And then on the day of St. Michael, the patron of the Dutch, the Irish retaliated by holding aloft an effigy of the saint decorated with a necklace of sourkrout.
As was to be expected these frolics occasionally went to the extreme and ended before the judge in the log cabin courthouse.
It was hard for those early settlers to get such articles as salt, iron, steel and casting. There were no stores where they could purchase sugar, tea and hundreds of other necessities of today. Pelts, furs or skins were their only money before they had time to raise horses and cattle. In the Fall of the year, after all crops were harvested, every settler's family formed an association with some of their neighbors for starting a caravan.
This consisted of two packhorses. A bell and collar was put on each horse, as were a pair of hobbles made from hickory withes. Bags were packed on the back of the saddles in which to bring back two bushels of alum salt, each bushel weighing eighty-four pounds. Each horse carried two bags on the return journey. This was not such a heavy load for a horse but one must remember the animal also had to carry its own food. Somewhere along the narrow trail, some of this grain was hidden until the return journey. Large pouches or bags were also carried in which were loaves of home-baked bread or "Journey Cake," a mixture of Indian meal and water baked on an iron skillet and boiled ham and cheese.
The men traded first in Baltimore, Hagerstown and Cumberland. They also took along a cow and a calf, which was what they paid for one bushel of the much needed salt. While the salt was being weighed, no one was allowed to walk on the floor.
Woodstock
First called Muellerstadt after its founder Jacob Miller, Woodstock was granted its charter in 1761 by the General Assembly of Virginia. Miller was farsighted in his plans for the community and provided adequate building sites for homes and businesses.
The historian Kercheval tells an interesting account of the appearance of Indians around Woodstock:
"In 1766, the Indians made a visit to the neighborhood of Woodstock. Two men by the name of Sheetz and Taylor had taken their wives and children into a wagon, and were on their way to the fort. At the narrow passage, three miles south of Woodstock, five Indians attacked them. The two men were killed at the first onset, and the Indians rushed to seize the women and children. The women, instead of swooning at the sight of their bleeding, expiring husbands, seized their axes, and with Amazonian firmness, and strength almost superhuman, defended themselves and children. One of the Indians had succeeded in getting hold of one of Mrs. Sheetz's children, and attempting to drag it out of the wagon; but with the quickness of lightning she caught her child in one hand, and with the other made a blow at the head of the fellow which caused him to quit his hold to save his life. Several of the Indians received pretty sore wounds in this desperate conflict, and all at last ran off, leaving the two women with their children to pursue their way to the fort."