Did Someone Say Miners? Golden Horseshoes? John Fontaine Part II
By Craig Kilby
May 2009
Part II
Fontaine’s Two Trips to Germanna
Before we resume with John Fontaine’s journal and his first trip to Germanna, a brief background of the site itself is necessary for those readers not necessarily well versed in its history.
Much of what follows by way of introduction has been the subject of much debate for many years, and this brief background is by no means the definitive word on the subject.
The first settlement at this location was originally set off for a group of Tuscarora Indians from North Carolina who were to be removed there from North Carolina as a protection against Indian tribes in this part of Virginia.
This agreement had been reached in February of 1714. They evidently did not like the place. They either left soon after arrival, or never went at all.1 This proved fortuitous for both Spotswood and a group of Germans from the Siegen area.
The Germans had been led to believe by an aggressive recruiter named Johann Justus Albrecht who was hired by Baron Christoph von Graffenried of Switzerland (aka Christopher de Graffienried), that they were to go to Virginia and mine for silver under the auspices of the Baron.
After much delay and change of plans in London, they were sent to Spotswood in Virginia without his knowledge.
Further, upon the Germans’ arrival, Spotswood was expected to pay half of their passage, which he did. Spotswood had long been interested in developing iron ore and/or silver miles in the area where the Tuscarora Indians were to have been settled.
Thus, with his newly arrived Germans, he saw how he might kill two birds with one stone.
The hapless Germans, on the other hand, found themselves in a situation over which they had no control as they were forced into the role of indentured servants while living in a wilderness.
It is evident from Fontaine’s journal that they were engaged in some type of mining activity, but to what extent, and when, is matter of debate.
According to several of the Germans’ proofs of importations, they had arrived in Virginia in April of 1714.
On April 28th of that year, Governor Spotswood asked the Council to approve the expenditure of public funds to clear a road to Germanna, provide two cannons and build their fort, which requests the Council approved.2
In Walter Havigurst’s biography of Spotswood, Alexander Spotswood, Portrait of a Governor (Colonial Williamsburg, Inc., 1967), we find that Spotswood sent a letter to the Lords of Trade in London in May of 1714 in which he wrote:
In order to supply that part [of the frontier] which was to have been covered by the Tuscarora, I have placed here a number of Protestant Germans, built them a fort, and finished it with two pieces of cannon and some ammunition, which will awe the straggling parties of northern Indians and be a good barrier for all that part of the country.3
Note that Spotswood uses the past tense conditional (“was to have been covered”) when referring to the Tuscaroras, and the past tense (“I have placed here” and “built them a fort”) indicating he had already built and furnished Germanna when he wrote this letter.
This would have been done in very short order after their arrival. Havighurst continues with these details:
In that message he explained that the Germans had been sent to Virginia by Baron de Graffenried. They were miners in the old country, and they had already found evidence of silver and other ores along the Rappahannock.
Spotswood hoped that the Board of Trade would let him put them to work developing iron mines…the German colonists had arrived in Virginia in the previous spring, and Spotswood, with guides and rangers, had led them up the Rappahannock to the swift waters of the Rapidan.
There thirty miles from the last outlying farms, the Germans set to work, clearing a site on the riverbank and building a fortified town. Through the woods a pack-horse train brought supplies and matériel…Now, three months later [August 1714], he came to see what progress had been made.4
It is not entirely true that the members of the First Colony had all been miners in the Old Country. It is true, however, that they were recruited by Albrecht to come to America in order to mine silver for Baron von Graffenried. On 26 May 1715, Spotswood asked the Council to approve expenses for more ammunition to be sent to Fort Germanna.5
The First Trip to Germanna
With this backdrop, we continue with Fontaine’s journal and his first visit to Germanna, which he alternately calls Germanna, Germanna Town and German Town in his journal.
November 9, 1715. Saturday. Williamsburg, Virginia. At eight of the clock in the morning, Mr. Clayton and I waited on Governor Spotswood. We tell him we were going to the German town to know if he had any service there. We breakfasted with him and at 9 we mounted our horses, and set out from Williamsburg, the roads very good and level . . . .
“Mr. Clayton” is identified by Edward Porter Alexander (See Part I for more on E.P. Alexander) as “probably John Clayton (1694-1774), the botanist” who arrived in Virginia in 1715 and in 1720 was appointed as clerk of Gloucester County where he served for 53 years. How Fontaine and Clayton came to be friends and set upon this trip to Germanna (and other points) is not explained.
Spotswood was probably more than happy to have his new young friend check up on his Germanna outpost while on the road. He may have even helped fund some of the expenses.
The two young men, and apparently one servant man, made the trip to Germanna between November 9th when they left Williamsburg and arrived at Germanna on November 20th.
An interesting account of the journey ensues in the journal, including an extended stay with Robert Beverley and his son, and an inspection of Beverley’s vineyards, with which Fontaine was not much impressed.
Fontaine arrived at Germanna on 20 November. The reader will recall that the words and sentences in bold from this point forward were not included in Wayland’s version of the journal in 1957.
November 20, 1715. Wednesday. [After leaving Mrs. Woodford who lived on the RappahannockRiver “about ten miles below the falls” at Fredericksburg, now Stafford County.]
We continued on our way until we came five miles above this land and there we went to see the Falls of Rappahannock river, and the water run with such violence over the rocks and large stones that are in the river that tis almost impossible for boat or canoe to go up or down in safety.
After we had satisfied our curiosity, we continued on the road. About five we crossed a bridge that was made by the Germans and about six we arrived to the German settlement.
We went immediately to the minister’s house [Rev. John Henry Huger] We found nothing to eat but lived on our small provisions and lay upon good straw. We passed the night very indifferently.”
[The portion in bold was in the 1853 version of the Journal, but omitted by Wayland.]
November 21, 1715. Thursday. [German Settlement] “Our beds not being very easy, as soon as ’twas day we got up. It rained hard, but notwithstanding we walked about the town which is pallisaded with stakes stuck in the ground, and laid close the one to the other, of substance to bear out a musket shot.
There is but nine families and they have nine houses built all in a line, and before every house about 20 feet from the house they have small sheds built for their hogs and hens, so that the hog stys and houses make a street.
This place that is paled in is a pentagon, very regularly laid out with five sides, and in the very centre there is a blockhouse made with five sides which answers to the five sides of pales or great inclosure.
There is loop holes through it, from which you may see all the inside of the inclusure. This was intended for a retreat for the people in case they were not able to defend the pallisades if attacked by the Indians. ”
They make use of this Blockhouse for divine service. They go to prayers constantly once a day and have two sermons a Sunday. We went to hear them perform their service, which was done in their own language [German] which we did not understand, but they seem to be very devout and sing the Psalms very well.
This town or settlement lies upon Rappahanoc River 30 miles above the Falls [at Fredericksburg] and 30 miles from any Inhabitants. The Germans live very miserably.
We would tarry here some time but for want of provisions we are obliged to go. We got from the minister a bit of smoked beef and cabbage, which was very ordinary and dirtily drest.*
We made a collection between us three [Fontaine, Clayton and an unknown companion] of about thirty shillings for the minister, and about 12 of the clock we took our leave of them and set out to return, the weather hazy and small rain.
* The section in bold was in the 1853 version of the journal, but omitted by Wayland.
In less than three hours we see 19 deer. About 6 of the clock we arrived at Mr. Smith’s house which is almost upon the Falls of the Rappahanoc river.[6]
We have made this day 30 miles. He was not at home, but his housekeeper entertained us well. We had a good turkey for supper and beds to lie on.”
This is the only thing Fontaine has to say about Ft. Germanna on his first visit. It was apparently a very poor and desperate place at this time.
The 1716 Expedition with Spotswood
Fontaine accompanied Spotswood on two journeys in 1716. The first was in the spring on a trip to Fort Christanna in Brunswick County, another of Spotswood’s outposts.
This fort was equipped with five cannon and a school for Indians. Its primary purpose was to protect the southwestern frontier and attempt to educate and Christianize the savage Indians.
In this it had some measure of success.[7] The travelers were primarily just Spotswood and Fontaine. No large party accompanied them.
A much larger and festive party rendezvoused at Germanna that August. Fontaine was again in the company of Spotswood. This trip is what has come to be known as the “Knights of the Golden Horseshoe” expedition over the Blue Ridge mountains.
In June of 1716, Spotswood informed the Council that rangers had discovered a pass over the Blue Ridge mountains. Spotswood and the Council were excited with this news.
Plans were soon underway to explore what might lay beyond those mountains. This would become one of Virginia’s most celebrated adventures.[8] That the party included several surveyors and some of Virginia’s most savvy land speculators was no coincidence.[9]
In his introduction to the Fontaine journal, Alexander says that Spotswood’s travel account showed that the expedition consisted of 63 men, 74 horses and several dogs. Included in this group were were several rangers and Indian guides, as well as the requisite servants.
Having set out from Williamsburg on Monday, August 20th, Fontaine arrived at “German Town” on Friday, August 24, 1716. Once again, he “tarried” with Mrs. Woodford and Austin Smith along the way. We resume his diary on that day:
24 August 1716. Friday. [Fontaine leaves from Mrs. Woodford’s at 7:00 a.m. and arrives at Mr. Austin Smith’s house about 10:00, where he dined until 1:00]
Then we set out, and nine of the clock we came to the German town, where we set up that night. Bad beds and indifferent entertainment.
25 August 1716. Saturday. Germantown. After dinner we went to see the mines, but I could not observe that there was any good mine. The Germans pretend that ’tis a silver mine.
We took some of the ore and endeavored to run it, but could get nothing out of it and I am of opinion it will not come to anything, not as much as lead.
There are many of the gentlemen of the country concerned in this work. We returned to our beds, hard beds.
The 1853 published version of the journal includes the sentence about the mines in bold, above.
One wonders why Wayland completely omitted this very important first sentence that is so essential to the Germanna story.
Wayland also omits the last sentences in both this entry and the one before it, and simply dismisses them by saying “Fontaine was rather caustic in his remarks about the entertainment provided at Germanna. He evidently did not appreciate the limitations under which all pioneers had to live.”
Here we learn that there was some sort of mining going on at this time, and that “the Germans pretend that ’tis a silver mine.” And that “there are men of the gentlemen of the country concerned in this work” who seem to be the gentlemen members of the expedition (see next day’s journal entry.)
The Germans were probably searching for silver as they had been led to believe they were going to do when they left Germany, but were only finding ore.
Unfortunately, Fontaine does not say where the mine was located. This is discussed later, where we will see that it was not possibly more than 4 miles away.
26 August 1716. Sunday. Germanna. At seven we got up and several gentlemen of the country that were to meet the governor were to meet at this place for the expedition, came here, as also two companies of Rangers, consisting of 6 men each and officer to each company, as also four Meherrin Indians.
In the morning I diverted myself shooting at a mark with the other gentlemen. At twelve we dined and after dinner we mounted our horses and crossed the Rappahanoc river [sic, Rapidan] that runs by this place and we went to find some convenient place for our horses to feed in and to view the land hereabouts.
Our guide left us and we went so far in the woods that we did not know the way back home again, so we hallooed and shot, and in half an hour after sunset the guide came to us, and we came to cross the river by another ford higher up.
The descent to the river being steep and the night dark, we were obliged to dismount and lead our horses down to the river side through the bushes, which was very troublesome and the greatest part of our company dismounted, the bank being steep and went into the water to mount their horses where they were up to the crotch in the water.
After we forded the river and came to the other side where the bank was steep also and one of our company going up, his horse fell back upon the top of him in the river, but he received no other damage than being heartily wet which made sport for the rest.
A hornet stung one of the gentlemen in the face, which swelled prodigiously, and about ten we came to the town, where we supped, and to bed.
August 27, 1716. Monday. Germanna. At ten we got our tents in order, and getting our horses shod. About twelve I was taken with a violent headache, and pains in all my bones so that I was obliged to lie down and was very bad that day.[10]
Much has been said about the horses being shod at Germanna. Alexander has this to say on the matter:
This act, noteworthy because in Tidewater there were few stones and horses often went without shoes, was to give the expedition a romantic name. Spotswood later is said to have bestowed upon some of the gentlemen small golden horseshoes with valuable stones representing the heads of nails.
These souvenirs, according to Hugh Jones in 1724, had on one side a Latin motto, Sic juvat trancendere montes (How delightful it is to cross mountains!), and “The Tramontane Order” was inscribed on the other.
In 1845 Dr. William Alexander Caruthers of Lexington, Virginia brought out a historical novel, eventually called The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. Although it wildly distorted the historical facts, it made the expedition widely known.[11]
Writing in 1724, the Rev. Hugh Jones wrote in his The Present State of Virginia:[12]
For this expedition they [the members of the party] were obliged to provide a great quantity of horse shoes (things seldom used in the lower parts of the country, where there are few stones:) upon which account the Governor upon their return presented each of his companions with a golden horse shoe (some of which I have seen studded with valuable stones resembling the heads of nails), with this inscription on the one side: Sic juvat trancendere montes; and on the other is written tramontane order.
This he instituted to encourage gentlemen to venture backwards, and make discoveries and new settlements; any gentleman being entitled to wear this Golden Shoe than can prove his having drunk his Majesty’s health upon Mount George.
Wayland weighs in on this matter much more forcefully:
It has generally been said that the horses were unshod before this time—that shoes were unnecessary in the lowlands of Virginia. This seems questionable.
To have pared the hoofs, fitted, and nailed on four shoes for each of fifty or more horses [Spotswood said there were 74 horses] in one day would have been an almost impossible task, even if three or four skilled farriers were at the job.
There is no indication that there was more than one blacksmith at Germanna, though there may have been more. We may assume that two or three were in Spotswood’s company. They were certainly needed on the trip over the mountains and returning.
One set of good shoes may have sufficed for the trip, but probably many were pulled off or loosened by the roots that interlaced the marshes along the numerous streams.
From Hugh Jones statement we may assume that horseshoes were carried up to Germanna from Williamsburg or other places along the way. Iron was not yet being made at or near Germanna. Nails, eight for each shoe, also no doubt had been provided beforehand.
The making of a thousand or more nails by hand was no small task. If some of the horses were already shod, it was perhaps possible to shoe the others and fasten the shoes all in one day at Germanna.[13]
To this may be added that while horses may or may not have been shod in the Tidewater, the hoofs of stabled horses would still have been pared and kempt–a continuous job.
They would otherwise have been unable to travel anywhere. This part of Wayland’s argument does not hold water.
The question is begged at every turn in this discussion. If horse shoes were not needed in Tidewater, as Jones himself attests, how or why would the expedition have had reason to have a supply of them?
Were they ordered in advance from England? Were they forged by the patrons of the expedition on their own plantations? If so, where did the iron come from to do this? There are more questions here than answers.
With respect to the “golden” horse shoes, Wayland goes a little wide of the mark when he writes:
The Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, the expedition across the Blue Ridge and the golden studded souvenirs that Spotswood provided for the gentlemen of his party, have often been celebrated, more often it may be in fiction than in fact.
The story by William A. Caruthers, published in New York in 1882, is a fair sample of fancy with a loose rein.
We must leave the final word on the matter to Governor Spotswood himself.
In his last official act as Governor of Virginia,[14] he presided over the Treaty of Albany in New York. This conference was held to resolve sundry disputes between various colonies and the five Indian nations.
At the signing of the treaty on 12 September 1722 he gave a closing address which included these remarks:
Then the Governor told them he must take particular notice of their Speaker [Brother Assarigoe] & gave him a golden Horse Shoe, which he wore at his Breast, & bid the Interpreter tell him there was an inscription upon [it] which Signified that it would help to pass over the mountains, and that when any of their people should come to Virginia with a pass they should bring it with them.[15]
With that brief aside, we continue with Fontaine’s journal who, as the reader will recall, had become very ill.
August 28, 1716. Tuesday. Germanna. About one in the morning I was taken with a violent fever and it continued till twelve. At six at night my fever abated and I began to take the bark, and had one ounce divided into eight doses. By ten of the clock that night the fever abated but great pains in my head and bones.
Alexander’s footnote to this entry tells us that Fontaine was taking Cinchona bark which contains a form of quinine, the treatment for malaria.
This bark had been discovered in Peru by Jesuit priests who took it back to Europe where it was known as Jesuit’s bark, or simply “the bark.”
In 18th century Virginia is was “the sovereign remedy for the seasoning sickness,” or malaria, which afflicted newcomers, and was also prescribed for many other disorders.
August 29, 1716. Wednesday. Germanna. In the morning we got all things in readiness and about one we left the German town for to set on our intended journey.
At five in the afternoon the governor gave orders to encamp near a small river three miles from Germanna, which we called Expedition Run. Here we lay all night.
This first encampment was called Beverly Camp in honour of one of the gentlemen in our company [Robert Beverley]. Here we remained this night.
We made great fires and supped and drunk good punch. By ten of the clock I had taken all of my ounce of Jesuit’s Bark, but my head was much out of order.
Alexander’s footnote to this sentence states that “all authorities agree that Expedition Run is the present Russell Run on the south side of the Rapidan.” One must also wonder what was the cause of Fontaine’s head disorder–the fever or the punch?
The following journal entries describe the expedition itself. The purpose of this article is not to write about the expedition, except to note that the party was exceedingly well supplied with alcohol. The day after crossing the Blue Ridge mountains, and upon crossing the Shenandoah River (which they named the Euphrates) on 6 September 1716, they had reached the end of their expedition. A festive celebration was deemed to be in order. Part of Fontaine’s journal entry for that day reads:
The Governor had graving irons but could not grave any thing the stones were so hard. I graved my name on a tree by the river side and the governor buried a bottle with a paper enclosed in which he writ that he took possession of this place in the name and for King George 1st of England.
We had a good dinner. After dinner we got the men all together and loaded all their arms and we drunk the King’s health in Champagne, and fired a volley; the Prince’s health in Burgundy, and fired a volley; and all the rest of the Royal Family in Claret, and a volley.
We drunk the Governor’s health and fired another volley. We had several sorts of liquors, namely Virginia Red Wine and White Wine, Irish Usquebaugh, Brandy, Shrub, two sorts of rum, Champagne, Canary, Cherry punch, Cider, Water, etc….the highest of the mountains we called Mount George, and the one we crossed over Mount Spotswood.
The party returned to Germanna by the route they had taken, and we pick up Fontaine’s journal there.
September 11, 1716. Tuesday. Germanna Town. After breakfast all company left us excepting Dr. [Christopher] Robinson and Mr. [Jeremiah] Clouder. We walked all about the town and the Governor settled his business with the Germans here, and accommodated the minister and the people, then to bed.
September 12, 1716. Wednesday. Germanna Town. After breakfast went a fishing in Rappahanoc and took seven fish which we had for dinner. After which Mr. Robinson and I we endeavored to melt some ore in the smith’s forge, but could get nothing out of it.
About four Dr. Robinson’s and Mr. Clouders’ boys were taken violently ill with a fever. Mr. Robinson and Mr. Clouder left us and left their boys here.
Here we learn there was a smith’s forge at Germanna in 1716, as well as a nearby supply of iron ore.
September 13, 1716. Thursday. Germanna Town. About eight of the clock we mounted our horses and went to the mine, where we took several pieces of ore and at nine we set out from the mine, our servants being gone before, we set after them and about three we lit in the woods and there the Governor and I dined.
After we mounted and continued on our road. I killed a black snake which was about five feet long. We continued on and about six we arrived at Mrs. Woodford’s who lives on Rappahannoc River where we continued this night.
The underlined sentence gives us an important clue as to the proximity of the mine to Fort Germanna. Fontaine says they left at 8:00 a.m. and by 9:00 had arrived there, collected samples of ore, and left — all within one hour.
Wayland and others have stated that the first mine was a good 13 miles from the fort, which has never made much sense to this writer.
A horse can travel at a leisurely pace at five miles per hour. Giving Fontaine a minimum of 15 minutes to collect his iron ore samples and leave, that would leave him at most 45 minutes to reach the mine. Hence, the mine could have been no more than 3 or 4 miles from the fort.
While Spotswood’s Tubal Furnace was 13 miles Southeast of Germanna, that was not erected until a later date. It appears from Fontaine’s journal that an earlier mine was much closer to the Germanna settlement.
Wayland’s map of Germanna indicates that he found a heap of discarded ore at the Germanna site.[16]
Some Final Thoughts on the Mining Activity of the First Colony
We have learned from the above what Fontaine saw and recorded about mining activity at Germanna. He was not impressed with it, and that he says the Germans were “pretending” to mine silver is a curious remark.
The first biography of Alexander Spotswood was written by Leonidus Dodson in 1932 (Alexander Spotswood, Governor of Colonial Virginia 1710-1722, New York, AMS Press). It was a fairly comprehensive effort, and his sources included Spotswood’s official letters and Fontaine’s journal as published by Ann Maury in 1853.
After discussing the difficulties of Spotswood’s obtaining permission to mine iron ore and the commercial opposition to it in England, he writes with respect to mining at Germanna and fairly well sums up both the public and private sides of the Governor’s thinking:
A number of letters written by Spotswood to Blakiston [Nathaniel Blakiston, Virginia’s agent in London] indicate that his interest in mining was by no means exclusively of a public nature.
The extracts from this correspondence found in the governor’s letter book are suggestive rather than explicit, but they indicate that he and others, de Graffenried and probably Orkney [George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney, titular Governor of Virginia in England and technically Spotswood’s superior] among the number, were concerned in mining enterprises.
To make their position secure, they wished to obtain a grant from the crown. Presumably it was silver mining in which they wished to engage, and the grant was to determine the royal share of the product . . . .
When the Germans arrived in the spring of 1714 Spotswood, concealing from the council his part in bringing them over, proposed that they be settled at the falls of the Rappahannock as a barrier against the Indians…
The existence eked out by the minister and his flock was miserable enough. How long the Germans continued in the search for silver, if indeed silver was the object of their search, it would be hard to say.
The suspicion will not down that the agitation concerning silver was designed to throw dust in the eyes of the British authorities, the real object being the mining of iron.[17]
John Blankenbaker, a noted Germanna historian, takes exception with Dodson and has written several articles on von Graffenried, Ritter & Company and Spotswood’s ulterior motives with regard to silver and iron.
It is beyond the scope of this article to delve into the intricacies involved in this spider’s web of sundry characters, conflicting statements, questionable motives and juxtaposed time lines.
For purposes of this article, a summation of the matter by Blankenbaker, in his Beyond Germanna newsletter-journal, is quoted here:
After the Germans were in Virginia, Spotswood welcomed them in the hope that they could be put to work in the projected silver mine of which he was a quarter owner. This mine was about fifteen miles beyond the western extent of English civilization so Spotswood obtained the concurrence of the Virginia Council to build a fort with public moneys for the Germans.
The official explanation was that the Germans were to be guardians of the frontier to protect the English from the Indians. They did serve in this capacity.
From the land plots, one can see that the mine which seemed to have silver was only about four miles from the German settlement. As many of Spotswood’s actions, it is hard to distinguish between the public policy which he was helping to formulate and his personal interests.
Because the status of foreigners was uncertain, Spotswood was afraid that his actions might be held against him. Perhaps the naming of the fort as Germanna was a subtle appeal to Queen Anne who was favorably inclined toward Germans.
Spotswood would not allow the Germans to work in the mine until the legal title to precious metals was clarified. Therefore, the Germans did no mining for two years while instead they farmed and guarded the frontier. Eventually an attempt was made to locate silver ores but the mine was abandoned because none could be found.[18]
Like so many other things involving the First Colony, there are a wide variety of opinions and interpretations. No one has studied the matter more thoroughly than John Blankenbaker, and to the extent there is a definitive word on the matter at this time, it would be his.
As with the case of the Golden Horseshoes, perhaps it is best we leave the final word to the participants themselves. Recorded in the Essex County, Virginia, Court House in Tappahannock is this document:
17 May 1720. The Honorable Alex. Spotswood, his Majesty’s Lieut. Governour and Commander in Chief in Virginia, did put under my command eleven labouring men to work in mines or quarries at or near Germanna and we begun to work March 1715/16 and so continued till Dec. 1718.
/s/ John Justice Albright [sic, Albrecht]
What is subscribed above by the Holtman [sic, Hoffman, i.e., supervisor] is true for I kept the accounts for him and was one of the men. /s/ H. Jacob Holtsclare [sic, Holtzclaw]
17 May 1720. Sworn to by John Justice Albright and Hans Jacob Holscare.[19]
Be all this as it may, it was of little or no concern to John Fontaine. After the expedition he returned to Williamsburg and again wasted little time on his next adventure.
________________________
Endnotes:
[1] Havighurst, 44-45.
[2] H. R. McIlwaine, Editor, Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia, Vol. III (Richmond: The Virginia State Library, 1928; Reprint, The Virginia State Library, 1976), 371-372.
[3] Havighurst, 46-47.
[4] Havinghurst, 47.
[5] McIlwaine, 400.
[6] Footnote #101 by Alexander reads “Augustine Smith (d. 1726) who lived near the falls of the Rappahannock River, was surveyor of Essex County, a justice of the new Spotsylvania County, 1722, and a large speculator in lands in the Rapidan area.” The section in bold was not in the 1853 version of the journal.
[7] The fort, school and trading post were partially funded by the privately owned Virginia Indian Company, which Spotswood had established in 1714, and of which Spotswood was an investor. In one of many disputes with the English merchants, with the Burgesses and with his own Council, public funding for the fort, the school, and the trading post was revoked in 1717, and closed down in 1718. Havighurst, 50, 75-76; Alexander, 155.
[8] Havighurst, 68.
[9] The known gentlemen members of the expedition, in addition to Spotswood and Fontaine, were Robert Beverley, Jr.; Robert Brooke, surveyor of Essex; Capt. Jeremiah Clowder of King & Queen; Col. George Mason of Stafford; Col. William Robertson of Williamsburg, clerk of the Council and General Assembly; probably Christopher Robinson of Middlesex; Augustine Smith, surveyor of Essex; Capt. Christopher Smith, surveyor of New Kent; James Taylor, Jr., surveyor of King & Queen; and William Todd of King & Queen. All of these men except Mason and (possibly) Christopher Smith took up lands along the Rapidan water shed soon after this expedition. Alexander, 14.
[10] In his footnote to this sentence, Alexander believes that Fontaine was suffering another bout of malaria.
[11] Alexander, 14, 136 (footnote no. 19.)
[12] Richard L. Morton, editor, The Present State of Virginia, published for the Virginia Historical Society (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1956), 58-59.
[13] Wayland, Germanna Record No. 7, 27.
[14] Spotswood did not know it at the time, but when he arrived back in Williamsburg in late October, he found a new occupant in the Governor’s Mansion—Hugh Drysdale. Drysdale had became Lt. Governor of Virginia on September 27th. Havighurst, 103-104. This must have been the ultimate insult, for Spotswood had spent his entire 12 years in office completing this edifice. It was a very sore point with the Council and especially the House of Burgesses as it kept growing in size, magnitude and of course cost. Just when it was finally completed, Spotswood was not to be its occupant.
[15] O’Callaghan, E. B. (Ed.), Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, vol. 5. (Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons, and Co., 1855), 677. Digital image from <http://earlytreaties.unl.edu/images/images.html?n=677&ref=treaty.00001>
[16] Wayland, Germanna Record No. 7, 50.
[17] Dodson, 230, 232.
[18] John Blankenbaker, “The Germanna Colonies” <http://www.germanna.com/Germanna.htm> accessed 12 May 2009.
[19] Transcribed by John Frederick Dorman in Essex County, Virginia Records 1712-1722 (Washington, D.C., private printing, 1959), 17, citing Essex County Deeds Etc. No. 16, 180. The mention of quarrying is seldom, if ever, the subject of comment. As we have seen, there were no indigenous stones in Tidewater, and stones would have had a commercial and practical value there. Albrecht’s name in German was Johann Justus Albrecht. From Germanna, the two men would have traveled by land to Fredericksburg and then taken the Rappanannock River down stream to Tappahannock. The purpose of making such a long trip to record this statement is a mystery.
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