The Life of John Marshall, Volume 1: Frontiersman, soldier, lawmaker, 1755-1788

152

Sparks, 11; and Irving, i, 33.

153

For Fairfax's influence on Washington see Irving, i, 45; and in general, for fair secondary accounts of Fairfax, see ib., 31-46; and Sparks, 10-11.

154

Senator Humphrey Marshall says that Thomas Marshall "emulated" Washington. (Humphrey Marshall, i, 345.)

155

See infra.

156

Bond of Thomas Marshall as Sheriff, Oct. 26, 1767; Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, iii, 70. Approval of bond by County Court; Minute Book (from 1764 to 1768), 322. Marshall's bond was "to his Majesty, George III," to secure payment to the British revenue officers of all money collected by Marshall for the Crown. (Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, iii, 71.)

157

Bruce: Inst., i, 597, 600; also, ii, 408, 570-74.

158

Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, ii, 42. There is a curious record of a lease from Lord Fairfax in 1768 to John Marshall for his life and "the natural lives of Mary his wife and Thomas Marshall his son and every of them longest living." (Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, iii, 230.) John Marshall was then only thirteen years old. The lease probably was to Thomas Marshall, the clerk of Lord Fairfax having confused the names of father and son.

159

Meade, ii, 218.

160

In 1773 three deeds for an aggregate of two hundred and twenty acres "for a glebe" were recorded in Fauquier County to "Thos. Marshall & Others, Gentlemen, & Vestrymen of Leeds Parish." (Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, v, 401, 403, 422.)

161

The vestrymen were "the foremost men … in the parish … whether from the point of view of intelligence, wealth or social position." (Bruce: Inst., i, 62; and see Meade, i, 191.)

162

Bruce: Inst., i, 62-93; and see Eckenrode: S.C. & S., 13.

163

Bruce: Inst., i, 131 et seq.

164

Meade, ii, 219. Bishop Meade here makes a slight error. He says that Mr. Thompson "lived at first in the family of Colonel Thomas Marshall, of Oak Hill." Thomas Marshall did not become a colonel until ten years afterward. (Heitman, 285.) And he did not move to Oak Hill until 1773, six years later. (Paxton, 20.)

165

James Thompson was born in 1739. (Meade, ii, 219.)

166

Ib.

167

Forty years later La Rochefoucauld found that the whole family and all visitors slept in the same room of the cabins of the back country. (La Rochefoucauld, iv, 595-96.)

168

"I have not sleep'd above three nights or four in a bed, but, after walking … all the day, I lay down before the fire upon a little hay, straw, fodder or bearskin … with man, wife, and children, like a parcel of dogs and cats; and happy is he, who gets the berth nearest the fire." (Washington to a friend, in 1748; Writings: Ford, i, 7.)

Here is another of Washington's descriptions of frontier comforts: "I not being so good a woodsman as ye rest of my company, striped myself very orderly and went into ye Bed, as they calld it, when to my surprize, I found it to be nothing but a little straw matted together without sheets or any thing else, but only one thread bear [sic] blanket with double its weight of vermin such as Lice, Fleas, &c." (Washington's Diary, March 15, 1747; ib., 2.) And see La Rochefoucauld, iii, 175, for description of homes of farmers in the Valley forty years later – miserable log huts "which swarmed with children." Thomas Marshall's little house was much better than, and the manners of the family were far superior to, those described by Washington and La Rochefoucauld.

169

Meade, ii, 219.

170

Ib. Bishop Meade says that Thomas Marshall's sons were sent to Mr. Thompson again; but Marshall himself told Justice Story that the Scotch parson taught him when the clergyman lived at his father's house.

171

Meade, ii, 219. This extract of Mr. Thompson's sermon was treasonable from the Tory point of view. See infra, chap. III.

172

Records of Fauquier County (Va.), Deed Book, V, 282. This purchase made Thomas Marshall the owner of about two thousand acres of the best land in Fauquier County. He had sold his Goose Creek holding in "The Hollow."

173

The local legend, current to the present day, is that this house had the first glass windows in that region, and that the bricks in the chimney were imported from England. The importation of brick, however, is doubtful. Very little brick was brought to Virginia from England.

174

Five more children of Thomas and Mary Marshall were born in this house: Louis, 1773; Susan, 1775; Charlotte, 1777; Jane, 1779; and Nancy, 1781. (Paxton.)

175

This volume is now in the possession of Judge J. K. M. Norton, of Alexandria, Va. On several leaves are printed the names of the subscribers. Among them are Pelatiah Webster, James Wilson, Nathanael Greene, John Adams, and others.

176

Autobiography.

177

Binney, in Dillon, iii, 286.

178

Story and Binney say that Marshall's first schooling was at Campbell's "academy" and his second and private instruction under Mr. Thompson. The reverse seems to have been the case.

179

Meade, ii, 159, and footnote to 160.

180

Ib., 161.

181

Ib.

182

Journal, H.B. (1761-65), 3. Thomas Marshall was seldom out of office. Burgess, Sheriff, Vestryman, Clerk, were the promising beginnings of his crowded office-holding career. He became Surveyor of Fayette County, Kentucky, upon his removal to that district, and afterwards Collector of Revenue for the District of Ohio. (Humphrey Marshall, i, 120; and see ii, chap. V, of this work. Thomas Marshall to Adams, April 28, 1797; MS.) In holding offices, John Marshall followed in his father's footsteps.

183

Journal, H.B. (1766-69), 147 and 257.

184

His election was contested in the House, but decided in Marshall's favor. (Ib. (1761-69), 272, 290, 291.)

185

Ib., (1773-76), 9. County Clerks were then appointed by the Secretary of State. In some respects the Clerk of the County Court had greater advantages than the Sheriff. (See Bruce: Inst., i, 588 et seq.) Dunmore County is now Shenandoah County. The Revolution changed the name. When Thomas Marshall was appointed Clerk, the House of Burgesses asked the Governor to issue a writ for a new election in Fauquier County to fill Marshall's place as Burgess. (Ib. (1773-76), 9.)

186

Ib. (1766-69), 163.

187

Ib., 16, 71, 257; (1770-72), 17, 62, 123, 147, 204, 234, 251, 257, 274, 292; (1773-76), 217, 240.

188

Ambler, Introduction.

189

Ambler, 17-18.

190

Henry, i, 71.

191

Ib., 76-77.

192

Henry, i, 39-48.

193

Wirt, 71 et seq. It passed the House (Journal, H.B. (1761-65), 350); but was disapproved by the Council. (Ib., 356; and see Henry, i, 78.)

194

The "ayes" and "noes" were not recorded in the Journals of the House; but Jefferson says, in his description of the event, which he personally witnessed, that Henry "carried with him all the members of the upper counties and left a minority composed merely of the aristocracy." (Wirt, 71.) "The members, who, like himself [Henry], represented the yeomanry of the colony, were filled with admiration and delight." (Henry, i, 78.)

195

Wirt, 71. The incident, it appears, was considered closed with the defeat of the loan-office bill. Robinson having died, nothing further was done in the matter. For excellent condensed account see Eckenrode: R. V., 16-17.

196

Declaratory Resolutions.

197

For the incredible submission and indifference of the colonies before Patrick Henry's speech, see Henry, i, 63-67. The authorities given in those pages are conclusive.

198

Ib., 67.

199

Ib., 80-81.

200

Ib., 82-86.

201

Wirt, 74-76.

202

Eckenrode: R. V., 5-6.

203

"The members from the upper counties invariably supported Mr. Henry in his revolutionary measures." (Jefferson's statement to Daniel Webster, quoted in Henry, i, 87.)

204

Henry, i, 86.

205

Henry, i, 86, and authorities there cited in the footnote.

206

Misquoted in Wirt (79) as "500 guineas."

207

Jefferson to Wirt, Aug. 14, 1814; Works: Ford, xi, 404.

208

It is most unfortunate that the "ayes" and "noes" were not kept in the House of Burgesses. In the absence of such a record, Jefferson's repeated testimony that the up-country members voted and worked with Henry must be taken as conclusive of Thomas Marshall's vote. For not only was Marshall Burgess from a frontier county, but Jefferson, at the time he wrote to Wirt in 1814 (and gave the same account to others later), had become very bitter against the Marshalls and constantly attacked John Marshall whom he hated virulently. If Thomas Marshall had voted out of his class and against Henry, so remarkable a circumstance would surely have been mentioned by Jefferson, who never overlooked any circumstance unfavorable to an enemy. Far more positive evidence, however, is the fact that Washington, who was a Burgess, voted with Henry, as his letter to Francis Dandridge, Sept. 20, 1765, shows. (Writings: Ford, ii, 209.) And Thomas Marshall always acted with Washington.

209

"By these resolutions, Mr. Henry took the lead out of the hands of those who had heretofore guided the proceedings of the House." (Jefferson to Wirt, Aug. 14, 1814; Works: Ford, xi, 406.)

210

Proceedings, Va. Conv., 1775, March 20, 3; July 17, 3, 5, 7.

211

Henry, i, 255-61; Wirt, 117-19. Except Henry's speech itself, Wirt's summary of the arguments of the conservatives is much the best account of the opposition to Henry's fateful resolutions.

212

Wirt, 142; Henry, i, 261-66.

213

Ib., 271; and Wirt, 143.

214

In the absence of the positive proof afforded by a record of the "ayes" and "noes," Jefferson's testimony, Washington's vote, Thomas Marshall's tribute to Henry, and above all, the sentiment of the frontier county he represented, are conclusive testimony as to Thomas Marshall's stand in this all-important legislative battle which was the precursor of the iron conflict soon to come in which he bore so heroic a part. (See Humphrey Marshall, i, 344.)

215

Washington was appointed a member of the committee provided for in Henry's second resolution. (Henry, i, 271.)

216

Thomas Marshall had been ensign, lieutenant, and captain in the militia, had taken part in the Indian wars, and was a trained soldier. (Crozier: Virginia Colonial Militia, 96.)

217

Slaughter, 107-08. This was "the first minute battalion raised within this Commonwealth." (Memorial of Thomas Marshall to the Virginia Legislature for military "emoluments"; MS. Archives, Va. St. Lib.) Appendix IV.

218

Washington to Mason, April 5, 1769; Writings: Ford, ii, 263.

219

Meade, ii, 219.

220

Binney, in Dillon, iii, 286.

221

Ib.

222

Statement of eye-witness. (Binney, in Dillon, iii, 287.)

223

Ib., 288.

224

In all descriptions of Marshall, it is stated that his eyes were black and brilliant. His portraits, however, show them as dark brown, but keen and piercing.

225

Binney, in Dillon, iii, 287-88.

226

Ib.

227

Binney, in Dillon, iii, 288.

228

Not only do we find Marshalls, father and sons, taking gallant part in the Revolutionary War, but, thereafter, advocates of war with any country when the honor or interest of America was at stake.

229

Binney, in Dillon, iii, 288.

230

Infra, chap. IV.

231

Slaughter, 107-08. But Binney's informant says that it was twenty miles from the court-house. (Binney, in Dillon, iii, 286.)

232

Slaughter, 107-08; and certificate of J. Marshall in pension claim of William Payne; MSS. Rev. War, S. F. no. 8938½, Pension Bureau.

233

Slaughter, 107-08.

234

Ib.

235

Campbell, 607-14.

236

Slaughter, 107-08; certificate of J. Marshall in pension claim of David Jameson; MSS. Rev. War, S. F. no. 5607, Pension Bureau.

237

Only the Tories and the disaffected were frightened by these back-countrymen. Apparently Slaughter took this for granted and failed to make the distinction.

238

"The people hearing that we came from the backwoods, and seeing our savage-looking equipments, seemed as much afraid of us as if we had been Indians," writes the chronicler of that march. But the people, it appears, soon got over their fright; for this frontier soldiery, as one of them relates, "took pride in demeaning ourselves as patriots and gentlemen, and the people soon treated us with respect and great kindness." (Slaughter, 107-08.)

239

Slaughter, 107-08.

240

Ib.

241

Campbell, 633-34; Eckenrode: R. V., 81, 82.

242

Burk, iv, 85; and Lossing, ii, 535-36.

243

Marshall, i, 69; and Campbell, 635.

244

Marshall to Samuel Templeman, Richmond, Sept. 26, 1832, supporting latter's claim for pension; MSS. Rev. War, S. F. no. 6204, Pension Bureau.

245

For the conduct of the men then in supreme authority in Virginia see Wirt, 166-81; and Henry, i, 333-36; also, Campbell, 636 et seq.; and see Eckenrode: R. V., 75.

246

Marshall, i, 69; and see Eckenrode: R. V., chap. iii, for the best account that has been given of this important episode. Dr. Eckenrode's narrative is a complete statement, from original sources, of every phase of this initial armed conflict between the patriots and Royalists in Virginia. Also see affidavit of Marshall in pension claim of William Payne, April 26, 1832; MSS. Rev. War, S. F. no. 8938½, Pension Bureau.

247

Affidavit of Marshall in pension claim of William Payne, April 26, 1832: MSS. Rev. War, S. F. no. 8938½, Pension Bureau.

248

Memorial of Thomas Marshall. (Supra, and Appendix IV.)

249

This uniform was rare; it is probable, however, that Thomas Marshall procured it for himself and son. He could afford it at that time, and he was a very proud man.

250

Chastellux found the army nearly disbanded from necessity in 1782. (Chastellux, translator's note to 60.)

251

Washington to President of Congress, Jan. 24, 1776; Writings: Ford, iii, 372-73.

252

Washington to Reed, Feb. 10, 1776; ib., 413.

253

Washington to Committee of Safety of New York, April 27, 1776; Writings: Ford, iv, 51-52.

254

Washington to President of Congress, Sept. 20, 1776; ib., 422.

255

Washington to President of Congress, Sept. 24, 1776; ib., 439.

256

Washington to Major-General Lee, Dec. 1, 1776; ib., v, 62.

257

General Greene to Governor Cooke, Dec. 4, 1776; ib., footnote to 62.

258

Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 12, 1776; Writings: Ford, v, 84.

259

Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 24, 1776; ib., 129-30. While Washington was desperately badly off, he exaggerates somewhat in this despondent report, as Mr. Ford's footnote (ib., 130) shows.

260

Washington to President of Congress, Nov. 11, 1776; ib., 19.

261

Washington to John Augustine Washington, Nov. 19, 1776; Writings: Ford, v, 38-39.

262

Washington to President of Congress, Sept. 8, 1776; ib., iv, 397.

263

Washington to John Augustine Washington, Sept. 22, 1776; ib., 429.

264

Washington to Lund Washington, Sept. 30, 1776; Writings: Ford, iv, 457-59.

265

Washington to John Augustine Washington, Feb. 24, 1777; ib., v, 252. The militia officers were elected "without respect either to service or experience." (Chastellux, 235.)

266

Kapp, 115.

267

The Crisis: Paine; Writings: Conway, i, 175.

268

Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 66.

269

The militia were worse than wasteful and unmanageable; they deserted by companies. (Hatch, 72-73.)

270

Washington to Wharton, Oct. 17, 1777: Writings: Ford, vi, 118-19.

271

Ib.

272

Washington to John Augustine Washington, Oct. 18, 1777; ib., 126-29.

273

Livingston to Washington, Aug. 12, 1776; Cor. Rev.: Sparks, i, 275.

274

Lee to Washington, Nov. 12, 1776; ib., 305.

275

Sullivan to Washington, March 7, 1777; ib., 353-54.

276

Schuyler to Washington, Sept. 9. 1776; ib., 287.

277

Smith to McHenry, Dec. 10, 1778; Steiner, 21.

278

Chastellux, 44; and see Moore's Diary, i, 399-400; and infra, chap. IV.

279

Washington to Livingston, Dec. 31, 1777; Writings: Ford, vi, 272.

280

Washington to President of Congress, Dec. 23, 1777; ib., 260; and see ib., 267.

281

Pa. Mag. Hist. and Biog., 1890-91 (2d Series), vi, 79. Most faces among the patriot troops were pitted with this plague. Washington was deeply pockmarked. He had the smallpox in the Barbadoes when he was nineteen years old. (Sparks, 15.)

282

Weedon, Jan. 6, 1778, 183.

283

Hatch, 135; and Kapp, 109.

284

Proc., Mass. Hist. Soc. (2d Series), vi, 93.

285

Ib. Entries of desertions and savage punishment are frequent in Wild's Diary; see p. 135 as an example. Also see Moore's Diary, i, 405.

286

Weedon, 14.

287

Ib., Sept. 3, 1777, 30.

288

Ib., Sept. 15, 1777, 52. And see Sept. 6, p. 36, where officers as well as privates are ordered "instantly Shot" if they are "so far lost to all Shame as basely to quit their posts without orders, or shall skulk from Danger or offer to retreat before orders."

289

Livingston to Webb, May 28, 1781; Writings: Ford, ix, footnote to 267.

290

One reason for the chaotic state of the army was the lack of trained officers and the ignorance of the majority of common soldiers in regard to the simplest elements of drill or discipline. Many of the bearers of commissions knew little more than the men; and of such untrained officers there was an overabundance. (Hatch, 13-15.) To Baron von Steuben's training of privates as well as officers is due the chief credit for remedying this all but fatal defect. (Kapp, 126-35; also infra, chap. IV.)

291

For statement of conditions in the American army throughout the war see Hatch; also, Bolton.

292

The States were childishly jealous of one another. Their different laws on the subject of rank alone caused unbelievable confusion. (Hatch, 13-16. And see Watson, 64, for local feeling, and inefficiency caused by the organization of the army into State lines.)

293

Hatch says that Connecticut provided most bountifully for her men. (Hatch, 87.) But Chastellux found the Pennsylvania line the best equipped; each Pennsylvania regiment had even a band of music. (Chastellux, 65.)

294

"The only garment they possess is a blanket elegantly twined about them. You may judge, sir, how much this apparel graces their appearance in parade." (Inspector Fleury to Von Steuben, May 13, 1778; as quoted in Hatch, 87.)

295

Diary of Joseph Clark; Proceedings, N.J. Hist. Soc. (1st Series), vii, 104. The States would give no revenue to the general Government and the officers thought the country would go to pieces. (Hatch, 154.)

296

Heitman, 285.

297

Binney, in Dillon, iii, 284.

298

Washington to Committee of Congress, July 19, 1777; Writings: Ford, v, 495.

299

Washington to President of Congress, Aug. 23, 1777; Writings: Ford, vi, 50; also see Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 126.

300

Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 126.

301

Ib., 127.

302

On this subject see Waldo's poem, Hist. Mag., vii, 274; and Clark's Diary, Proc., N.J. Hist. Soc., vii, 102.

303

Weedon, Aug. 23, 1777, 19.

304

Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 127.

305

Ib., 128; and see Trevelyan, iv, 226.

306

Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 127-29; ib. (2d ed.), i, 154-56; Washington to President of Congress, Sept. 3, 1777; Writings: Ford, vi, 64-65.

307

Story, in Dillon, iii, 335.

308

Washington to President of Congress, Sept 11, 1777; Writings: Ford, vi, 69.

309

Marshall (1st ed.), iii, 131; ib. (2d ed.), i, 156. Colonel Harrison, Washington's Secretary, reported immediately to the President of Congress that Maxwell's men believed that they killed or wounded "at least three hundred" of the British. (Harrison to President of Congress, Sept. 11, 1777; Writings: Ford, vi, footnote to 68.)

310

Marshall, i, 156. The fact that Marshall places himself in this detachment, which was a part of Maxwell's light infantry, together with his presence at Iron Hill, fixes his position in the battle of the Brandywine and in the movements that immediately followed. It is reasonably certain that he was under Maxwell until just before the battle of Germantown. Of this skirmish Washington's optimistic and excited Secretary wrote on the spot, that Maxwell's men killed thirty men and one captain "left dead on the spot." (Harrison to the President of Congress, Sept. 11, 1777; Writings: Ford, vi, footnote to 68.)