hilly, and the soil well adapted to grazing. The bottom lands on Mill creek and its branches are of the first quality. From the interior of the county, the principal exports are cattle and pork; along the Ohio, which bounds it on the west, the people export large quantities of staves, hoop-poles, and lumber of all kinds. Pop. in 1840, whites 4,803, slaves 87; total, 4,890. Ripley, the county-seat, lies 336 miles northwesterly from Richmond, and 12 from the Ohio River, on the Great Mill creek, at its confluence with Sycamore creek. Although but recently established, it is a thriving village, containing 2 mercantile stores, and about 30 dwellings. Ravenswood, 10 miles NE. of Ripley, on the Ohio, contains 1 church, 1 store, 1 steam saw-mill, and about 15 dwellings. JAMES CITY. JAMES CITY was one of the eight original shires into which Virginia was divided in 1634. It has York River on its northern, and the James on its southern boundary. Its length is 23 miles, mean breadth 8 miles. Pop., whites 1,325, slaves 1,947, free colored 507; total, 3,779. Jamestown, the first settlement in British America, was settled by Capt. John Smith and his companions, May 13th, 1607. The site is a point of land projecting into the James. The water is gaining on the shore, and the time may arrive when the waves will roll over it. Of this deeply interesting spot, little remains but a church-yard, and the tower of an ancient church-a venerable memento of antiquity, carrying back the mind of the traveller, as he hurries by in a passing steamer, to scenes long since vanished "down time's lengthening way." How appropriate and beautiful are the reflections of the British Spy at this spot: It is difficult [says he] to look at this venerable steeple, surrounded as it is with these awful proofs of the mortality of man, without exclaiming, in the pathetic solemnity of our Shakspeare, "The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, Whence, my dear S arises the irrepressible reverence and tender affection with which I look at this broken steeple? Is it that my soul, by a secret, subtle process, invests the mouldering ruin with her own powers; imagines it a fellow-being; a venerable old man, a Nestor, or an Ossian, who has witnessed and survived the ravages of successive generations, the companions of his youth, and of his maturity, and now mourns his own solitary and desolate condition, and hails their spirits in every passing cloud? Whatever may be the cause, as I look at it, I feel my soul drawn forward as by the cords of gentlest sympathy, and involuntarily open my lips to offer consolation to the drooping pile. Where, my is the busy, bustling crowd which landed here two hundred years ago? Where is Smith, that pink of gallantry, that flower of chivalry? I fancy that I can see their first slow and cautious approach to the shore; their keen and vigilant eyes piercing the forest in every direction, to detect the lurking Indian, with his tomahawk, bow and arrow. Good heavens! what an enterprise! how full of the most fearful perils! and yet how entirely profitless to the daring men who personally undertook and achieved it! Through what a series of the most spirit-chilling hardships had they to toil!-How often did they cast their eyes to England in vain! and with what delusive hopes, day after day, did the little famished crew strain their sight to catch the white sail of comfort and relief! But day after day the sun set, and darkness covered the earth; but no sail of comfort or relief came. How often in the pangs of hunger, sickness, solitude, and disconsolation, did they think of London; her shops, her markets groaning under the weight of plenty; her streets swarming with gilded coaches, bustling hacks, with crowds of lords, dukes, and commons, with healthy, busy, contented faces of every description; and, among them, none more healthy, or more contented, than those of their ungrateful and improvident directors! But now-where are they all? the little famished colony which landed here, and the many-colored crowd of Londonwhere are they, my dear S.....? Gone, where there is no distinction; consigned to the common earth. Another generation succeeded them; which, just as busy and as bustling as that which fell before it, has sunk down into the same nothingness. Another, and yet another billow, has rolled on, each emulating its predecessor in height; towering for its moment, and curling its foaming honors to the clouds; then roaring, breaking, and perishing on the same shore. It is not known, precisely, when the church, the tower of which remains, was built. A church was erected very soon after its first settlement, which the Westover мs. says "cost no more than £50.” The following extracts from Smith's History, will throw some light upon the subject: And so we returned all well to Iames towne, where this new supply being lodged with the rest, accidentally fired their quarters, and so the towne, which being but thatched with reeds, the fire was so fierce as it burnt their pallisado's, (though eight or ten yards distant,) with their armes, bedding, apparell, and much priuate prouision. Good Master Hunt, our preacher, lost all his liberary, and all he had but the cloathes on his backe: yet none neuer heard him repine at his losse. This happned in the winter, in that extreame frost, 1607.-Smith, book 3, (Richmond edition,) p. 168. The spring approaching, and the ship departing, Mr. Scrivener and Captaine Smith divided betwixt them the rebuilding lames towne; the repairing our pallisadoes; the cutting downe trees; preparing our fields; planting our corne, and to rebuild our church, and to recover our store-house. All men thus busie at their severall labors, Master Nel son arrived with his lost Phenix.-Book 3, p. 170. The Phoenix arrived, says Sparks, in his Life of Smith, in the spring of 1608. Smith says, under the chapter headed "The gouernment deuolued to Captaine Samuel Argall 1617:" In March they set saile, 1617, [from England,] and in May he [Argall] arrived at Iames towne, where hee was kindly entertained, by Captaine Yearley and his companie, in a martiall order, whose right-hand file was led by an Indian. În Iames towne he found but fiue or six houses, the church downe, the pallizado's broken, the bridge in pieces, the well of fresh water spoiled, the storehouse vsed for the church; the marketplace and streets, and all other spare places planted with tobacco; the saluages as frequent in their houses as themselues, whereby they become expert in our armes, and had a great many in their custodie and possession; the colony dispersing all about, planting tobacco. From the above, it is evident that previous to 1617, or 10 years after the first settlement of Jamestown, there were two churches destroyed. This tower now standing may have belonged to the second church, and survived its destruction. It could not have been part of the first, for that "cost no more than £50;" or it may have been the tower of a third. We can only surmise that the tower has been standing about 230 years. It is unnecessary to detail further the early history of Jamestown, as it is delineated in the general history of Virginia in this volume. Two actions were fought in this vicinity in the revolution. The first was June 25th, 1781, and took place at Spencer's ordinary, in the forks of the roads leading to Jamestown and Williamsburg. The subjoined account is from Girardin: Lafayette, attentive to the movements of his adversary, no sooner observed his retreat from Richmond, than he himself moved onward; displaying, however, the same salutary circumspection as before, and uniformly keeping his main body at the distance of about twenty miles from the foe. Cornwallis reached Williamsburg on the 25th of June. During his halt in that place, hearing that the Americans had some boats and stores on Chickahominy River, he charged Lieut.-Col. Simcoe with the destruction of these. The latter, attended by his corps and a party of yagers, easily performed the task. Lafayette, after passing through Richmond and New Kent Court House in pursuit of Cornwallis, had taken post on Tyre's plantation, about twenty miles from Williamsburg. There he was informed, by his exploring parties, of Simcoe's expedition to the Chickahominy, and immediately detached Lieut.-Col. Butler, of the Pennsylvania line, with orders to strike the British partisan on his return. Butler was well known for his skill and courage. His achievements at Saratoga had placed him by the side of Morgan, and he had uniformly and gloriously maintained this high ground. The confidence of Lafayette could not be better placed. On the present occasion, where only a partial engagement was sought, the detachment confided to him consisted, besides his continentals, of the rifle-corps under the Majors Call and Willis, and about one hundred and twenty horsemen. This last force was commanded by Major M'Pherson, of Pennsylvania. He mounted some infantry behind his dragoons, and, seeking Simcoe with unusual ardor and speed, overtook him near Spencer's plantation, six or seven miles above Williamsburg. A sharp conflict immediately ensued, in which the British yagers and the American cavalry were alternately repulsed. The arrival of the riflemen, headed by Call and Willis, gave to the action additional fierceness; but the superiority of the hostile cavalry, compelled Butler's van to fall back upon the body of continentals stationed in the rear. Here the contest ended; Simcoe resuming his retreat, and Butler not choosing to pursue him because he was informed that Cornwallis, upon hearing the first fire, had ordered his main body to the support of the returning detachment. The official accounts of the two generals widely differ as to the loss sustained by each party in this action. Lafayette states the enemy's loss at sixty killed and one hundred wounded. Cornwallis says that three officers and thirty privates only were killed and wounded. Among the killed, a Lieutenant Jones seems to have excited peculiar regret. The loss of the Americans in killed and wounded has not been recorded; but if we credit the statement of the British commander, three of their officers, with twenty-eight privates, were taken prisoners. When Cornwallis first arrived in this vicinity, he prepared to cross over the James, at Jamestown, and march to Portsmouth. After halting nine days at Williamsburg, his lordship advanced, on the 4th of July, 1781, to Jamestown Island. The 5th and 6th were employed in transporting his baggage, &c., while the main army still continued in their encampment. Lafayette having received false information that only a covering party remained on this side of the river with Cornwallis, determined to make an attack, the success of which was deemed infallible. The events are thus detailed by Girardin : The British commander received information of Lafayette's approach about noon on the 6th, and took every measure in his power to confirm the belief that his rear-guard only now remained. He drew up the major part of his army in compact order on the main land, deployed a few troops on the island so as to magnify their apparent numbers, drew in his light parties, and directed his piquets to suffer themselves to be insulted and driven in. By this coincidence of circumstances calculated to delude, an error was perpetuated which exposed the American army in Virginia to the most imminent peril of utter annihilation. About three in the afternoon, Lafayette's army began to move from Greenspring. This late hour was judiciously and happily fixed upon. If only a strong hostile party should be found at Jamestown, the remaining part of the day would suffice for its destruction; if, on the contrary, the mair. body of Cornwallis's troops should be encountered, the intervening shades of the approaching night would shield the Americans from ruin. In their advance to the enemy, not more than one mile and a half distant, Lafay ette's troops had to pass over a causeway, extending from the house at Greenspring to the Williamsburg road through a tract of low and sunken ground impracticable to either infantry or cavalry. The time consumed in the passage of this defile retarded the approach of the Americans to the British till near sunset. The rifle corps under Call and Willis, and a patrol of dragoons, formed the front of the assailants. These were followed by the cavalry of Armand and Mercer's troop, headed by Major M'Pherson. The continental infantry, under Wayne, supported the whole. Steuben was left at Greenspring with the militia, forming a reserve obviously too remote from the acting corps for any efficient purpose. When the advancing column reached the road, parties of riflemen were thrown on its flanks, while the cavalry continued to move in front. The action was soon commenced by a desultory fire of the enemy's yagers. M'Pherson and Mercer being then ordered to take the command of the rifle corps, rapidly led them on to the attack, and drove in the hostile piquets, with much confusion and some loss on the side of the British. This advantage was keenly pursued by the American riflemen, who, taking post in a ditch covered by a rail fence, recommenced their fire with considerable effect. Two battalions of continental infantry, led on by Majors Galvan and Willis, supported by two pieces of artillery under the direction of Captain Savage, now joined the riflemen, and assisted them in successfully maintaining for some time a most arduous conflict against the enemy, who now advanced in a body headed by Lieut.-Col. Yorke on the right, and Lieut.-Col. Dundas on the left. The superiority of the foe, however, was too great to be long resisted. the riflemen first gave way, then the cavalry, and finally the light infantry. They all fell back upon Wayne, as did also Capt. Savage with his two field-pieces. The brave leader of the Pennsylvania line had drawn up his men in compact order, under cover of an adjacent wood. He repeatedly directed them to charge the enemy with fixed bayonets, but local circumstances prevented the execution of this order, and allowed only a close and murderous fire. Lafayette, who by this time had discovered his mistake, and became convinced that he had to contend with the main body of the British army, observing that Wayne was nearly outflanked on both sides, ordered him to retreat to the second line of continentals, drawn up about half a mile in his rear. The darkness of the night favored this retreat. It was, however, found necessary to abandon the two field-pieces; after which the morass in front of Greenspring was recrossed, and the acting corps, together with the reserve, proceeded to a more remote and safer encampment. Whether from his apprehension of some ambuscade, or from what was with him a more powerful consideration than fear, a desire of quickly transmitting to Sir Henry Clinton the required assistance, Cornwallis attempted no pursuit, but in the course of the night crossed over into Jamestown Island, and soon afterwards proceeded to Portsmouth. In this affair, one hundred and eighteen of the continental troops, among whom were ten officers, were killed, wounded, or taken. The British state their loss, both in killed and wounded, at five officers and seventy privates. Williamsburg, the seat of justice for the county, is 58 miles from Richmond, 12 from Yorktown, 68 from Norfolk, and 7 from Jamestown. It is finely situated, on a level plain, between the York and James, immediately on the division line between James City and York counties. It is laid out in parallel streets, with a square in the centre of several acres, containing the county buildings. Through it runs the principal street, which is very wide, and about a mile in length; at one end of which is the college, and at the other the ruins of the old capitol. Williamsburg, in its most palmy days, contained only a population of about 2,000. It has at present 1 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, and 1 Methodist church, and about 1,600 inhabitants. The Eastern Lunatic Asylum is located here. It consists of a lofty and extensive pile of brick buildings, enclosed by a wall, in a pleasant area of several acres. The number of patients is generally over one hundred; and the institution is ably conducted, under the superintendence of Dr. John M. Galt. There is an air of repose about this village city, so interesting from its historic associations. It is the oldest incorporated town in Virginia. This immediate vicinity was first known as the Middle Plantations, and the town was first settled in 1632, from the adjoining settlements, principally from Jamestown. In 1698, the seat of government was removed here from that place. From a work* published a short time after, we make the following extract, principally relative to this place: The first metropolis, Jamestown, was built in the most convenient place for trade, and security against the Indians; but often received much damage, being twice burnt down, after which it never recovered its perfection-consisting at present of nothing but abundance of brick rubbish and three or four good inhabited houses, though the parish is of pretty large extent, but less than others. When the state-house and prison were burnt down, Governor Nicholson removed the residence of the governor, with the meetings of the general courts and general assemblies, to Middle Plantation, seven miles from Jamestown, in a healthier and more convenient place, and freer from the annoyance of moschetoes. Here he laid out the city of Williamsburg-in the form of a cipher, made of W and M-on a ridge at the head springs of two great creeks, one running into James, and the other into York River, which are each navigable for sloops within a mile of the town; at the head of which creek are good landings, and lots laid out, and dwelling-houses and warehouses built; so that this town is most conveniently situated, in the middle of the lower part of Virginia, commanding two noble rivers, not above four miles from either, and is much more commodious and healthful than if built upon a river. Public buildings here of note are, the college, the capitol, the governor's house, and the church. The college front, which looks due east, is double, and is 136 feet long. It is a lofty pile of brick buildings, adorned with a cupola. At the north end runs back a large wing, which is a handsome hall, answerable to which the chapel is to be built; and "The Present State of Virginia, by Hugh Jones, A. M., chaplain to the honorable Assembly, and lately minister of Jamestown, &c., in Virginia." This work is a small 12mo. of about 150 pages. It is very scarce. The only copies we have seen are in the libraries of Gov. Tazewell, and Peter Force, Esq, of Washington city. |