liberties, and continued on amicable terms with both Catawba and Delaware when those tribes were, in 1732, and for many years subsequently, at war with each other. And it is worthy of remark that neither tribe sought to involve the colonists in their quarrels. When a single Indian, or a party of two or three, called at the hut of a white for victuals, rest or social conversation, he confidently approached the door and said, " I am come." Soon the whites set before them food and drink. After eating and drinking they lit their pipes, and while smoking conversed. This over, they arose and said, " I go," and off they walked, to stop without an introduction or invitation at the next habitation the appearance of which they liked. The sententious brevity with which they announced their arrival and departure may be ascribed to their limited English vocabulary rather than rudeness, though it must be allowed that the easy and graceful manners of a gentleman are not innate. The gradual process by which they are arrived at are summarized in Pope's line: "He marries, bows at court and grows polite."

The Indian villages in the Valley were principally on the upper waters of the Potomac, near the present towns of Martinsburg and Winchester, but at some period previous to the settlement of Augusta, villages had existed at numerous points on the banks of the streams East and West of the mountains. The spots can now be identified in Eastern Virginia by the deposits of oyster and muscle shells, these bivalves constituting a part of their food, and in the Valley by ashes, charred wood, arrow points, tomahawks, pipes and other remains. Their huts or wigwams were built by uniting poles at the top and inserting them at regular distances in the ground. An aperture was left at the top for smoke, and the ribs or rafters were covered with bark, the skins of wild beasts or with the boughs of trees. A small opening was left on one side, and in front of this in warm weather their fires were lit. In winter the fire was made in the centre of the wigwam, and the savages ranged themselves round it on skins, mats and the leaves of trees. It was their custom, and a wise one it was, to sleep with their feet to the fire. Each family had its own hut, but occasionally they allowed others to enjoy its shelter. Their villages were always located near pure water, and if possible under the protection of a hill or forest. Their wigwams were unfurnished, except a covering of leaves and skins, for the dirt floors on which they slept. They ate without table, chairs, knives or forks.

Their clothing consisted of skins-their feet being encased in a kind of sandal made of deer skin or other soft leather, called moccasin. It was, unlike the sandal, with a soft sole, and was ornamented on the upper side. They took fish with hooks made of fish bones or the spear, or caught them in nets. For hunting and in war they used clubs, bows and arrows and tomahawks headed with stone. After the settlement of the whites the heads of tomahawks were made of metal or their use by the English, with the hammerhead hollowed out to suit the purpose of a smoking pipe, the mouth-piece being in the end of the shaft. The tomahawk was the Indian's most valuable weapon. He used it in time of peace for cutting his firewood, and in war wielded it with deadly effect. Their arrow-points and scalping-knives were made of flint stone, and many of these are constantly picked up near Staunton and in other parts of the county.

For passing streams the Indians used canoes, which were made of birch bark, sewed together with fibers, or roots. Their treatment of females was cruel and oppressive. They were considered as slaves and treated as such. To the squaw was assigned the labors of the field and the services of domestic care. Chastity was not one of the virtues of the women, but when married, they did not dispense their labors without the consent of their husbands. We have no account of the marriage ceremony, if such a ceremony existed among them, and imagine the association of the sexes was a voluntary union, which might be terminated at any time by consent of the parties. As, however, in all ages and among all people, religion of some kind has prevailed, and a reverence and awe of a Divinity existed, and our red men paid honor and homage to the Great Spirit, we do not feel at liberty to declare that such unions were altogether without religious character. We shall not dwell upon these matters of marital infidelities, as we are not called upon to represent human nature in such colors and lineaments as dishonor her, and do not wish to familiarize the minds of our readers with vice. A slight allusion to them was important to historic truth, which renders it necessary to speak of the vices and failings as well as the virtues of a people. We shall be content with touching thus lightly upon them. The men, who were occupied procuring the means of a precarious subsistence, were not, as may be readily imagined, of a lively disposition. Indeed, much gaiety of temper or a high flow of spirits was altogether inconsistent with their surroundings. These red men were, therefore, in general, grave even to sadness; had nothing of that giddy vivacity peculiar to some nations of Europe, and they despised it. Though usually silent and gloomy, their aged chiefs and the squaws were, on occasion, fond of conversation, and amused the children with tales of war and hunting. There were professional storytellers also among them, who imitated the actions of their heroes, and thus increased the interest of their narratives and excited the liveliest interest in their hearers. When tales of bloody rights, or the incidents of buffalo hunts were recounted, the narrators imitating the actors in the scenes, the audience listened with breathless attention. When they related amusing stories, acting out the parts, the groups would break into wild shouts of laughter and applause.

The diseases of the Indians were not numerous; their remedies few and simple, their physic consisting mainly of the bark and roots of trees. For music they used rude drums, rattles made of gourds, and a cane on which they piped. They were hospitable, and grateful for benefits; brave, but wayward and inconstant. To sum up their character in a few words: They were distinguished in council for gravity and eloquence: in war, or bravery and address. When provoked to anger they were sullen and retired, and when determined on revenge no danger would deter them: neither absence nor time could cool them. If captured by an enemy, they never asked life nor betrayed emotions of fear.

For over a hundred years after the settlement at Jamestown the colonists from Virginia to Massachusetts were harassed by the Indians. The friendly relations, which existed for a short time after the landing of the English, soon changed, and the Indians became hostile and relentless in their enmity. During their wars with the whites they practiced every possible cruelty, burnt their houses, shot them down in their fields when at work, and now and again met them hand to hand in battle. They were entirely unreliable, neither respecting in peace the faith of treaties nor in war the dictates of humanity. They tortured their prisoners to death, and some of the tribes notably, the Miami, ate the flesh of their captives. War, if not brought on by an accidental reencounters, was preceded by a formal declaration of hostilities. This was made with great ceremony. The chief, having determined on fighting, sent wampum, or belts of beads, to his allies, inviting them to come and destroy their enemies, and to the enemy a belt painted red, or a bundle of bloody sticks, as a defiance. A great fire was then lit and the war dance took place. These ceremonies observed, the braves issued forth singing to the women a farewell hymn. If they surprised a village of their foes, while the flower of the nation was absent, they massacred the women, children and helpless old men, or made prisoners of such as had strength to be useful to them. Their prisoners were treated with inconceivable barbarity, thus exhibiting to what an extremity men's passions lead them when unrestrained by reason and uninfluenced by the dictates of Christianity. These savage acts make us more sensible, too, of the value of commerce, the arts of civilized life, and the lights of literature, which, if they abate the force of some of the natural virtues by the luxury which attends them, have taken out likewise the sting of our natural vices and softened the ferocity of the human race. The Indians were not without a certain species of government, which prevailed, with little variation, over the continent. Though free, they did not despise all sorts of authority. They were attentive to the voice of wisdom, which experience had conferred on the aged, and they enlisted under the banners of their chiefs with child-like confidence-chiefs in whose valor and military address they had learned to repose their trust. His power, however, was rather persuasive than coercive; he was reverenced as a father, rather than feared; is a monarch. He had no guards, no prisons, no officers of justice; but, relying upon the respect, confidence and esteem of his people, he lived unthreatened by Nihilist cabals and unterrified by dynamite and infernal machines. Few modern European rulers do this. The elders in every tribe constituted a kind of aristocracy, and were always consulted on grave occasions by the chief and people. They possessed no power except the influence they exerted by reason of their age and experience, and the further fact that they constituted a kind of hereditary nobility. Among the Indians age alone acquired respect, influence and authority, because age brings experience, and experience is the chief source of knowledge among a people without literature.

Their religious belief consisted of traditions mingled with many superstitions. They believed in two Gods, the one Good, who was the superior, and whom they styled the Great Spirit; the other Evil. They worshipped both, but principally the latter, the Good Spirit, in their opinion, needing no prayers to induce him to aid and protect his creatures. Besides these, they worshipped various other deities, such as fire, water, thunder,-anything which they supposed to be superior to themselves and capable of doing them injury. They believed in a future state, in a tranquil and happy existence with their ancestors and friends, spending their time in those exercises in which they delighted when on earth. From the picturesque situations of their villages, they are supposed to have admired the grand and beautiful in Nature. That they possessed to a considerable degree the poetic sentiment is inferred from the names given to the rivers and mountains, their war songs, and the speeches of some of their chiefs.

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