The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1900-08-30
MORE ABOUT SOUTH
WEST VIRGINIA.
The Second of a Series or
Articles on the Early HIS
tory of Our Own and
Adjoining Counties.
lcovrINrEp rnoM - wEEKJ

demonstrate what was taking place
elsewhere while POwell's Valley was
enjoying a short respite.
This did not last long, however, for
the murder of Arch Scott on Wallen :
Creek, Lee County, together with hls
lour children and a young man fol-
lowed close on the outrages in what
is now Tennessee
In a previous article we gave the
local account current among the
defendants of the murdered man, land
of his wife, Fanny Scott, who was
taken prisoner but afterwards escap-
ed.
This was Col. Campbell's report
of the murder sent to Gov. Henry.
1t is dated JuIy 9Th, 1875:
"CoL. ARTHUR CAMrBrLL TO GOV. HESRY'
"SIg:
Bv some gentlemen from Kentucky am
informed that in the night of the 29th
.Iune last .Mr.Archibald Scott who lived on
the road leading to Kentucky, in PoweIIs
Valley and all his children, four in num-
Der, together with another young man
was murdered by the Indians, and his vile
supposed TO be taken prisoner by the
same gentlemen ! am told that Colo.
Logan has returned from the excursion
he made after the Indians, they being gone
from the camps discovered, and that the
numbers reported by the scouts was great
~ exaggerated"
lin letters like the above the
punctuation, &c, is the same as in
the originate
There was little fighting done to-
wards the end Of 1885, though the
indications were that the Indians
were preparing for more depredations
on the frontier.
The State of Franklin, or Frank
land, comes in for good share OF at
tention. Col. John Sewer had been
elected Governor and was irving to
guide the ship of state through the
stormy times attendant upon the sep
aration from North Carolina.
In very old history Of Virginia
we come across this account OF some
of the manners and customs OF our
hardy ancestors on the Southwestern
frontier.
Much of Western Virginia." says
the writer, sis yet new country, and
thinly settled, and in some of the
more remote and inaccessible counties,
the manner Of living and the habits
of the people are quite primitive.
The inhabitants of the mountain
counties" (our OWN care almost
perfectly independent" the writer
declares admiringly, and goes on to
say "Many a young man with but a
few worldly goods, marries, and, with
an ak on one shoulder and rifle on
the other, goes into the recesses OF
the mountains, where land can be had
for almost nothing. In few days
he has a log house and small clear
ing. Visit him some fine day thirty
years afterwards, and you will find
he has eight or ten children-the
usual number-a hardy, healthy set,
forty or fifty acres cleared, mostly
cultivated IN corn; a rude square log
bin, built in cob house fashion and
filled with corn in the cob, stands be-
side his cabin; near it is a similar
structure, IN which is a horse, and
scattered about are half dozen hay
ricks."
Having given his impressions of
the external view of an early settlers
home, he proceeds to introduce you
to the people living in it in the same
quaint style.
enter into the house The lady
of the house and all her children are
attred in homeSpun. Her dress is
large, of convenient form, and entire
ly free from the fashionable lacing
universal elsewhere. 1t Is confined
together with buttons instead of
hooks and eyes" cit is quite prob
able she never saw any of the latter,
or even heard Of them. J His enthuS-
iasm takes a poetical turn in deS-
cribing the appearance Of the mother
and daughters, which is amusing con-
sidering the subjects as we are tamil
lar with them even at this late day.
Speaking of the mother he declares
"she looks strong and healthy-so do
her daughters-and as rosy and
blooming as" we expect him to say
"the glorious hollyhocks by the door"
or anything else rather than to com
pare the supple, strong, brown young
ladies to the little, weak, Struggling
"howers by the wayside," as lie pro-
ceeds to do.
Someone is missing, and after
describing the "sturdy sct' of big,
loose -jointed, sun-browned boys, Che
doesn't say that, but we know all
about them, anyway he goes on to
explain. The husband is absent,
hunting. At certain seasons Of the
year, what time he can spare from
his little farm, he passes in the ex-
citement of the chase, and sells the
skins of his game.
Soon he enters with buck or bear
he has shot, (for he is a skilled