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Travels in Virginia in
Revolutionary Times
COPYRIGHTED BY
J. P. BELL COMPANY, INC.
LYNCHBURG, VA.
1922
Travels in Virginia
in Revolutionary
Times
Edited by
A. J. MORRISON
This is a book of Travels in Virginia during a period thatmay be called revolutionary, from the year 1769 to the year1802, when the United States lay still to the east of Franceand Spain, and the limit of Virginia to the west was theriver Ohio: it was a proud commonwealth, and with reason,territorially, in the character of its ruling people, and in thatinexplicable inheritance which has made Virginia significant.It is interesting to observe, among these travellers, how carefullythe best informed of them estimate the strength of Virginia,whether justly or not regarded at home and here andthere abroad as the most influential of the new states. Thosewere extraordinary years in the making of America, the fundof the capital of the country, as it were, accumulating to thepoint of application in surprising ways. It is well to lookback, through foreign eyes, and see a little of what the situationwas at that time in the State of the first dynasty.
Of these travellers, one was in the country before the warand his memoranda introduce the Revolution—very peaceful,then disturbances, and then musquetry, the author shootingfor King George; another came with the good King’stroops and saw Virginia on parole; one was a chaplain inthe army of the allies, one a general officer of that army, andthere was a surgeon to the enemies from Hesse, whose bookis excellent in a series of remarkable books. The others cameafter the war, men of science, youngsters seeing the world, a[6]missionary, a sad emigrant from France, and a sailor whohad quitted the sea and embarked in the novelist’s business.A notable group of observers, and if, even where they aremost explicit, we could see but a small part of what they intendus to see, what a picture. From year’s end to year’send, decade to decade, the century is out, and everything isdifferent; and to come at the truth of the matter as it wasbefore we should have to retrace every step of the way, andthat is impossible. As a makeshift we read novels and documentedhistories.
The method in the chapters following has been to let thetraveller tell his own story, interrupting him where he seemsleast interesting, adding very little, making him responsiblefor his version of the facts. It is not so much the itemizedaccount that is wanted as the proceeds of the whole, the generalbalance as one impression. As many travellers, so manyroads and they may follow but one. The young man will beapt to lose his temper and record disagreeable things. Thegreat man, treated with consider