and induce us to exert every nerve to imitate the silkworm, and spin from our own bowels, although the web should be our winding-sheet." The battle of Lexington was the subject of a patriotic poetical effusion by him. On the 24th of June, 1775, Dr. Bland was one of a party of 24 gentlemen who, shortly after the flight of Dunmore, removed certain arms from the governor's palace at Williamsburg. In the following December he wrote, apparently for publication, certain philippics against Dunmore, in which the political corruption and private profligacy of his lordship's character are depicted in the blackest hues. In June, 1776, he was captain of the first troop of Virginia cavalry. He was subsequently appointed lieutenant-colonel of horse, and in September, 1777, joined the main army. From a letter, it would appear that towards the close of this year he was a member of the senate of Va. "While in the army, he frequently signalized himself by brilliant actions."* In November, 1778, he superintended the march of the British troops of convention-made prisoners at Saratoga, to Virginia; and on their arrival, or shortly after, was appointed by Washington to the command of the post at Charlottesville. From 1780 to '83, he was a member of Congress. In 1781, Farmingdale, his residence in Va., was plundered by the enemy. While in Congress he manifested his usual spirit and industry in the public cause, particularly in the financial department. In 1785 he was appointed, by Gov. Henry, lieutenant of this county. He was in that minority in the convention of Va., convened to consult upon the adoption of the federal constitution, that believed it repugnant to the interests of the country, and therefore voted against its ratification. On its adoption, however, he acquiesced in the will of the majority, and was elected to represent his district in the first Congress held under the constitution. While serving in that capacity, he died at New York, June 1st, 1790, aged 48., "In person, Col. Bland was tall-in his latter days corpulent-and of a noble countenance. His manners were marked by ease, dignity, and well-bred repose. In character he was virtuous and enlightened, of exemplary purity of manners and integrity of conduct, estimable for his private worth, and respectable for his public services. His career was distinguished rather by the usefulness of plain, practical qualifications, than by any extraordinary exhibitions of genius. Animated, from his childhood, by a profound love of country, with him patriotism was not an impulse but a principle. In style, he is fluent and correct, and if sometimes too florid or diffuse, he is at others wanting neither in energy of thought nor in elegance of diction. Moderation and good temper pervade his correspondence, and it is nowhere sullied by profanity or indelicacy."+

RICHARD BLAND was another of the many prominent Virginians who acted on the theatre of the revolution. Wirt, in speaking of him before the war, says he "was one of the most enlightened men of the colony. He was a man of finished education, and of the most unbending habits of application. His perfect mastery of every fact connected with the settlement and progress of the colony, had given him the name of the Virginian antiquary. He was also a politician of the first class; a profound logician, and was also considered as the first writer in the colony;" but he was a most ungraceful speaker in debate. "He wrote the first pamphlet on the nature of the connection with Great Britain, which had any pretension to accuracy of view on that subject; but it was a singular one: he would set out on sound principles, pursue them logically, till he found them leading to the precipice which we had to leap; start back, alarmed; then resume his ground, go over it in another direction, be led again by the correctness of his reasoning to the same place, and again tack about and try other processes to reconcile right and wrong; but left his reader and himself bewildered between the steady index of the compass in their hand, and the phantasm to which it seemed to point. Still there was more sound matter in this pamphlet, than in the celebrated Farmer's Letters, which were really but an ignis fatuus, misleading us from true principle." Mr. Bland was a member of Congress from 1774 to 1776; he died in 1778.

Sketch of Col. Bland, in the History of Va. by J. W. Campbell.

†The foregoing memoir is abridged from that in the introduction of "The Bland Papers, being a seleetion from the manuscripts of Col. Theodorick Bland, Jr., etc. etc.." edited by Charles Campbell, of Petersburg, and published there, in 1840, by Edmund and Julian C. Ruffin-an octavo volume of about 300 pages, and composed principally of an interesting collection of letters written by the first personages in the country during the revolutionary era.

56

PRINCE WILLIAM.

PRINCE WILLIAM was formed in 1730, from Stafford and King George. It is about 35 miles long, and 12 wide. The Potomac forms its eastern boundary. Pop. in 1840, whites 4,867, slaves 2,767, free colored 510; total, 8,144.

Brentsville, the county-seat, is situated 101 miles from Richmond, and 33 N. of Fredericksburg, in the heart of the county, at the head of Occoquan River. It is a small village, containing 3 stores and about 20 dwellings. The county buildings are handsomely situated on a public square, containing 3 acres. Thoroughfare and Liberia are small places in the county, containing each a few dwellings. Dumfries is situated on Quantico creek, near the Potomac. It was once the county-seat; but in 1822 the courts were removed to Brentsville, and the old court-house is converted into an Episcopal church. Dumfries is a very old town, and once had considerable commerce; but from a combination of causes it has gone rapidly to decay, and many of the houses have been removed out of town. Occoquan, situated near the mouth of a river of the same name, was established by law in 1804. It contains a large cotton factory, an extensive flouring mill, several stores, and about 40 dwellings. A handsome bridge is erected over the river at this place. The Occoquan here has a fall of 72 feet in one and a half miles, affording excellent sites for manufactories. This is the market for many of the most important shad and herring fisheries on the Potomac. The scenery around this village is uncommonly picturesque.

WILLIAM GRAYSON died at Dumfries, whither he had come on his way to Congress, March 12th, 1790, and his remains were deposited in the family vault, at the Rev. Mr. Spence Grayson's. He was first appointed a member of Congress from Virginia, in 1784, and continued a number of years. "In June, 1788, he was a member of the Virginia convention which was called for the purpose of considering the present constitution of the United States. In this assembly, rendered illustrious by men of the first talents, he was very conspicuous. His genius united with the eloquence of Henry, in opposing the adoption of the constitution. While he acknowledged the evils of the old government, he was afraid that the proposed government would destroy the liberty of the states. His principal objections to it were, that it took from the states the sole right of direct taxation, which was the highest act of sovereignty; that the limits between the national and state authorities were not sufficiently defined; that they might clash, in which case the general government would prevail; that there was no provision against raising such a navy, as was more than sufficient to protect our trade, and thus would excite the jealousy of European powers, and lead to war; and that there were no adequate checks against the abuse of power, especially by the president, who was responsi ble only to his counsellors and partners in crime, the members of the senate. After the constitution was adopted, Mr. Grayson was appointed one of the senators from Virginia, in the year 1789; his colleague was Richard Henry Lee. His great abilities were united with unimpeached integrity."

Immediately after Dunmore was driven from Gwyn's Island, in July, 1776, he sailed up the Potomac to this section of the state. The reception he met with from the inhabitants is thus related by Girardin :

Ascending the Potomac, he left, on many parts of its banks, hideous traces of pirati cal and depredatory warfare. A little above the mouth of Aquia creek, Mr. William

Brent's elegant brick house was burnt to the ground. The neighboring militia, seized with causeless alarm, retired without opposing the ravages of the lawless freebooters, who, after the destruction of the house, were proceeding to burn a valuable merchant mill, at a small distance, when 30 of the Prince William militia happily arrived, advanced with fearless step, and drove them on board. The spirit and bravery of the people of Stafford county in general, amply redeemed, on subsequent occasions, the momentary disgrace of that unaccountable panic; but the circumstance is yet well remembered in the environs; and we have heard more than once, on the very ruins of the prostrated edifice, the ludicrous account which the senile garrulity of some among the surviving actors in that scene, was ever ready to give. It appears that the Stafford militia mistook the detachment from Prince William for Englishmen, and exerted all the agility and ingenuity of which they were capable to avoid falling into their hands. Dunmore's fleet, consisting of the Roebuck, Mercury, Otter, an armed ship, some gondolas, and several tenders, having taken in fresh water, fell down the river on the ensuing day. They had, in this expedition, met with a severe gale of wind, which drove on shore several small vessels with the friends of the British government on board. These were made prisoners, and sent to Williamsburg under an escort. The third regiment and other troops had been stationed along the banks of the Potomac, to watch the motions of the enemy, while the infant Virginian fleet, consisting of some armed brigs and row-galleys, was cruising for them in the bay. The Roebuck alone could protect Dunmore and his wretched followers. The expected conflict was prevented by the flight of the foe. The excessive heat of the season, the putridity of the water, the scantiness and bad quality of the provisions on board, and the crowded and inconvenient situation of the people there, engendered complicated and malignant diseases, which hourly plunged into a watery tomb multitudes of the motley band. Thus, loaded with the execration of the country; defeated in all his schemes of civil discord, and of servile and savage hostility; hunted from station to station by the resentment of an injured people, naturally prone to loyalty, gratitude, and attachment; pursued, as it were, by Heaven and the elements themselves, Dunmore, with a wounded and humbled spirit, saw himself reduced to flee from these shores, where he had hoped triumphantly to plant the standard of despotism, and to satiate his vindictive and haughty passions with the tears and abjection of the feeble, and the blood of the brave. After burning such vessels as he was able to spare, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Americans, he steered for Lynnhaven Bay with about 40 or 50 sail; and then parting with the miserable companions of his disastrous fate, he sent some of them to St. Augustine, under convoy of the Otter, some to Bermuda, some to the West Indies, and some to Europe. With the rest, he repaired to Sir P. Parker's fleet, and, on the 14th of August, reached Staten Island, where General Howe had lately been joined by his brother, and the fleets under convoy of Commodore Hotham, and the Repulse. Towards the close of this eventful year, he returned to England in the Fowey.

PULASKI.

PULASKI was formed in 1839, from Montgomery and Wythe, and named from Count Pulaski. It is 23 miles long, with a mean width of 18 miles. New River passes through the eastern part, and then, curving to the left, with Little River, divides the county from Montgomery. The face of the country N. and Nw. of the C. H., is generally level and adapted to grain and grazing; s. and SE. of the C. H., it is more broken; yet on and near New River it is very fertile and productive in wheat. There is considerable mountain land in the county. Beef cattle are at this time the great staple of the county; but horses, swine, sheep, grain, tobacco, and hemp, could be produced in the greatest abundance. Population in 1840, whites 2,768, slaves 954, free colored 17; total, 3,739.

Newbern, the county-seat, is on the great stage-route from Bal

timore to Nashville, Tenn., 222 miles southwesterly from Richmond, 19 miles from Christiansburg, and 28 from Wytheville. It is the only village in the county, and one of considerable business for an inland town: its location is high and airy, giving a fine view of the neighboring valleys and mountains. It contains 5 mercantile stores, 1 Presbyterian and 1 Methodist church, and a population of about 300. Peak Knob, 4 miles south of Newbern, is a prominent projection in Draper's mountain, rising about 1,000 feet, and presenting from its summit a delightful and extensive landscape. Iron ore exists in abundance in this mountain, and also coal of a good quality. In its vicinity are mineral springs, supposed to possess valuable medicinal qualities. On the north bank of New River, near Newbern, there is a bluff called the Glass Windows, consisting of vertical rocks, nearly 500 feet high. and forming the immediate bank of the stream for a distance of four miles. They are considered a great curiosity. The face of these rocks is perforated by a vast number of cavities, which no doubt lead to caves or cells within the mountain. Some of these cells have been explored and found to contain saltpetre, stalactites, and other concretions.

RANDOLPH.

It is 85 miles

RANDOLPH was formed in 1787, from Harrison. long, with a mean width of 25 miles. This county is made up of several parallel ranges of mountains, with their intervening valleys it is drained by the head-waters of Elk River, and the Monongahela. The mountains are covered with the finest timber, and abound in coal and iron ore. Much of the soil of the mountains is rich, and they abound in slate, freestone, and limestone. In some parts are small caves having a kind of copperas, which is used for a dye; and along some of the water-courses, alum projects in icicle-like drops. Salt springs are numerous.. Within the last twelve years, elk and beaver have been seen in small numbers. Randolph is principally a stock-raising county, and live stock of every description are annually exported to market. Population in 1840, whites 5,799, slaves 216, free colored 193; total, 6,208.

Beverly, the county-seat, is 210 miles Nw. of Richmond, 60 s. of Morgantown, and 45 SE. of Clarksburg. It is situated near Tygart's Valley River, on a handsome plain, and contains a population of about 200.

An attempt was made as early as 1754, to settle this section of country, by David Tygart and a Mr. Files. About this time, "these two men, with their families, arrived on the east fork of the Monongahela, and, after examining the country, selected positions for their future residence. Files chose a spot on the river, at the mouth of a creek which still bears his name, where Beverly has since been established. Tygart settled a few miles further up, and also on the river. The valley in which they had thus taken

up their abode, has since been called Tygart's Valley, and the east fork of the Monongahela, Tygart's Valley River.

"The difficulty of procuring bread-stuffs for their families, their contiguity to an Indian village, and the fact that an Indian war-path passed near their dwellings, soon determined them to retrace their steps. Before they carried this determination into effect, the family of Files became the victims of savage cruelty. At a time when all the family were at their cabin, except an elder son, they were discovered by a party of Indians, supposed to be returning from the South Branch, who inhumanly butchered them all. Young Files being not far from the house, and hearing the uproar, approached until he saw too distinctly the deeds of death which were doing; and feeling the utter impossibility of affording relief to his own, resolved, if he could, to effect the safety of Tygart's family. This was done, and the country abandoned by them."*

A writer in the American Pioneer, Mr. Felix Renick, has given some anecdotes of "Big Joe Logston," who lived somewhere in this region in the latter part of the last century. "No Kentuckian," says he, "could ever, with greater propriety than he, have said, 'I can out-run, out-hop, out-jump, throw down, drag out, and whip any man in the country."" Big Joe removed from the vicinity of the source of the N. branch of the Potomac, to Kentucky, about the year 1790, during the prevalence of the Indian wars. Mr. Renick gives the following account of a desperate fight which he had in that country with two Indians:

Riding along a path which led into a fort, he came to a fine vine of grapes. He laid his gun across the pommel of his saddle, set his hat on it, and filled it with grapes. He turned into the path, and rode carelessly along, eating his grapes; and the first intimation he had of danger, was the crack of two rifles, one from each side of the road. One of the balls passed through the paps of his breast, which, for a male, were remarkably prominent, almost as much so as those of many nurses. The ball just grazed the skin between the paps, but did not injure the breast-bone. The other ball struck his horse behind the saddle, and he sunk in his tracks. Thus was Joe eased off his horse in a manner more rare than welcome. Still he was on his feet in an instant, with his rifle in his hands, and might have taken to his heels; and I will venture the opinion that no Indian could have caught him. That, he said, was not his sort. He had never left a battle-ground without leaving his mark, and he was resolved that that should not be the first. The moment the guns fired, one very athletic Indian sprang towards him with tomahawk in hand. His eye was on him, and his gun to his eye, ready, as soon as he approached near enough to make a sure shot, to let him have it. As soon as the Indian discovered this, he jumped behind two pretty large saplings, some small distance apart, neither of which was large enough to cover his body, and, to save himself as well as he could, he kept springing from one to the other.

Joe, knowing he had two enemies on the ground, kept a look-out for the other by a quick glance of the eye. He presently discovered him behind a tree loading his gun. The tree was not quite large enough to hide him. When in the act of pushing down his bullet, he exposed pretty fairly his hips. Joe, in the twinkling of an eye, wheeled, and let him have his load in the part exposed. The big Indian then, with a mighty "Ugh!" rushed towards him with his raised tomahawk. Here were two warriors met, each determined to conquer or die-each the Goliath of his nation. The Indian had rather the advantage in size of frame, but Joe in weight and muscular strength. The Indian made a halt at the distance of fifteen or twenty feet, and threw his tomahawk with all his force, but Joe had his eye on him and dodged it. It flew quite out of the reach of either of them. Joe then clubbed his gun and made at the Indian, thinking to knock him down. The Indian sprang into some brush or saplings, to avoid his blows. The Indian depended entirely on dodging, with the help of the saplings. At length Joe, thinking he had a pretty fair chance, made a side blow with such force, that, mis. sing the dodging Indian, the gun, now reduced to the naked barrel, was drawn quite out of his hands, and flew entirely out of reach. The Indian now gave another exulting

* Withers' Border Warfare.