CHAPTER LXII.
1755-1756.
Stith—Davies visits England and Scotland—Patriotic Discourse—Waddel, the Blind Preacher—Washington made Colonel of Virginia Regiment—Indian Incursions—Washington visits Boston.
During the year 1755 died the Rev. William Stith, president of the College of William and Mary, and author of an excellent "History of Virginia," from the first settlement to the dissolution of the London Company. He was of exemplary character and catholic spirit, a friend of well-regulated liberty, and a true patriot.
The Rev. Samuel Davies, during the year 1754, went on a mission to England and Scotland for the purpose of raising a fund for the endowment of a college at Princeton, New Jersey. His eloquence commanded admiration in the mother country. The English Presbyterians he found sadly fallen away from the doctrines of the Reformation, and their clergy, although learned and able, deeply infected with the "modish divinity"—Socinianism and Arminianism. In Scotland, where he met a warm welcome, he found the young clergy no less imbued with the "modish divinity," and the cause of religion and the spiritual independence of the kirk lamentably impaired by the overweening influence of secular patronage. Davies was of opinion that in genuine piety the Methodists, who commenced their reform in the Church of England, ranked the highest. He returned to Virginia early in 1755, and during the French and Indian wars he often employed his eloquence in arousing the patriotism of the Virginians.
After Braddock's defeat, such was the general consternation that many seemed ready to desert the country. On the 20th of July, 1755, Davies delivered a discourse, in which he declared: "Christians should be patriots. What is that religion good for that leaves men cowards upon the appearance of danger? And permit me to say, that I am particularly solicitous that you, my brethren of the dissenters, should act with honor and spirit in this juncture, as it becomes loyal subjects, lovers of your country, and courageous Christians. That is a mean, sordid, cowardly soul that would abandon his country and shift for his own little self, when there is any probability of defending it. To give the greater weight to what I say, I may take the liberty to tell you, I have as little personal interest, as little to lose in the colony, as most of you. If I consulted either my safety or my temporal interest, I should soon remove with my family to Great Britain, or the Northern colonies, where I have had very inviting offers. Nature has not formed me for a military life, nor furnished me with any great degree of fortitude and courage; yet I must declare, that after the most calm and impartial deliberation, I am determined not to leave my country while there is any prospect of defending it."[483:A]
Dejection and alarm vanished under his eloquence, and at the conclusion of his address every man seemed to say, "Let us march against the enemy!" A patriotic discourse was delivered by him on the 17th of August, 1755, before Captain Overton's company of Independent Volunteers, the first volunteer company raised in Virginia after Braddock's defeat. In a note appended to this discourse, Davies said: "As a remarkable instance of this, I may point out to the public that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to his country."[483:B]
It is probable that Patrick Henry caught the spark of eloquence from Davies, as in his early youth, and in after years, he often heard him preach. They were alike gifted with a profound sensibility. Henry always remarked that Mr. Davies was "the greatest orator he had ever heard." Presbyterianism steadily advanced in Virginia under the auspices of Davies and his successors, particularly Graham, Smith, Waddell, "the blind preacher" of Wirt's "British Spy," and Brown.
The Rev. James Waddell, a Presbyterian minister, was born in the North of Ireland, in July, 1739, as is believed. He was brought over in his infancy by his parents to America; they settled in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, on White-clay Creek. James was sent to school at Nottingham to Dr. Finley, afterwards president of the College of New Jersey. In the school young Waddell made such proficiency in his studies as to become an assistant teacher; and Dr. Benjamin Rush, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, recited lessons to him there. He devoted his attention chiefly to the classics, in which he became very well versed. He was afterwards an assistant to the elder Smith, father of the Rev. John Blair Smith, president of Hampden Sidney College, Virginia, and of the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, president of the College of New Jersey. Waddell, intending to pursue the vocation of a teacher, and to settle with that view at Charleston, in South Carolina, set out for the South. In passing through Virginia he met with the celebrated preacher, Davies, and that incident gave a different turn to his life. Shortly after, he became an assistant to the Rev. Mr. Todd in his school in the County of Louisa, with whom he studied theology. He was licensed to preach in 1761, and ordained in the following year, when he settled as pastor in Lancaster County. Here, about the year 1768, he married Mary, daughter of Colonel James Gordon, of that county,[484:A] a wealthy and influential man. In the division of the Presbyterian Church Mr. Waddell was of the "New Side," as it was termed. The Rev. Samuel Davies often preached to Mr. Waddell's congregation; as also did Whitefield several times.
In the year 1776 Mr. Waddell removed from Lower Virginia, in very feeble health, to Augusta County. His salary was now only forty-five pounds, Virginia currency, per annum. In 1783 he came to reside at an estate purchased by him, and called Hopewell, at the junction of Louisa, Orange, and Albemarle—the dwelling-house being in Louisa. Here he again became a classical teacher, receiving pupils in his own house. James Barbour, afterwards governor of Virginia, was one of these, and Merriwether Lewis, the companion of Clarke in the exploration beyond the Rocky Mountains, another. Mr. Waddell resided in Louisa County about twenty years, and died there, and was buried, according to his request, in his garden. During his residence here he was, for a part of the time, deprived of his sight; but he continued to preach. In person he was tall and erect; his complexion fair, with a light blue eye. His deportment was dignified; his manners elegant and graceful. He is represented by Mr. Wirt, in the "British Spy," as preaching in a white linen cap; this was, indeed, a part of his domestic costume, but when he went abroad he always wore a large full-bottomed wig, perfectly white. Mr. Wirt held him as equal to Patrick Henry, in a different species of oratory. In regard to place, time, costume, and lesser particulars, Mr. Wirt used an allowable liberty in grouping together incidents which had occurred apart, and perhaps imagining, as in a sermon, expressions which had been uttered at the fire-side. Patrick Henry's opinion of Mr. Waddell's eloquence has been before mentioned. It was the remark of another cotemporary, that when he preached, "whole congregations were bathed in tears." It might also be said by his grave, as at that of John Knox,—
"Here lies one who never feared the face of man."
The late Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander married a daughter of Dr. Waddell, and the late Rev. Dr. James Waddell Alexander thus derived his middle name.
August, 1755, the assembly voted forty thousand pounds for the public service, and the governor and council immediately resolved to augment the Virginia Regiment to sixteen companies, numbering fifteen hundred men. To Washington was granted the sum of three hundred pounds in reward for his gallant behavior and in compensation for his losses at the battle of Monongahela. Colonel Washington was, during this month, commissioned commander-in-chief of the forces, and allowed to appoint his own officers. The officers next in rank to him were Lieutenant-Colonel Adam Stephen and Major Andrew Lewis. Washington's military reputation was now high, not only in Virginia, but in the other colonies. Peyton Randolph raised a volunteer company of one hundred gentlemen, who, however, proved quite unfit for the frontier service.
After organizing the regiment and providing the commissariat, Washington repaired early in October to Winchester, and took such measures as lay in his power to repel the cruel outrages of a savage irruption. Alarm, confusion, and disorder prevailed, so that he found no orders obeyed but such as a party of soldiers, or his own drawn sword, enforced. He beheld with emotion calamities which he could not avert, and he strenuously urged the necessity of an act to enforce the military law, to remedy the insolence of the soldiers and the indolence of the officers. He even intimated a purpose of resigning, unless his authority should be re-enforced by the laws, since he found himself thwarted in his exertions at every step by a general perverseness and insubordination, aggravated by the hardships of the service and the want of system. At length, by persevering solicitations, he prevailed on the assembly to adopt more energetic military regulations. The discipline thus introduced was extremely rigorous, severe flogging being in ordinary use. The penalty for fighting was five hundred lashes; for drunkenness, one hundred. The troops were daily drilled and practised in bush-fighting. A Captain Dagworthy, stationed at Fort Cumberland, commissioned by General Sharpe, governor of Maryland, refusing, as holding a king's commission, to obey Washington's orders, the dispute was referred by Governor Dinwiddie to General Shirley, commander-in-chief of his majesty's armies in America, who was then at Boston. He was also requested to grant royal commissions to Colonel Washington and his field-officers, such commissions to imply rank but to give no claim to pay.
The Indians, after committing murders and barbarities upon the unhappy people of the border country, retired beyond the mountains. Colonel Byrd and Colonel Randolph were sent out with presents to the Cherokees, Catawbas, and other Southern Indians, in order to conciliate their good-will and counteract the intrigues of the French.
Colonel Washington obtained leave to visit General Shirley, so as to deliver in person a memorial from the officers of the Virginia Regiment, requesting him to grant them king's commissions; and also in order to make himself better acquainted with the military plans of the North. He set out from Alexandria early in February, 1756, accompanied by his aid-de-camp, Colonel George Mercer, and on his route passed through Philadelphia, New York, New London, Newport, and Providence. He visited the governors of Pennsylvania and New York, and spent several days in each of the principal cities. He was well received by General Shirley, with whom he continued ten days, mingling with the society of Boston, attending the sessions of the legislature, and visiting Castle William. During the tour he was everywhere looked upon with interest as the hero of the Monongahela. Shirley decided the contested point between Dagworthy and him in his favor.
While in New York he was a guest of his friend Beverley Robinson (brother of the speaker.) Miss Mary Philipse, a sister of Mrs. Robinson, and heiress of a vast estate, was an inmate of the family, and Washington became enamored of her. The flame was transient; he probably having soon discovered that another suitor was preferred to him. She eventually married Captain Roger Morris, his former associate in arms, and one of Braddock's aids. She and her sister, Mrs. Robinson, and Mrs. Inglis, were the only females who were attainted of high treason during the Revolution. Imagination dwells on the outlawry of a lady who had won the admiration of Washington. Humanity is shocked that a woman should have been attainted of treason for clinging to the fortunes of her husband.[487:A] Mary Philipse is the original of one of the characters in Cooper's "Spy."
FOOTNOTES:
[483:A] Davies' Sermons, iii. 169; Sermon on the defeat of General Braddock going to Fort Du Quesne; Memoir of Davies in Evan. and Lit. Mag.
[483:B] Davies' Sermons, iii. 38. "Who is Mr. Washington?" inquired Lord Halifax. "I know nothing of him," he added; "but they say he behaved in Braddock's action as bravely as if he really loved the whistling of bullets."
[484:A] Ancestor of the late General Gordon, of Albemarle.
[487:A] Sabine's Loyalists, 476.
