1. History of Richmond. Chapter Third. Richmond during the Colony. Topographical description of the town-Extracts from Col. Byrd's MSS-act of incorporation passed in 1742Fairs directed to be held twice a year-Appearance of the Streets-Motley population.-Newspapers-The Virginia Gazette. Chapter Fourth. During the Revolution. Meeting of the Second Virginia Convention-Sketches of some of its members-Arnold's invasion: Attack of Lieut. Col. Simcoe's Rangers-Gov. Harrison: Chap ter Fifth. Convention of '88. Position of the two Parties friendly and hostile to the new Constitution-their respective champions:-the Capitol built-Fire-British Debt case-Armory Guns, &c........ 2. A Love Story...... 3. Scenes Beyond the Western Border. Written on the Prairie. By a Captain of U. S. Dra goons.-Ride in the Rain-A buffalo Hunt-The Camanches-Frost on the Prairies-Music of Nature, &c., &c....................... 4. Arthur Lennox, or the Challenge. By Ralph Lockwood. A Tale... 5. Poetry and Religion. No. VII. Additional prejudices considered-False Impressions, &c. Dr. Johnson's opinion examined-Influence of the Ancient Classics The Christian character not unpoetical.... ORIGINAL PROSE ARTICLES-(CONTINUED.) PAGE. .705 .723 .726 .730 ..742 13. My Harp. By William Pembroke Mulchinock.757 The Evening Book-Life in the Sandwich Islands THIS WORK IS PUBLISHED IN MONTHLY NUMBERS AVERAGING SIXTY-FOUR PAGES EACH, at FIVE DOLLARS, Per annum, INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE. RICHMOND, VA. MACFARLANE & FERGUSSON. PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM-JNO. R. THOMPSON, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. VOL. XVII. RICHMOND, DECEMBER, 1851. HISTORY OF RICHMOND. CHAPTER THIRD. RICHMOND DURING THE COLONY. The Legislature of Virginia in 1679 granted to Captain William Byrd land in the neighborhood of the falls of the James, on condition of his making a settlement there. His grant was to begin one mile and a half below the falls on the south side, to extend five miles up the river, and one mile backwards into the woods; on the north side, to begin half a mile below the falls, to extend five miles up, and two miles backwards from the river. He was to place there fifty ablebodied and well-armed men; said men, however, to be armed and maintained by the lower counties; also not less than 250 tytheables, who were to be concentrated in a space of half a mile along and a quarter back from the river. He was to be captain of these men and lead them against the Indiaus, within a circle of twenty miles around, without pay; if they went farther on an excursion they were to be paid as other soldiers were. He was, with two others, to act as judges, and had the power to make all by-laws necessary to the government of his society. The 250 tytheables were free from any arrest for debt, or any other cause except treason, for twelve years, provided they had not broken jail to enter the community, and they were free from all taxes, except such as they laid on themselves for fifteen years. It was thus proposed to make an armed colony ou the frontier, bound by a feudal tenure, as protection against the Indian tribes; these colonies were also extended to other parts of the frontier; one was established where Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock, now stands. NO. 12. town by act of Assembly in 1742, as Byrd's Warehouse; the name very well indicates the character of the place. We hear nothing more of it in the colony's history for some time. Colonel Byrd of Westover, son of the one to whom the grant was made, had the honor of planning and laying out the town of Richmond and of giving it a name. He had been appointed one of the commissioners to run the line between North Carolina and Virginia, and wrote a very graphic and entertaining account of the toils, sufferings and dangers incurred in exploring, for the first time, the Dismal Swamp, and in passing through a wild and unsettled country up to the mountains. It was while toiling through these dense woods and dark morasses that the idea of building a city at the falls of the James first entered his mind, and afterwards, while exploring lands in North Carolina, in company with his friend, Mr. Banister, on a journey, as he quaintly terms it, to the Land of Eden, the city was planned. He thus speaks of it. "When we got home we laid the foundation of two large cities. One at Shacco's to be called Richmond, and the other at the point of the Appomattox river to be named Petersburg. These, Major Mayo offered to lay out into lots without fee or reward. The truth of it is, these two places being the uppermost landings on James and Appomattox rivers are naturally intended for marts, where the traffic of the outer inhabitants most centre. Thus did we not only build castles, but also cities in the air." The prosperity of Richmond as a place of trade, aud the great lines of communication now centering here and bringing on them the traffic of the upper country and of the mountains, prove the sagacity of Colonel Byrd in choosing this as a mart for the outer inhabitants. From the mention of the place on which Richmond stands, In 1680 the number of fifty men was found un- made by Colonel Byrd in his manuscripts th necessary or burdensome and they were reduced year preceding, it appears to have been a large to twenty soldiers, and Colonel Byrd was allow-plantation, and to have had several mills moved ed 2,000 pounds of tobacco for maintaining each by the abundant water power. one. 66 In his Progress to the Mines he thus speaks: In 1682 the fear of Indian invasion seems to Sept. 18, 1732. For the pleasure of the good have died away and this standing army of Vir- company of Mrs. Byrd and her little governor, ginia, consisting of twenty men and two corpo- my son, I went about half way to the falls in the rals, was disbanded. The land, which proba- chariot. There we halted, not far from a purlbly belonged to Colonel Byrd originally, was still ing stream, and upon the stump of a propagate occupied by him, a trading post was established, oak picked the bones of a piece of roast beef. and the soil cleared and planted. It appears in the By the spirit which that gave me I was the betrecords at that time, until it was made into a ter able to part with the dear companions of my VOL. XVII-89 other, being about half a mile in length, and found the soil very good and too high for any flood less than that of Deucalion to do the least damage. There is a very wild prospect both upward and downward the river, being full of rocks, over which the stream tumbled with a murmur loud enough to drown the notes of a scolding wife. "This island would make an agreeable hermitage for any good christian, who had a mind to retire from the world. travels, and to perform the rest of my journey on horseback. I reached Shacco's before two o'clock, and crossed the river to the mills. I had the grief to find them both standing as still for the want of water as a dead woman's tongue for want of breath. It had rained so little for many weeks above the falls, that the naiads had hardly water enough left to wash their faces. However, as we ought to turn all our misfortunes to the best advantage, I directed Mr. Booker, my first minister there, to make use of the lowness "Sept. 20. About nine I left the prudentest of the water for blowing up the rocks at the orders I could think of with my vizier and then mouth of the canal. For that purpose I ordered crossed the river to Shacco's. I made a morning iron drills to be made about two feet long, point-visit to three of my quarters, where, besides finded with steel, chisel-fashion, in order to make ing my people well, I had the pleasure of seeing holes, into which we put cartridges of powder better crops than usual, both of corn and tobacco." containing each about three ounces. There wanted skill among my engineers to choose the best parts of the stone for boring, that we might blow to the most advantage. Colonel Byrd proceeded to lay out his town and to collect settlers within it; and in 1742 obtained from the House of Burgesses an act of incorporation. the river bank, leaving a large open space above the town between it and the creek. This space, expressly exempted from buildings and kept as a common, was particularly described in the act as lying between the westernmost street of the town and the creek, and between the hills and the river. Fairs were directed to be held twice a year; one on the second Thursday in May, the other on the second Thursday in November, for the purpose of aiding the newly begun city, and of making it a place of trade. "They made their holes quite perpendicular, In this act, bearing date May 17, by which the whereas they should have humored the grain of town, already laid off and partly sold, was grantthe stone for the more effectual execution. I or-ed a charter, we find that it lay below Shockoe dered the points of the drills to be made chisel creek, partly on the hill and partly under it on way, rather than the diamond, that they might need to be seldom repaired, though in stone the diamond points would make the most despatch. "The water now flowed out of the river so slowly that the miller was obliged to pond it up in the canal by setting open the flood-gates at the mouth, and shutting those close at the mill. By this contrivance he was able at any time to grind two or three bushels, either for his choice customers, or for the use of my plantations. Then I walked to the place where they broke the flax, which is wrought with much greater ease than the hemp, and is much better for spinning. From Privileges were granted to those attending thence I paid a visit to the weaver, who needed such fairs, on the plan of those held in European a little of Minerva's inspiration to make the most cities; power to trade free from tax and impost, of a piece of cloth. Then I looked in upon my freedom from all demands of the sheriff for serCaledonian spinster, who has mended more in vice, and exemption from military duty. This her looks than in her humour. However, she system is now happily obsolete; it betokens a promised much, though at the same time intend- semi-civilized state of society and had its origin ed to perform little. She is too high-spirited for when the principles of trade were not well unMr. Booker, who hates to have his sweet temper derstood, when commerce was not on any reguruffled, and will rather suffer matters to go a lit-lar footing, and when even intercourse between tle wrong sometimes, than give his righteous spirit man and man was not safe. any uneasiness. Sept. 19. After I had swallowed a few poached eggs, we rode down to the mouth of the canal, and from thence crossed over to the broad rock island in a canoe. Our errand was to view some iron ore which we dug up in two places. That on the surface seemed spongy and poor, which gave us no great encouragement to Among the next acts passed, was one forbidsearch deeper, nor did the quantity appear to be ding the erection of wooden chimneys, and revery great. However, for my greater satisfac- quiring the sheriff of Henrico to pull down any tion, I ordered a hand to dig there for some time that remained after three years. This act was this winter. renewed again and again, as our ancestors seem "We walked from one end of the island to the to have been fond of log chimneys, although Whether these fairs were well kept up or not we do not hear; from the fact that other ordinances directing fairs to be held in this town were made at various times, we think it likely that they were but slightly attended, except when ships came from England. they risked the future capital of Virginia by their] not be preserved from the charge of having been obstinate attachment to that inelegant and dan-built up by chance. gerous form of building. In 1773 the power of the justices was increased In 1752 trustees were appointed by an act of by act of Assembly, in allowing them to build Assembly to lay off the city, to regulate streets, wharves and quays, to erect cranes and other and to settle and determine in all disputes rela- things for the furtherance of trade and for the ting to the city; they had the power to elect suc-public good. Another ordinance, directing the cessors, and to fill all vacancies in their own pulling down of wooden chimneys, showed the body. Their names were the honorable Peter Randolph, Esq., William Byrd, Esq., William Randolph, Bowler Cocke, Richard Randolph, Thomas Atkinson, Samuel Gleadowe, Samuel Duval and John Pleasants, gentlemen. Burnaby, who travelled through this country in 1759, visited and describes the seat of Colonel Byrd, the son of Colonel William Byrd who laid off the town; it was called Belvidere, "as romantic and elegant as any thing I have ever seen; situated very high and commanding a fine prospect of the river, which is half a mile broad forming cataracts in its passage down the falls, There are several little islands scattered carelessly about, very rocky and covered with trees, and two or three villages in view at a small distance. Over all these you discover a prodigious extent of wilderness, and the river winding majestically along through the midst of it." still unsightly and smoky character of the town, and as hogs and goats were abundant and much given to running at large, it was enacted that any man might kill them who chose, provided he did not eat what he killed, but informed the owner of the thing done. Imagination might picture Richmond as it was then; and to do so, let us go towards Rocketts and look around. We see a shabby looking village of log houses, with wooden chimneys stuck at each end of them, and seeming, from the way in which they leau off, as though they had just quarrelled and were about to part company. Some few better built houses render The streets, neither well laid out nor paved, are the others more dingy and rough by contrast. covered with mud or dust; hogs and goats wanfume the air; white headed children in ragged der about unchecked; pigstyes abound and pertroops, and black ones of all shades of color, gambol in the dust, build mud houses where now wellpaved streets and well-constructed buildings stand, bathe in Shockoe creek or swim in the river. In 1768 Colonel Byrd laid off the towns of Shoccoes and Rocky Ridge; one an addition to Richmond, the other the present Manchester. We find in the paper of that day, The Virginia Larger lads hunt and set traps for hares or Gazette, that they were sold by lottery; it was muskrats where now is the heart of Richmond, the regularly advertised in successive papers that deer and the turkey are found on the hills around, Presley Thornton, Peyton Randolph, John Page, and the plough moves through the present place Charles Carter, Esqrs. and others would act as of business. Where now the hammer of indusmanagers; the time of drawing was mentioned, try rings and the builder plies his trowel; where the lots spoken of and numbered, and mills, ferries the beast of burden toils under his load, and the and water powers were placed among the prizes. various sounds that mark the existence of busy, The preface states that the obstructions in the noisy man are heard, there the forest spread silentriver would soon be removed, that by thus pass-ly, the deer bounded before the hunter, the squirrel ing the falls the navigation of the river would be sprung from tree to tree; and the bird built her opened some two hundred miles, so that there nest fearlessly where now the mother cheers her would be only about sixty miles of portage beoffspring. tween the cessation of boat navigation and the What a motley crew must the streets of the vilOhio river; that thus a trade with the western lage have presented; and how many varieties in country and the Indian tribes could be carried on, language, dress, manner and appearance could be and that consequently the Richmond lottery af-seen:-the English, the Scotch and the Irish of all forded great advantages. kinds, from the shrewd, intelligent London or Thus early was pointed out the destiny of the Glasgow bred merchant to the servant sold for capital city of Virginia; the wisdom of its foun- crime from his native country; the Virginia genders selected it as a place to concentrate trade, tleman with the dress, speech and carriage of the and the promise of improved navigation, and the English county squire; the mechanics of various suggestion thrown out in regard to the Ohio, nations and of various trades, working for the contain the first plan of opening a communica- rich and indolent men of the province; the shoption with the west for the purpose of trade. The men with keen eyes, making the most of his goods titles thus acquired are often referred to in inves- and speaking of high prices in England, with tigating the rights of property; and although the names of European houses and streets as these titles are valid enough, still Richmond can-glibly turned from his tongue as those of Stew |