Thursday 17th Rain'd till Ten oClock & then clearing we reached as far as Major Campbells one of there Burgesses about 25 Miles from Town. nothing Remarkable this day nor Night but that we had a Tolerable good Bed lay on.
Fryday 18th We Travell'd up about 35 Miles to Thomas Barwicks on Potomack[19] where we found y. River so excessively high by Reason of y. Great Rains that had fallen up about y. Allegany Mountains as they told us which was then bringing down y. melted Snow & that it would not be fordable for severall Days it was then above Six foot Higher than usual & was rising we agreed to stay till Monday we this day call'd to see y. Fam'd Warm Springs[20] we camped out in y. field this Night Nothing Remarkable happen'd till sonday y. 20th
[19] Cohongoruton—the Indian name by which the Potomac river was known to the Six Nations and other tribes of Indians. From its head-waters, to Point Lookout in the Chesapeake bay, this stream is the dividing line between Maryland and Virginia.
[20] The "Warm Springs," now known as "Bath" or "Berkeley Springs," were already famed, as Washington notes, in 1747. They were deservedly popular for many years, but their remoteness and the difficulty of access to them, with the competition of other resorts more easily reached, prevented their receiving the attention which the value of their waters merited. A settlement sprang up about the springs at an early date, which finally became a prosperous village under the name of Bath, and was made the county seat when, in 1820, the county of Morgan was formed. Washington bought lots here, built a cottage and stables, and passed summers here with his family. His half-brother, Lawrence, spent nearly a year at the springs for the benefit of his health before going to England and later to Barbadoes. The property-right in the springs is in the state of Virginia, and is held for the benefit of the public.
Sonday 20th finding y. River not much abated we in y. Evening Swam our horses over & carried them to Charles Polks in Maryland for Pasturage till y. next Morning.
Monday 21st We went over in a Canoe & Travell'd up Maryland side all y. Day in a Continued Rain to Collo Cresaps[21] right against y. Mouth of y. South Branch[22] about 40 Miles from Polks I believe y. worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast.
[21] Cresap, Col. Thomas, the founder of the family in America, was born in Skipton, Yorkshire, England, and at the age of about fifteen came to America. Some five years later he resided at Havre-de-Grace, Md., where he married a Miss Johnson. Removing thence to Wright's Ferry, opposite the town of Columbia, where he obtained a Maryland title to a 500 acre tract of land called "Peach Bottom," and built himself a small stone house. The land, however, was on disputed territory, and claimants under the laws of Pennsylvania finally dispossessed him. His next move was to a locality in what is now Washington county, Md., where he located and settled upon a tract of 1,400 acres on the Antietam creek, called "Long Meadows," and began trading with the Indians. After collecting a large lot of furs and skins he shipped them to England but was financially ruined through the capture of the vessel by the French. Unable to repay money he had borrowed from Mr. Dulany, of Maryland, he gave up to him his land, and moved farther west, built a cabin a few miles above the junction of the north and south branches of the Potomac, on the Maryland side, at a place which became known as "Old Town," but which he called Skipton, the name of his Yorkshire birthplace. This frontier spot became his permanent residence, where he eventually owned a large body of land on both sides of the Potomac. From his familiarity with the Indians and their habits and character, he was enabled to carry on with great advantage his trade with them and in time became the most important frontiersman of his day in Maryland. He took part with the Washingtons, Lee, Mason and others in the formation and early operations of "The Ohio Company," and in all matters of dealing with the Indians and prospecting for wild lands was the Company's chief dependence. With the aid of Namacolin, a noted Indian hunter, he laid out the first road over the Alleghany mountains to the head-waters of the Ohio. Gen. Braddock's expedition, and later the National road, followed nearly the same route. The attention attracted to the Ohio region through this Company's explorations, made it increasingly important to both England and France to possess and control the lands beyond the Ohio. This vigilance precipitated the war that drove out the French and secured to England and America the vast dominion known as the Northwest.
Col. Cresap's literary acquirements were small, but he had a vigorous mind, strong common sense, and was not deficient in practical self-education. He was one of the surveyors of Prince George's county which, at that period, embraced all the western part of Maryland. January 1, 1745, he surveyed for Gov. Thomas Bladen "Walnut Bottom" just below the mouth of Wills creek. He frequently represented his county in the Legislature and being noted for his clear understanding, sound judgment, firmness and courage, was esteemed one of the best legislators his county ever had. He was of medium stature, firmly set, of sound constitution, and lived to the uncommon age of 105 or 106. He was twice married, the second time at the age of 80; by his first wife he had five children; three sons, Daniel, Thomas and Michael, and two daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth. Captain Michael Cresap was the person upon whom Thomas Jefferson fixed the stigma of the murder of the relatives of Logan. Jefferson having transmitted the pathetic speech of the Indian chief to the Abbe Raynal as an evidence of the original power of oratory of the aboriginal American, it is claimed more in a spirit of literary conceit than of conviction; however he failed during his life to correct the injustice done Cresap, although he was repeatedly furnished with the evidence exculpating Cresap and fixing the barbarous act on one Great-house. At his home, Col. Cresap dispensed, for his time and means, a generous hospitality to all callers, in a region where, as yet, no public houses were to be found. He kept a big kettle ready suspended to place a fire under, near a spring for the use of the Indians who often passed his place, and for this reason they designated him the "Big Spoon." Lord Baltimore employed him to run a survey of the western line of Maryland, and to ascertain which of the two branches of the Potomac was the largest. His autograph map of this survey is still preserved in the archives of the state of Maryland.
[22] The South Branch of the Potomac, of which the Indian name was Wappotomaka, rises in Pendleton county, West Virginia, among the spurs of the Alleghany and North mountains, and meets the North Branch about 20 miles below Cumberland, Md. The latter branch has been accepted as the dividing line between Maryland and Virginia, although now known to be neither as long nor as large as the South Branch. A line drawn due north from the extreme head-waters of the South Branch would run ten miles to the west of a parallel line from the head springs of the North Branch, thus proving the loss by Maryland of this strip of territory, as well as the region between the two branches, had the South Branch been taken instead of the North Branch as the main river referred to in the Royal Charter, and made the line separating the contiguous colonies. The valley through which the South Branch flows is broad and its lands very fertile, causing them to be much sought after for farms by the hardy pioneers in the early days before the Revolution. It was then familiarly known as the "upper tract" of Virginia.