DR. JOHANN DAVID SCHOEPF, SURGEON TO THE HESSIAN TROOPS.
1783.
Dr. Schoepf—Leesburg—Plantation Houses—The Price of Land—Fredericksburg—Hunter’s Iron-Works—Richmond—The General Assembly—The Tavern Formicola—Manchester—Mr. Rubsamen—Williamsburg—Yorktown or Little York—Surry Court House—Smithfield—The Nation of Virginia—Suffolk—The Trade in Salt.
DR. JOHANN DAVID SCHOEPF was born at Weinsiedel in 1752 and died in the year 1800. He studied medicine at Hof, Erlangen, Berlin and Vienna, then traveled in Russia, Italy and Switzerland, and made his degree in medicine at Erlangen in 1776. That year he came to America as surgeon to the Hessian troops in the British army. In 1784 he went to London and traveled through England and in France, Spain and Italy. He published in 1787 a Materia Medica Americana. Dr. Schoepf was particularly interested in scientific matters, was an accurate observer of things and of people, and his book is one of the best of the early travels in this country. These volumes have now been translated, and the account given below is a modification. Dr. Schoepf approached Virginia from the north, coming through Western Maryland.
“By this road Leesburg is the first town on the Virginia side, a place of few houses, small and wooden. On account of the high, pleasant and healthful situation a Latin school has been established here. An advertisement of this institution was to be seen on the tavern door, recommending it in a handsome style to the public, which should give it patronage, since schools hitherto, except in the chief cities, are scarce enough in America. It is not the universal custom in America to hang shields before the inns, but inns may always be identified by the great number of papers and notices with which the walls and doors of these public houses are plastered—and the best inns are in general the most papered. From such announcements the traveler gets a many-sided entertainment, and gains instruction as to where taxes are heavy, where wives have eloped or horses been stolen, and where the new doctor has settled.
“Along the road from Leesburg towards Fredericksburg there was not a little difference to be remarked between the appearance of the country and the thickly settled regions of Piedmont Maryland and Pennsylvania, through which we had just passed. It was strange to see so much wild and newly cleared ground, due not to any unfertility of the soil, but to the large estates whose owners were unwilling to sell and found it difficult to secure tenants where there is so much land to be had almost for the asking. And the contrast in the appearance of the plantations, after the Potomac is crossed, is rather striking. In this part of Virginia, as in lower Maryland, the farmer builds a small village about him. In some cases, however, all of his buildings would scarcely make one comfortable house. From the time of his first clearing he is continually adding, and his plan may be not a very good one. We passed Moore’s Tavern and the Red House (30 miles from Goose Creek), and skirting the Bull Run Mountains, approached the strictly tobacco country. Fairly good tobacco is raised to the west along the foothills, but the profit is trifling on account of the heavy expense of carriage to warehouses whence it can be taken off by the European ships. In this region the crop had been greatly damaged by an August frost. The loss was the greater because many of these planters raise only the Sweetscented, a tender variety, but more profitable by 2½ shillings the hundred, or 25 shillings Virginia currency the hogshead.
“We spent a night at a plantation where, although no tavern is kept, the traveler is entertained for pay. There are disadvantages about this sort of inn, but on the one hand the proprietor escapes the payment of a liquor license and the trouble of catering to a crowd of idlers, and on the other hand the guest must answer only a few times the usual questions as to where he is going, where he came from, and what his business is. The captain had a large family, and wished to sell some of his land, of which he owned 4,000 acres. Land hereabouts can be bought for from 25 to 50 or 60 shillings Virginia currency. The captain would sell his for 40 shillings cash, and with the proceeds move to Kentucky. The people throughout are bent on providing for their children. This is difficult to do in the East, and hence the steady emigration to Kentucky.
“Beyond this we got out of the right road, and meeting only a few darkeys, whose horizon was not extensive, traveled half a day before we were set right. We passed Cedar Run at a dangerous ford, and came to a plantation where there is a copper mine worked intermittently, a narrow vein. Following the direction, “keep straight on” (nobody thinks the stranger can be quite as ignorant as he says he is), we crossed Acquia Creek, and reached Fredericksburg. The public buildings of Fredericksburg—church, market house and court house—we found in bad condition, not because they had been damaged directly by the war, but simply because during the war there had been no use made of them. Tobacco was bringing a small price here, and at a sure profit to the buyers. No ships were in and taxes were due; the price had been knocked down to 25 shillings the hundred. The same at Alexandria. Hunter’s Iron Works, near Fredericksburg, at the falls above Falmouth, is one of the finest and most extensive works of this sort in America. There is a rolling and a slitting mill, both very ingeniously contrived, and of this description of iron works there have been up to this time only one or two established in all America. Under the British rule such enterprises were forbidden. Past Fredericksburg, we had the honor to breakfast with an American general, whose attire was conspicuous—a large white chapeau, a blue coat, a brown waistcoat and green breeches decorated him, and he a short, fat man.
“From this point on towards Richmond the country is open and level, and adorned with many large and at times tasteful dwellings. The rich Virginians do not prefer a town life. Here and there we passed large wheat fields. Several years before the war, owing to the heavy English import duties on tobacco, the people had begun to raise wheat on a more extensive scale. Here, as in other parts of America, the cornfields are seeded to wheat without removing the stalks. The weevil is bad, especially if the grain lies long in the straw. After floating off the light seed the good, heavy grain is broadcasted, mixed with shell lime. Between Fredericksburg and Richmond we noticed a good many swampy spots, which might easily be drained. We met on this road, to our great surprise, two Alsatians traveling along on foot, with their bundles slung behind. They had come into the Chesapeake on a French ship, and were seeking their fortune in Virginia. A foot passenger is a very unusual sight in Virginia. Passing Hanover Courthouse (December 18, 1783) and Hanover Town, we came to Richmond. On this road we were struck with the little provision made for the winter feeding of cattle. How easy it would be to lay down grass. Near Richmond we saw mules, the first pair. Mules, being found well adapted to the country, are beginning to be used a good deal.
“Richmond, before 1779 not a very important town, is built on two heights, separated by a creek called Shokoes. The houses are in general of wood, and are irregularly scattered about. A recent census gives the number as 280, and the population about 2,000. The falls of the James engaged my curiosity first. The total fall of the river from Westham to Richmond (7 miles) is only seventy-one feet, and hence there is no stupendous cataract. But the falls as a whole, over innumerable boulders, between winding wooded banks, present a great and striking appearance. The sound of the water, particularly at night, is heard not only through the entire town, but before the wind for several miles around. At the falls innumerable herring and shad are caught early in spring, and at times even in February. These appear in the Delaware and the Hudson not before the middle of April or the first of May. James River is one of the greatest and most beautiful of American streams.