"In the course of the evening after these outrages were committed, John Hadden, passing the house of Connoly, saw a tame elk lying dead in the yard. This, and the death-like stillness that was all around, excited his fear that all was not right. Entering the house he saw the awful desolation. Seeing that the bloody work had been but recently done, he hastened to alarm the neighborhood, and sent an express to Captain Benjamin Wilson, living twenty miles farther down the Valley, with the intelligence. With great promptitude, Captain Wilson went through the settlement, exerting himself to procure as many volunteers as would justify going in pursuit of the aggressors. So indefatigable was he in accomplishing his purpose, that, on the day after the murders were perpetrated, he appeared on the theatre of their exhibition with thirty men, prepared to take the trail and push forward in pursuit of the savages. For five days they followed through cold and wet. At this time many of the men expressed a determination to return. They had suffered much, travelled far, and yet saw no prospect of overtaking the enemy. It is not strange that they became dispirited. In order to expedite their progress, the numerous water-courses which lay across their path, swollen to an unusual height and width, were passed without any preparation to avoid getting wet; in consequence, after crossing one of them, they were compelled to travel with icicles hanging from their clothes. They suffered much, too, for want of provisions. The short time afforded for preparation had not admitted of their taking with them as much as they supposed would be required, and they had already been on the chase longer than was anticipated. With great difficulty Captain Wilson prevailed on them to

continue the pursuit one day longer, hoping the Indians would be compelled to halt in order to hunt for food. Not yet being sensible that they had gained upon the enemy, the men positively refused to go farther, and returned to their homes."

LIEUTENANT JOHN WHITE, of Tygart's Valley, was killed by the Indians in 1778. A party of them lying in ambush fired at him as he was riding by, wounding his horse so that he threw his rider, whom they then tomahawked and scalped. Captain Wilson, with his usual promptitude, again went in pursuit of the Indians. But the wily savages returning by another way than the one he took, escaped him.

Beverly, the county seat, was established by legislative enactment December 16, 1790, on lands the property of James Westfall. John Wilson, Jacob Westfall, Sylvester Ward, Thomas Phillips, Hezekiah Rosecrouts, William Wormesley and Valentine Stalnaker, were appointed trustees. January 26, 1811, the freeholders of Beverly were directed to elect five fit and able men, freeholders and inhabitants of the town, to be trustees thereof. By Act of Assembly, January 17, 1848, the town was incorporated under the name of the "Borough of Beverly."

PENDLETON.

Pendleton county was formed from Augusta, Hardy and Rockingham, December 4, 1787, when the General Assembly enacted "That from and after the first of May next, all those parts of the counties of Augusta, Hardy and Rockingham, within the following bounds: beginning on the line of Rockingham county on the North Mountain, opposite to Charles Wilson's on the South Fork; thence a straight line to the Clay Lick on the North Fork; thence to the top of the Alleghenies and along the same and the east side of the Greenbrier waters to the southwest fountain of the South Branch; and thence between the same and the waters of James river, along the dividing ridge to the said North Mountain, and with the top of the same to the beginning shall form one distinct and new county, and be called and known by the name of Pendleton."

The justices were directed to hold the first court for the new county at the house of Zariah Stratton.

EDMUND PENDLETON, in honor of whom the county was named, was born in Caroline county, in 1741, and early in life entered upon the study of law. He was the president of the Virginia Convention of 1775, and also of that of 1778, which ratified the Federal Constitution. He was twice a member of Congress and was long president of the Virginia Court of Appeals. Upon the organization of the Federal Government, he was selected by Congress as District Judge for Virginia but declined the appointment. He died at Richmond, in 1803.

Seybert's Fort.-Twelve miles west from the present town of Franklin stood a small frontier post known as

Fort Seybert. It was a rude structure, but with the inmates well armed it would have proven strong enough to resist an attack of the Indians. Like other structures of its kind, it was a place of refuge for the settlers around its walls. Into it they fled at the approach of the savage foe, and here they remained in safety during periods when the Indians were most troublesome. In May, 1758, when between thirty and forty persons were within the enclosure, it was attacked by a party of Shawnees under the blood-thirsty chief, Kill-buck. The following account is given by De Hass :

Finding neither threatening words nor bullets of any avail, the cunning savages, after two days' trial, resorted to strategy, and, unhappily, with most fatal success. They made various propositions to the besieged to give up, and their lives should be spared; if not, the siege should be continued and every soul massacred.

"The promise of safety lured the unfortunate victims from their duty, and they yielded quiet possession of the fort. There were about thirty persons at the time in the fort and these the savages proceeded to secure. Instantly the whites realized the horror of their situation and saw the inevitable doom which awaited them. In a moment of false security they trusted the promise of the savages and now were about to pay the penalty with their lives. Of the whole number all were massacred but eleven."

The horrible scene was witnessed by a youth named James Dyer, who was carried to the Indian towns on the Sciota, and escaped after two years' captivity.

It is stated by Kercheval that a son of Captain Seybert, having killed two Indians, had his gun raised to