Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908. Author:Sylvanius Jackson Quinn

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СКАЧАТЬ Fontaine] Maury's "History of Virginia."

      21st.—Fair weather. At ten we set out from Mr. Moore's, and crossed the river of Mattapony, and continued on the road, and were on horseback till nine of the clock at night, before we came to Mr. Robert Beverley's house where we were well entertained, and remained this night.

      22nd.—At nine in the morning we set out from Mr. Beverley's. The Governor left his chaise here, and mounted his horse. The weather fair, we continued on our journey until we came to Mr. Woodford's where we lay, and were well entertained. This house lies on Rappahannock River ten miles below the falls.

      23rd.—Here we remained all this day, and diverted ourselves and rested our horses.

      24th.—In the morning, at seven, we mounted our horses and came to Austin Smith's housef about ten, where we dined, and remained till about one of the clock, when we set out, and about nine of the clock we came to the German-town, where we rested that night—bad beds and indifferent entertainment.

      German-town, 25th.—After dinner we went to see the mines, but I could not observe that there was any good mine. The Germans pretend that it is a silver mine; we took some of the ore and endeavored to run it, but could get nothing out of it, and I am of opinion it will not come to anything, no, not as much as lead. Many of the gentlemen of the county are concerned in this work. We returned and to our hard beds.

      26th.—At seven we got up, and several gentlemen of the country, that were to meet the Governor at this place for the expedition, arrived here, as also two companies of Rangers, consisting each of six men, and an ofiicer. Four Meherrin Indians also came.[3] In the morning I diverted myself with other gentlemen shooting at a mark. At twelve we dined, and after dinner we mounted our horses and crossed the Rappahannoc River that runs by this place, and went to find out some convenient place for our horses to feed in, and to view the land hereabouts. Our guide left us, and we went so far in the woods that we did not know the way back again; and so we hallowed and fired our guns. Half an hour after sunset the guide came to us. and we went to cross the river by a ford higher up. The descent to the river being steep, and the night dark, we were obliged to dismount and lead our horses down to the river side, which was very troublesome. The bank being very steep, the greatest part of our company went into the water to mount their horses, where they were up to the crotch in the water. After we had forded the river and came to the other side, where the bank was steep also, in going up, the horse of one of our company slipped and fell back into the river on the top of his rider, but he received no other damage than being heartily wet, which made sport for the rest. A hornet stung one of the gentlemen in the face which swelled prodigiously. About ten we came to the town, where we supped, and to bed.

      [3] These Indians came from the Meherrin river, where Governor Spotswood Owned a large body of land. He had opened a school there for the education and conversion of the Indian children, which made him quite popular with the Indians In that quarter. The Governor and Lieutenant Fontaine visited that part of the country a few weeks before they started on this expedition.

      27th.—We got our tents in order, and our horses shod. About twelve I was taken with a violent headache and pains in all my bones, so that I was obliged to lie down, and was very bad that day.

      28th,—About one in the morning I was taken with a violent fever, which abated about six at night, and I began to take the bark, and had one ounce divided into eight doses, and took two of them by ten of the clock that night. The fever abated, but I had great pains in my head and bones.

      29th.—In the morning we got all things in readiness, and about one we left the German-town to set out on our intended journey. At five in the afternoon, the Governor gave orders to encamp near a small river, three miles from Germanna, which we called Expedition Run, and here we lay all night. The first encampment was called Beverley Camp, in honor of one of the gentlemen of our party. We made great fires, and supped, and drank good punch. By ten of the clock I had taken all of my ounce of Jesuit's Bark, but my head was much out of order.

      30th.—In the morning about seven of the clock, the trumpet sounded to awake all the company, and we got up. One Austin Smith, one of the gentlemen with us, having a fever, returned home. We had lain upon the ground under cover of our tents, and we found by the pains in our bones that we had not had good beds to lie upon. At nine in the morning, we sent our servants and baggage forward, and we remained, because two of the Governor's horses had strayed. At half past two we got the horses, at three we mounted, and at half an hour after four, we came up with our baggage at a small river, three miles on the way, which we called Mine River, because there was an appearance of a silver mine by ii We made about three miles more, and came to another small river, which is at the foot of a small mountain, so we encamped here and called it Mountain Run, and our camp we called Todd's Camp. We had good pasturage for our horses, and venison in abundance for ourselves which we roasted before the fire upon wooden forks, and so we went to bed in our tents. Made 6 miles this day.

      31st.—At eight in the morning we set out from Mountain Run, and after going five miles we came upon the upper part of Rappahannoc River. One of the gentlemen and I, we kept on one side of the company about a mile, to have the better hunting. I saw a deer, and shot him from my horse, but the horse threw me a terrible fall and ran away; we ran after, and with a great deal of difficulty got him again; but we could not find the deer I had shot, and we lost ourselves, and it was two hours before we could come upon the track of our company. About five miles further we crossed the same river again, and two miles further we met with a large bear, which one of our company shot, and I got the skin. We killed several deer, and about two miles from the place where we killed the bear, we encamped upon Rappahannock River. From our encampment we could see the Appalachian Hills very plain. We made large fires, pitched our tents, and cut bows to lie upon, had good liquor, and at ten we went to sleep. We always kept a sentry at the Governor's door. We called this Smith's Camp. Made this day fourteen miles.

      1st September.—At eight we mounted our horses, and made the first five miles of our way through a very pleasant plain, which lies where Rappahannock River forks. I saw there the largest timber, the finest and deepest mould, and the best grass that I ever did see. We had some of our baggage put out of order, and our company dismounted, by hornets stinging the horses. This was some hindrance, and did a little damage, but afforded a great deal of diversion. We killed three bears this day, which exercised the horses as well as the men. We saw two foxes but did not pursue them; we killed several deer. About five of the clock, we came to a run of water at the foot of a hill, where we pitched our tents. We called the encampment Dr. Robinson's Camp, and the river Blind Run. We had good pasturage for our horses, and every one was cook for himself. We made our beds with bushes as before On this day we made 13 miles.

      2nd.—At nine we were all on horseback and after riding about five miles we crossed Rappahannoc river, f almost at the head, where it is very small. We had a rugged way; we passed over a great many small runs of water, some of which were deep, and others very miry. Several of our company were dismounted, some were down with their horses, others under their horses, and some thrown off. We saw a bear running down a tree, but it being Sunday we did. not endeavor to kill anything. We encamped at five by a small river we called White Oak River, and called our Camp Taylor's Camp. 3rd.—About eight we were on horseback, and about ten we came to a thicket, so tightly laced together, that we had a great deal of trouble to get through; our baggage was injured, our clothes torn all to rags, and the saddles and holsters also torn. About five of the clock we encamped almost at the head of James River,[4] just below the great mountains. We called this camp Colonel Robertson's Camp. We made all this day but eight miles.

      4th.—We had two of our men sick with the measles, and one of our horses poisoned, with a rattlesnake. We took the heaviest of our baggage, our tired horses, and the sick men, and made as convenient a lodge for them as we could, and left people to guard them, and hunt for them. We had finished this work by twelve, and so we went out. The sides of the mountains were so full of vines and briers, that we were forced to clear СКАЧАТЬ