Page 64 - History of Rockingham Co
P. 64
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
vicinity of Mt. Crawford. They tell of their dinner there of
meat and dumplings, and of their experiences farther on, at
Middle River, at Robert Bohk's, and at "Augusti Court
House"; but having followed them to the borders of Rock-
ingham, we bid them farewell.
Samuel Kercheval, the old historian of the Valley, says:
From the best evidence the author has been able to collect, . . .
the settlement of our Valley progressed without interruption from the
native Indians for a period of about twenty-three years. In the year
1754, the Indians suddenly disappeared, and crossed the Alleghany Moun-
tains. The year preceding, emissaries from the west of the Alleghany
Mountains came among the Valley Indians and invited them to move off.
This occurrence excited suspicion among the white people that a storm
was brewing in the west, which it was essential to prepare to meet. 13
Kercheval dates the beginning of Valley settlement in
1732. Counting thence twenty-three years would give 1755,
the year of Braddock's defeat. The war with the French
and Indians began in 1754, and continued till 1763. During
this time Indian raids into the Valley from the west were
frequent, particularly in the two or three years following the
defeat of Braddock. Occasionally the bands of red men were
led by French officers. It was in April of 1758 that the mas-
sacres at Upper Tract and Fort Seybert took place, in which
more than forty persons were killed, some twenty-odd others
being carried into captivity. The Indians at Fort Seybert
were led by the famous chief Killbuck. From 1777 to 1787
both Upper Tract and Fort Seybert were within the bounda-
ries of Rockingham County, the site of the latter being west
of Brock's Gap, only a few miles beyond the present Rock-
ingham line.'*
13. Kercehval's History of the Valley of Virginia, reprint of 1902,
page 49.
14. For detailed accounts of the massacres at Upper Tract and Fort
Seybert, see Kercheval, pp. 89-91, and Morton's History of Pendleton
County, West Virginia, pp. 42-50.
—51—
vicinity of Mt. Crawford. They tell of their dinner there of
meat and dumplings, and of their experiences farther on, at
Middle River, at Robert Bohk's, and at "Augusti Court
House"; but having followed them to the borders of Rock-
ingham, we bid them farewell.
Samuel Kercheval, the old historian of the Valley, says:
From the best evidence the author has been able to collect, . . .
the settlement of our Valley progressed without interruption from the
native Indians for a period of about twenty-three years. In the year
1754, the Indians suddenly disappeared, and crossed the Alleghany Moun-
tains. The year preceding, emissaries from the west of the Alleghany
Mountains came among the Valley Indians and invited them to move off.
This occurrence excited suspicion among the white people that a storm
was brewing in the west, which it was essential to prepare to meet. 13
Kercheval dates the beginning of Valley settlement in
1732. Counting thence twenty-three years would give 1755,
the year of Braddock's defeat. The war with the French
and Indians began in 1754, and continued till 1763. During
this time Indian raids into the Valley from the west were
frequent, particularly in the two or three years following the
defeat of Braddock. Occasionally the bands of red men were
led by French officers. It was in April of 1758 that the mas-
sacres at Upper Tract and Fort Seybert took place, in which
more than forty persons were killed, some twenty-odd others
being carried into captivity. The Indians at Fort Seybert
were led by the famous chief Killbuck. From 1777 to 1787
both Upper Tract and Fort Seybert were within the bounda-
ries of Rockingham County, the site of the latter being west
of Brock's Gap, only a few miles beyond the present Rock-
ingham line.'*
13. Kercehval's History of the Valley of Virginia, reprint of 1902,
page 49.
14. For detailed accounts of the massacres at Upper Tract and Fort
Seybert, see Kercheval, pp. 89-91, and Morton's History of Pendleton
County, West Virginia, pp. 42-50.
—51—
