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BERKELEY,
the central county of the Eastern Panhandle, has a area of 320
square miles. It was created by an act of the House of
Burgesses passed February, 1772 - the twelfth year of the reign
of George III. By it two new counties were formed from
Frederick, viz., Berkeley and Dunmore. By act of October,
1777, the name of the latter was changed to Shenandoah.
The act creating the counties declared: "That from and after the
said fifteenth day of May next, the inhabitants of the said
counties of Berkeley and Dunmore respectively, shall discharge
all fees due from them to the secretary clerks and other
officers in said counties at the rate of eight shillings and
four pence for every hundred weight of tobacco. ....... < Read
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SIR WILLIAM BERKELEY, from whom the county
derived its name, was born near London, England, about the year
1610. He graduated at Oxford in 1629, and afterwards
traveled extensively on the continent. He was appointed
Governor of Virginia, and arrived in the Colony in 1642.
During the period of the Commonwealth in England, he adhered to
the Royal cause, and Virginia was the last of the American
colonies to acknowledge the authority of Cromwell. In
1652, he was succeeded by RICHARD BENNET, but upon the
restoration of the monarchy in 1660, CHARLES II. once
more made Berkeley Governor of Virginia. Bacon's
Rebellion occurred during his second administration, and he
rendered himself unpopular because of his severity against
the followers of that leader twenty-three of whom he caused to
be executed. CHARLES II., when he heard of this,
exclaimed: "The old fool has taken more lives in that naked
country than I have for my father's murder. Berkeley, in
describing Virginia in 1765, said: "Thank God, there are no free
schools or printing presses in this colony, and I hope there
will be none for a hundred years." He was called home and
died at Twickenham, England, July 9, 1677.
Martinsburg,
the county seat, was made a town by legislative enactment in
October, 1778, on the lands o General ADAM STEVEN with
JAMES McALLISTER, ANTHONY NOBLE, JOSEPH MITCHELL, JAMES STRODE,
ROBERT CARTER WILLIS, WILLIAM PATTERSON and PHILIP
PENDLETON, trustees. The titles to lots were vested in
the trustees, but notwithstanding, General STEVEN, sold
and made deeds to several lots. A few years later these
titles were disputed, and in May, 1784, the Assembly passed an
act making them as "valid and effective as if the conveyance had
been made by the trustees themselves." November 30, 1793,
the Assembly directed the trustees to establish a market house,
and appointed a clerk for hte same. February 9, 1813, it
was enacted that "all free, white, male persons, being citizens
of Virginia and freeholders of the said town," should meet at
the court house on the first Monday in April of that year and
elect seven fit persons to be trustees thereof. The
Martinsburg Academy was established January 8, 1822, with
DAVID HUNTER, ELISHA BOYD, PHILIP C. PENDLETON, JOHN S. HARRISON
and JOHN R. COOK, trustees. March 6, 1856, the
qualified voters of the town were authorized by legislative
enactment to elect a mayor and common council. The town
derived its name from Colonel T. B. MARTIN. The
following in relation to the county seat is subjoined from
Kercheval: -
"Tradition relates that an animated contest took
place between the late General ADAM STEVEN and JACOB
HITE in relation to fixing the seat of justice for this
county; HITE, contending for the location thereof on his
own land, at what is now called Leetown, in the county of
Jefferson, STEVEN advocating Martinsburg. STEVEN
prevailed, and HITE became so disgusted and dissatisfied
that he sold out his fine estate, and removed to the frontier of
South Carolina. Fatal remove. He had not long been
settled in the State before the Indians murdered him and several
of his family in the most shocking and barbarous manner."
Darkesville, which
commemorates the name of the brave General DARKE, was
established December 7, 1791, on the lands of JAMES BUCKELS,
with ANDREW WAGENER, JAMES STRODE, JOHN FRYETT, JOHN BUTNER,
JOHN CHINOWITH and EDWARD FRYETT, trustees.
December 31, 1810, the freeholders are directed to elect five
fit and able men, freeholders and inhabitants of the town, to be
trustees thereof.
Middletown - now called
Gerrardstown - was established by legislative enactment in
October, 1787. The town was laid off by Rev. DAVID
GERRARD, and contained one hundred lots. WILLIAM
HENDSHAW, JAMES HAW, JOHN GRAY, GILBERT McKEWAN and
ROBERT ALLEN were appointed trustees.
Fort Frederick, situated on
the Maryland side of the Potomac, about twelve miles from
Martinsburg, was built in 1755 and 1756, under the
superintendence of Governor SHARPE, of Maryland. Its walls
of solid masonry were four and a half feet thick at the base and
three feet thick at the top. It was erected at a cost of
sixty-five thousand pounds sterling. BRADDOCK's
defeat left the western frontier more than ever exposed to the
daring depredations of the savage foe, who were now aided and
abetted by the French. In the spring of 1756, a party of
about fifty Indians, commanded by a French captain, crossed the
Alleghenies. Captain JEREMIAH SMITH, at the head of
twenty brave men, met and defeated them near the source of Capon
river, killing the captain and five Indians. SMITH
lost two men. Among papers found on the body of the
captain was one bearing instuctions to meet another party of
Indians in the vicinity of Fort Frederick, and assist them in
destroying the fort and magazine. This second body of
Indians was encountered and dispersed on the lower waters of the
North branch of the Capon by Captain JOSHUA LEWIS
at the head of eighteen men. The Indians abandoning the
meditated attack on Fort Frederick, separated into small parties
and carried their murderous work into the territory now embraced
within the counties of Shenandoah, Frederick and Berkeley.
One party crossed the mountain at Mill's Gap and within half a
mile of the present site of Gerrardstown, killed a man named
Kelly and several of his family.
Evan's Fort - The same party
then pressed on to the present site of Martinsburg. Most
of the people had fled for safety to JOHN EVAN's Fort, a
stockade within two miles of where the above-named town now
stands. They attacked the house of a Mr. EVANS -
brother to the owner of the fort. They were driven off and
the family immediately took shelter in the fort. The men
had gone in pursuit of the Indians when Mrs. EVANS
discovered them in the neighborhood. She at once armed
herself, the other women following her example, and directed a
little boy to beat to arms on a drum. This so alarmed the
Indians that they set fire to the house in which they were
concealed and fled. They discovered the men from the fort,
but the latter finding the enemy too strong for them, made a
hasty retreat.
Neally's Fort -
The Indians continued their trade to Opequon and
attacked NEALLY's Fort. Many of the inmates were
massacred and a number taken prisoners, among the latter
GEORGE STOCKTON and his sister ISABELLA. Of her
it is related that she was sold in Canada, where a young
Frenchman, Plata, fascinated by her beauty and manners asked her
hand in marriage. She consented, provided her father's
permission should first be obtained. Plata conducted her
home, but met with a premptory refusal from the father,
whereupon the young man persuaded her to elope with him.
Mounting two of her father's horses they began the journey to
Canada, but at Huntersville, Pennsylvania, they were overtaken
by two of her brothers, and ISABELLA and her devoted
lover ruthlessly separated. The young lady was carried
back to the paternal home and the unfortunate Plata warned that
should he make any attempt to secure her, his life would pay for
his audacity.
Early Churches - Within the limits
of Berkeley county the first churches west of the Blue Ridge
were established. Presbyterian congregations came with the
early Scotch-Irish settlers. SEMPLE's History of
the Virginia Baptists" states that a number of that denomination
removed from New England in 1754. "They halted first at
Opequon, in Berkeley county, Virginia, where they formed a
Baptist Church under the care of the Rev. JOHN GERARD."
ANDREW
WAGGENER. Among the many German
emigrants who came to America in the early years of the
eighteenth century, were ANDREW WAGGENER and his
five brothers. ANDREW with one brother, EDWARD,
settled in what is now Culpeper county, Virginia, about the year
1750. They were among the volunteers who joined Colonel
WASHINGTON in his expedition against Fort Du Quesne in
1754. The following spring they marched with their
regiment - the 1st Virginia - to the fatal scene of
BRADDOCK's defeat. Among the seven hundred English who
lay dead upon the field was EDWARD WAGGENER.
After this disaster the Virginians hastened to the defence of
the frontier, now more than ever exposed to the storm of savage
warfare. ANDREW WAGGENER was commissioned
Captain and placed in command of the garrison at Fort Pleasant.
(See "Hardy County".) When the Indians ceased to visit the
Valley about the year 1765, Captain WAGGENER
purchased land and settled at Bunker's Hill, then in Frederick
county Virginia, now in Berkeley county, West Virginia.
Here he resided until the beginning of the Revolution, when he
once more entered the army and served with Washington throughout
the war. He bore a Major's commission and was at Valley
Forge, Princeton, and Trenton, and saw the British army become
prisoners of war at Yorktown. Major WAGGENER was one of
the patentees for whom Washington surveyed land on the Ohio in
1770. His lands were located on what has ever since been
known as WAGGENERS's Bottom, on the Ohio river, within the
present limits of Mason county. He never settled on these
lands, but after the Revolution continued to reside on his
homestead at Bucker's Hill. He was a personal friend of
Washington and a frequent guest of the first President.
COLONEL WILLIAM CRAWFORD.
Among the natives of Berkeley county whose names are preserved
in hisotry, now other, perhaps, has excited so much attention
and sympathy as that of Colonel WILLIAM
CRAWFORD. He was born in this county in 1734. In
1754, at the head of a company he marched with Washington
against Fort Du Quesne. His behavior on this occasion won
for him the esteem of his commander, which in after years
ripened into a warm friendship. In 1765 he made his first
visit to the West, and two years later removed his family and
settled on the Youghiogheny river, within the present limits of
Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He was among the first
settlers in the Valley, and his reputation for generosity and
hospitality lived long after his cabin home was in ruins.
In Washington's journal of his tour to the West in 1770, he
frequently refers to Colonel CRAWFORD, with whom
he spent several days, it seems, most pleasantly.
CRAWFORD accompanied him to Fort Pitt, and thence to the
great Kanawah, and located most of his lands on the Ohio.
When the Revolution began, CRAWFORD, by his own personal
efforts, enrolled a regiment, in compensation for which he
received a Colonel's commission in the Continental army.
This commission he held when he unwillingly became the leader of
an expedition against the Wyandots, which terminated so fatally
for him. His papers and records have all been lost and his
family scattered, so that very little is known of his personal
character save what has been preserved in the traditions of the
pioneers whom he so gallantly defended.
CHARLES JAMES FAULKNER, SR., who at
the age of eight years was left an orphan without a relative in
America, was born in Martinsburg, July 2, 1806. He was the
son of Major JAMES FAULKNER, a
distinguished officer in the war of 1812, and SARAH
MACKAY, whose father, WILLIAM MACKAY, was an
officer in the Revolutionary War. He entered Georgetown
College in 1816, and graduating therefrom in 1822, he attended
the law school of Chancellor TUCKER at Winchester,
and in 1829 was admitted to the bar. In 1832, he
represented Berkeley county in the General Assembly, where his
argument favoring the gradual emancipation of slaves in Virginia
at once rendered him a prominent figure in State politics.
At this time Maryland instituted a suit against Virginia, the
object being to establish the claim of the former to a large
tract of territory on the northern boundary of the latter.
Mr. FAULKNER was appointed by Virginia to prepare
a report on the boundary between the two States. This he
did, and so elaborate, and such a lucid exposition of the points
involved was it, that it was once settled the controversy.
The legal proceedings were dismissed, nor has the claim of
Maryland to the disputed territory ever been revived. His
report is found in full in Part First of this work. In
1833, he again represented Berkeley county in the Assembly,
after which, having wedded the daughter of General ELISHA
BOYD, he retired from public life, and for eight years
devoted his energies to the practice of his profession, and the
material development of his native county. In 1841, he was
elected a member of the United States Senate, but resigned his
seat before the expiration of his term. He was an earnest
advocate of the annexation of Texas, and in 1846, actively
supported the government in its declaration of war against
Mexico. In 1848, he was again a member of the Assembly, in
which body he submitted a report, most of the provisions of
which Congress the next year embodied in the Fugitive Slave Law.
In 1850, he was one of the representatives from Berkeley and
Jefferson counties in the State Constitutional Convention, in
which he championed the views of the people of the western part
of the State. He was elected to Congress in 1851, and by
consecutive reelections served four terms. Upon the
election of Buchanan to the Presidency, Mr. FAULKNER
was given the mission to France, and being promptly confirmed by
the Senate, arrived in Paris, February 18, 1857, and was
officially presented to the Emperor on the 4th of March.
Upon the election of Mr. LINCOLN, he resigned his
mission, and returning to Washington, was arrested and held as a
hostage for HENRY S. MAGRAW, State Treasurer of
Pennsylvania, and confined in the city jail. Subsequently
he was removed to Fort Lafayette, New York Harbor, and later to
Fort Warren, near Boston, where, December 9, 1881, he was
released by exchange, and returned to Virginia. He served
as Adjutant-General on the staff of STONEWALL JACKSON,
and after the war, as soon as permitted by the laws of West
Virginia, resumed the practice of his profession at Martinsburg.
He was one of the counsel on behalf of West Virginia in the suit
brought by Virginia to determine which should exercise
jurisdiction in the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson. He
was a member of the Constitutional Convention which framed the
present State Constitution, and in 1872 he was again elected to
Congress, but declined reelection. He died November 1,
1884, and was laid to rest in the family burying ground at
Martinsburg. GENERAL DAVID H.
STROTHER was born at Martinsburg, Virginia, in 1816,
and there he spent his boyhood. He was graduated from
Washington College, Pennsylvania, and soon after went to Europe,
spending two years as a student of art in Rome. Returning
to America, he immediately began his literary work. He
continued to contribute to Harper's Magazine, under the
nom de plume of "Porte Crayon." A series of
articles published in this periodical, entitled "Virginia
Illustrated," attracted much attention. During the War of
Secession he served on the staff of General BANKS.
When the war ended, the United States bestowed upon him the
title of General, in gratitude for his services. During
the administration of President HAYES he was
Consul General to Mexico. While in that country he
collected material for a work on the life and character of the
Mexicans, and was engaged in compiling it at the tie of his
death. General STROTHER was twice married,
his first wife being Miss WOLF, of Martinsburg,
and the second Miss MARY E. HUNTER, of Charlestown.
He died at Charlestown, West Virginia, March 8, 1888.
RALEIGH T. COLSTON,
Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2d Virginia Infantry, Confederate
Army, resided at Honeywood, in this county. He was born in
Richmond, Virginia, February 18, 1834. His mother, S.
JANE, was the daughter of Judge WILLIAM BROCKENBROUGH,
of the Virginia Court of Appeals. His father, Colonel
EDWARD COLSTON, was the son of RALEIGH COLSTON and
ELIZABETH MARSHALL COLSTON, the sister of Chief Justice
MARSHALL. The subject of this sketch entered the
Virginia Military Institute in the summer of 1850, but in the
following year was called home by the death of his father, and
then remained engaged in the management of the family estate.
Soon after BROWN's attempted insurrection at Harper's
Ferry a military company was organized in this county, of which
young COLSTON became captain; and when it became apparent
that civil war was inevitable, the company rendezoused at
Hedgesville, and thence marched to Harper's Ferry, where it was
enrolled as Company "E," 2d Virginia Infantry, then commanded by
Colonel THOMAS J. JACKSON. From that time until his
death his fortune was that of the famous "Stonewall Brigade."
On the morning of November 27, 1863, while leading his regiment
- of which he a Lieutenant Colonel - into action, his leg was
shattered by a ball and he was taken to the rear, where the
wounded limb was amputated. He was then taken to
Gordonsville, where, at the home of a relative JOHN B. MINOR,
he soon died from the effects of an attack of pneumonia, brought
on by exposure to cold and rain after he received his wound.
(Source: History of W. Virginia in two parts - by
Virgil A. Lewis - Publ. in Philadelphia by Hubbard Brothers -
1889) |
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