The Draper Papers – Upper New River Valley References
Lyman Draper was perhaps the greatest archivist or the greatest thief of the 19th century. Mr. Draper carried on a lengthy correspondence over 50 years with many individuals about the formative years of the American Repulic. During the process of this correspondence, he also acquired many original source documents. Some of these documents pertain to the Upper New River Valley of North Carolina and Virginia. Some brief abstracts of these documents are listed below.
The Draper Papers are housed in the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin and are exceedingly difficult to see. Fortunately these papers have been microfilmed, and are available in this format. Indicies of these documents are also available, reprinted by McDowell Publications, Rt. 4 Box 314, Utica, KY 42378.
The abstracts listed below probably are not comprehensive for the area described. If you know of any additional references which should be included here, please let me know. Rich Ballard.
A note about the Calendar codes. Documents with QQ are part of the Preston Collection, documents with ZZ are part of the Virginia Collection, documents with XX are part of the Tennessee Collection, documents with DD are part of the Kings Mountain collection, and documents with CC are part of the Kentucky papers.
| Date | Reference # | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ca.1769 | 2QQ115 | New River Augusta Co. Inhabitants. Petition to the house of burgesses praying that they be exempted from the payment of levies and taxes for a few years longer; and that they be added to the new county should Augusta be divided. |
| 11/16/1772 | 2QQ138 2QQ139 |
Byrd, Col. William. Westover. Letter to William Preston inquring about land and expressing desire to buy land adjoing the lead mines |
| 9/4/1774 | 3QQ91 | Robertson, James. Letter to Col. William Preston. Just returned from Greasy Creek after men engaged by Thomas Ingles; will, by the aid of his friend, David Hughes, execute orders sent him; arrangements for provisioning the expedition. |
| 9/12/1774 | 3QQ95 | Love, Philip. Big Levels. Letter to William Preston. The Botetourt troops to march in a few hours for the mouth of Elk Creek. |
| 10/1/1774 | 3QQ109 | Campbell, Arthur. Letter to Col. William Preston. Indians attack Moore’s Fort on Clinch; Captain Looney unable to go in pursuit; has heard nothing from Doack, Thompson, Montgomery, or Cox. |
| 10/5/1774 | 3QQ114 | Campbell, Maj. Arthur. Letter to William Preston. John Cox to range about Reedy Creek and Moccasin Gap and to escort provisions to Blackmore’s; Rev. Charles Cummings, the bearer, to give information concerning the situtation of inhabitants. |
| 10/6/1774 | 3QQ116 | Campbell, Maj. Arthur. Letter to Col. William Preston. Arrival of Samuel Shannon with cattle; he and the flour wagons to proceed together to Moccasin Gap; enough cattle engaged for Captain Smith’s fort; an Indian seen by one, Snodgrass, below Captain Thompson’s; probably one of Donelson and Mason’s party in disguise; Lieutenant Cox and men sent down the river. |
| 10/17/1774 | 3QQ125 | Campbell, Maj. Arthur. Letter to Col. William Preston, Smithfield. Letter of 13th delivered by Anthony Head; distribution of powder; forty pounds engaged by Montgomery and Henderson on Holston; selfish application for men; every few famlies want a fort and a guard; people greatly distressed about saving their corn; return of Captain Thompson; Lieutenant Cox at Blackmore’s; Eaton and King’s stations should be strong; Blackmore’s the most convenient place to oppose the enemy; Captain Cocke desires to serve; asks if he can not substitute for Captain Thompson. |
| 6/15/1776 | 4QQ50 | Preston, William. Fincastle. Letter to Edmund Pendleton. Measures for protection of the frontier against the Cherokee; asks instructions as to the manner for dealing with the Tories; Isaac Thomas engaged as messenger to the Indians in an effort to maintain the peace; Powell’s Valley deserted; Roberts with Tories on Elk Creek. |
| 7/7/1776 | 4QQ53 | Russell, William. Letter to William Preston, County Lieutenant of Fincastle. Two men killed at Blackmore’s Gap; the militia from New River anxious to get back to their crops; visit to his family; enlistment of men in the different forts; Madison’s appointment by the convention; spies sent to people on Kentucky to give notice of the war; Thomas Price’s deposition sent to the governor. |
| 4/17/1777 | 5ZZ17 | Madison, Thomas. Letter to Thomas Everard, James Cocke, etc. Proposals to the commissioners respecting compensation for his services as contractor and paymaster to troops under command of Col. William Russell, the guard at the lead mines, troops station on New River by Col. William Preston, and to troops on Cherokee expedition command by Col. William Christian; proposal to be laid before the governor and council. |
| 7/18/1779 | 3ZZ19 | Preston, William. Letter. Informing of the Tory plot against the lead miens and the capture of Captains Cox, Osborn, and Henderson; Col. William Campbell awaiting reinforcements at the mines; Col. William Ingles to take command of the Montgomery County militia and march against the insurgents. |
| 7/12/1780 | 5QQ40 | Preston, William letter to Capt. Isaac Taylor. Tory insurrection; instruction for the disarming of Tories on New River, and about the court-house; further instructions from Col. Walter Crockett or himself to be observed. |
| 8/6/1780 | 5QQ48 | Crockett, Col. Walter. Fort Chiswell. Letter to William Preston. Is about to march with 250 men agains the Tories on New River; one Letcher murdered by Meeks and Nicholas; horses stolen from Colonel Green within six miles of Herbert’s Ferry [Austinville]; advises the sending of a party to Greasy Creek and toward Flower Gap. |
| 8/28/1780 | 5QQ65 | Cox, John. Deposition giving reasons for suspecting Richard Green of having stolen his horse from the stable. |
| 1780 | 5QQ70 | Swift, Flower. List. Apparently a list of men accused of Toryism, including Quakers who refused to take the oath. |
| 1780 | 5QQ68 | Tories. Confessions of John Clifton, Toloman Harrison, Roger Oats, Bryant Fanning, Robert Phristo, David Copeman, Jeremiah Lambert, Marcum Lovell, Andrew Thompson, and Amos Johnson; others involved are John Bullock, John Wyley, Joshua Jones, David Herbert, John Griffith, John Jenkins, Charles Devereaux, Evan Williams, John Newton, Philip Dutton, the Vaults, Bronstetters, Moses Wells, Peter Razor, Jink Williams, Ben Thomas, Griffith Lewis, John Morgan, N. Brittain, John Cox, John Draper, Valentine Harmon, John Henderson, Colonel Ingles, Elias Fanning, Richard Oney, Thomas Potter, Jonathan Ingram, and Bernard Gullion. |
| 12/15/1834 | 3ZZ43 | Keys, James. Washington Co., VA. Deposition relative to Revolutionary service of Col. William Edmondson. Served as captain on expeditions against the Cherokee in 1776 and 1777; captain under Col. William Campbell on a tour against the Tories in Grayson and Ashe counties in 1778. Major at Battle of King’s Mountain. Sworn before William Buchanan. |