Why you shouldn't cross a man like General John Cropper, Jr.

A copy of a portrait of General
Cropper painted by Charles
Wilson Peale on display at
Ker Place. The original is at
the Smithsonian.

Written by Randy Stuart as part of the On-Line Lesson Plans

One of the Eastern Shore’s prominent early Americans was General John Cropper. He was born on December 23, 1755 at the family plantation, Bowman’s Folly in Joynes Neck, Accomack County, Virginia.  John served in the Revolutionary War as early as 1775, training in Accomack County. At age 20, he married Margaret Pettitt, whom he called Peggy, on August 15, 1776 at Accomack Co. Also in 1776 he was commissioned captain of a Shore company of the 9th Virginia Regiment, which in December left to join General Washington at Morristown. Sadly, both of his parents died that same year.

In 1777 he was commissioned major of the 7th Virginia Regiment and, in September, suffered a bayonet wound in the thigh at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. The flag bearer had been shot so John Cropper pulled the ramrod out of a musket and tied a red bandana to it. He then raised and carried it as the regiment’s flag. He led his men back to General Washington. In 1778 General Lafayette appointed him lieutenant colonel in command of the 11th Virginia Regiment and in June he participated in the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey. Cropper served with the Virginia troops during the hardships of the winter at Valley Forge. Cropper became devoted to his commander-in-chief, George Washington, and the two men remained friends until Washington’s death in 1799.

In September of 1778, John Cropper requested leave to return home to check on his family and his

Bowman's Folly. Picture credit: http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/
registers/Counties/Accomack/nr_bowmans_folly_photos.htm

property. This was a common practice of officers and soldiers during the Revolutionary War. He returned to Accomack County to find Eastern Shore families had been under constant attack from British raiding parties who sailed up the creeks, landed, ransacked and robbed homes, and sometimes burned down the houses. In fact, according to his diary entry of February 12, 1779:

A group of British raiders from the Thistle Tender rowed up Folly Creek with muffled oars. They had crept quite close to his house, Bowman’s Folly, and then burst through the doors as he and his family were in their beds. Cropper was taken by the raiders to a room and left there guarded by two men holding loaded muskets. The remainder of the raiding team found the wine cellar began drinking heavily and then ransacked the house. Cropper listened to the ever growing level of noise and deduced his guards might have become distracted. He quietly lifted the door latch, pulled open the door, and jumped past the two startled raiders. He ran two miles in his bedclothes to a neighbor’s house. Armed with three old muskets, they raced back to Bowman’s Folly. When they were in earshot of the loudly drunken raiders, Cropper’s neighbor became afraid and ran away. Cropper, armed with two muskets, sneaked up near the house and shot off both guns. He then yelled at the top of his voice, “Come on, boys, we have got them now.” This trick fooled the raiders and they ran to the boats and rowed away. Cropper went to search for his wife and two year old daughter.

He had been just in time. The raiders had been laying a track of gunpowder from the house to the creek. But where were Peggy and little Sarah? He found them in the privy. He had saved his wife, child and house, but they had been robbed of many possessions and the house had suffered some structural damage including a number of broken windows.

Fearing another raid, Cropper moved his family to another house he owned which was in the town of Accomac. But John Cropper was a determined soldier and was infuriated by this ungentlemanly and unmilitary attack on his home. In two weeks time, he had mustered men and weapons. With the help of “brass four pound guns” placed on Parramore and Cedar Islands, Cropper and his men opened fire on the Thistle Tender and her sister ships. Cropper had the satisfaction of seeing the ship which held the raiders of his family and property sink with all hands on board.

Concerned about his young wife and daughter, his neighbors, and the precarious situation on the Eastern Shore at this stage of the war, Cropper wrote a letter resigning his commission in the Continental Army. The letter was never accepted officially and Cropper served subsequently as Colonel of Virginia Militia in Accomack County until the war ended.

In addition to his military possessions on exhibit at Ker Place, the Cropper Bed and the Cropper Cradle may be found in the master bedroom. We hope you will return to Ker Place and learn more about John Cropper, including his service during the War of 1812.


Sources:
1. Memoir of General John Cropper of Accomack County, Virginia. Barton Haxall Wise. Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society, 1892; 1974.
2. Eastern Shore of Virginia 1608 – 1967. Susie M. Ames, Ph.D. and James Egbert Mears. Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1950. (& additions)
3. www.espl-genealogy.org/MilesFiles/surname_index.htm. 5 November 2013.
4. Kitchens, Smokehouses, and Privies: Outbuildings and the Architecture of Daily Life in the Eighteen Century Mid-Atlantic. Michael Olmert. Cornell University Press, 2009.
5. Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Ralph T. Whitelaw. Peter Smith, Gloucester, Mass., 1951.
6. Tangier in the American Revolution. - Gail Walczyk. easternshoreheritage.com/bay_islands/​tangier_1.htm 3 February 2014. (Barnes, Alton Brooks Parker, Pungoteague to Petersburg, Vol I, Eastern Shore Militiamen Before the Civil War 1776-1858, (A Lee Howard Book: A Parker Barnes.)
7. www.totallyhistory.com/preliminary-articles-of-peace-1782/. 12 February 2014.
8. "Society of the Cincinnati" 27 February 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://history.howstuffworks.com/revolutionary-war/society-of-the-cincinnati.htm> 14 February 2014.

The First European Settler on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Crossword Puzzle from ESVHS's
free on-line lesson plans.

written by Randy Stuart (ESVHS Education Director) as part of the On-line Lesson Plan curriculum

Thomas Savage is considered by many historians to be the earliest permanent settler in any of the thirteen colonies whose descendants are known and record. His family origins and place of birth in England remain a mystery.

Ensign Thomas Savage set sail from England in 1607 aboard the John and Francis. Christopher Newport captained the ship. Thomas, recorded aged 13, may have been a cabin boy on this supply ship headed for the Jamestown Colony.

In A True Relation of such occurrences and accidents of noate (1608), John Smith recounted how an English delegation presented Powhatan with "a Boy of thirteen yeares old, called Thomas Salvage,” as Captain Christopher Newport’s son. Savage remained with Powhatan and his people for three years, learning their language and customs. His talents were put to use most effectively in the successful negotiations to end the First Anglo-Powhatan War.

Thomas later was returned to Jamestown and then sent to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. There he met the leader of the native people, King Debedeavon. His titles included ‘Ye Emperor of Ye Easterne Shore and King of Ye Great Nussawattocks” and “the Laughing King.” These two men worked together to keep the colonists at Jamestown informed concerning events which would lead to the massacre of 1622.

King Debedeavon granted Thomas Savage large tracts of land which today comprise Savage’s Neck in

Word search from ESVHS's
free on-line lesson plans.

Northampton County. In 1624, according to depositions in the General Court Minutes, Savage facilitated the delivery to James City of a significant quantity of corn from the Eastern Shore. Savage continued to manage his lands and act as interpreter throughout his life.

Savage married Hannah (Ann) Elkington circa 1623 and they had one son, John.

His date of death is not of record but occurred sometime between 1631 and 1633. To honor his contributions to America’s history, a memorial tablet was placed in the Jamestown Church on May 31, 1931.

Sources:

Eastern Shore of Virginia 1608 – 1967. Susie M. Ames, Ph.D. and James Egbert Mears. Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1950. (& additions)

Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony. The First Decade: 1606-1617. Edited by Edward Wright Haile. 1998

The Story of Virginia’s First Century. Mary Newton Stanard. J. B. Lippincott Company, 1928.

The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607-1624. Jamestown Booklet No. 1. Charles E. Hatch, Jr. University of Virginia Press, 1957.

Indians in Seventeenth-Century Virginia. Jamestown Booklet No. 3. Ben C. McCary. University of Virginia Press, 1957.

The Accomac and Accohannock Indians from Early Relations. C. A. Weslager. Hickory House, 2001.

A Land As God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America. James Horn. Basic Books, 2005.

Invented Scenes for Narratives/Virginia Historical Society. www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources 9/19/2013.

Plaque Dedication to Thomas Savage. http://personal.ayrix.net/savage1/articles 9/19/2013.

Chesapeake Bay – Colonial Period – The Mariners’ Museum. www.marinersmuseum.org/sites/micro/cbhf/colonial 9/26/2013

The Feisty Henry A. Wise in Brazil

Portrait of Henry A. Wise. .
By Charles Fenderick, 1840.  Frame-gold leaf
molding. From the ESVHS Collection.

Written by: Dennis Custis

On August 2, 1844, the most celebrated ship in the American Navy, The Constitution arrived in the beautiful harbor of Rio de Janeiro.  Salutes were fired by Brazilian ships in the harbor welcoming the new Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from The United States of America.  This new minister had spent the previous twelve years as a zealous defender of Southern causes in the United States House of Representatives.  Four months shy of his thirty-eighth birthday, this tall, angular man with long flaxen hair looked too combative for the diplomatic service.  He was.

Henry Alexander Wise was the first (and only) Eastern Shoreman to hold such an important diplomatic position. It is unlikely Wise would have been able to stomach three years in Brazil had it not been for the support of his wife and five children.  Sarah Sergeant was Wise's second wife and, fortunately for Wise, an expert linguist.

Most of Wise's correspondence deals with one or the other of these diplomatic situations;  the dispute with Mexico over Texas, the conflict between Argentina and Britain and France in the La Plate River area, the Columbia Affair, and the illegal slave trade.  In the first three situations Wise's diplomacy met with little success.  It was in his dedicated opposition to the slave trade that Wise thought he "devoted his best energies."  Given the fact that Wise had been the unquestioned champion for slavery in Congress, it might seem incongruous that Wise became the most dedicated opponent of the slave trade to Brazil.

For Wise "there is but one true test of anything, and that is, is it right."  Slavery was right, but the slave trade was illegal; therefore, he was obligated to use the power of his office to right the legal and moral wrong of the slave trade.  The slave trade was a staple business of Brazil and Wise raised the ire of the Brazilian government.  "My strenuous opposition to the prostitution of the flag of the United States to the nefarious uses of the slave trade has rendered me naturally unpopular in the country."

It is debatable whether Wise or the Brazilian government first reached the conclusion that it was time for the Shoreman to return to Accomack.  However, it is certain that when Brazil demanded his recall, Wise was determined to stay, The Brazilian government thought Wise possessed a "morose and gloomy temper," and ought to be "taught a lesson."  The "Lesson" Wise wanted the Brazilians to learn could easily be taught by the American Navy and Marines.  His country did not respond but Wise's defiant attitude remained unchanged and he did not regret any of his actions.  When Brazil asked Wise to sign a document which would admit wrongdoing on his part, Wise responded, "I would have my right hand cut off and stuck on a post to point the way to a gibbet before I would permit my thumb and forefinger to touch a pen to sign the paper of such degrading notes!"

Dennis Custis speaking at
To Kill a Mockingbird &
Southern Culture Event

Eventually Brazil stopped demanding Wise's recall which allowed Wise to resign.  On September 1, 1847, The Columbia conveyed a stubborn and prideful Shoreman out of the harbor of Rio de Janeiro.  A month later, Wise reported to Washington and by early November, was back at his home, Onley, on Onancock Creek.  Wise's retirement to country life was brief; he would later serves as Governor of Virginia and Brigadier General of the Confederate Army. Upon his death an admirer wrote that Wise was "a knightly figure of heroic age, single hearted, lofty-minded, honest, generous, brave, a noble product of the loins of The Commonwealth he loved so well."

Source:
Excerpt from Historical Society Newsletter: Summer of 1997

150 Years Ago Slavery Ended on VA's Eastern Shore

Written by Kirk Mariner

This month contains a date which, while long overlooked, is crucial to our peninsula’s history. For it was on April 11, 1864 — one hundred fifty years ago this month — that slavery came to an end on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

New York Times, October 17, 1863
Provided by Kellee Blake.

It was not the Civil War that ended slavery here. Slavery continued even after the Union Army invaded and occupied the Shore in November 1861. It was not Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves, for his proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863, freed only those in areas then in rebellion against the United States, and specifically excluded, by name, Accomack and Northampton counties. Nor did the slaves of the two counties have to wait until December 18, 1865, when the 13th amendment to the Constitution ended slavery throughout the country.

Rather, the demise of slavery on the Eastern Shore came about quietly and undramatically.

Not all of Virginia seceded from the Union in early 1861, not Chincoteague and Tangier on the Eastern Shore, and not a number of counties in the western part of the state where slavery had never taken deep root. Delegates from these western counties met in Wheeling to set up a rival government to the “rebel” one in Richmond, and on June 25, 1861, Lincoln recognized them as the “reorganized and restored government of Virginia.” Thus throughout the rest of the Civil War there were two Virginias: Confederate Virginia, whose capital was Richmond, and “loyal” Virginia, whose capital was Wheeling. Loyal Virginia remained a part of the Union, represented in the U.S. Congress, throughout the war.

There were, in addition, other parts of Virginia that were in Union hands when the war began: Fort Monroe and its surrounding area in Hampton; Alexandria, Arlington, and parts of Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. These also were included in the restored government, and as the war progressed other parts of the seceded state that subsequently came under Union control were added to it.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia officially became a part of the restored government on November 23, 1861, exactly one week after the Union army occupied the peninsula, and for more than a year it sent representatives to the state capital in Wheeling. The western counties, however, were intent on forming their own state, and on June 20, 1863, the state of West Virginia was formed, taking most of the land mass and most of the people of the restored government with it. Virginia was thus reduced to several small, disconnected regions — Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, the Virginia Peninsula, and the Eastern Shore — which then looked to Alexandria as their capital.

When the legislature of the “Alexandria government” convened for the first time in December 1863, Gov. Francis H. Pierpoint identified to the legislators what he saw as the most pressing item of business for his truncated state: The need to bring slavery to an end in Virginia once and for all.

Pictured above are the proposed changes that were to be placed

 in the Virginia State Constitution under the "Slavery" section. 

The report was discussed and voted on on March 10.  Journal 
of the Constitutional Convention which convened at Alexandria
on the 13th day of February 1864 (Alexandria, 1864), pp. 16.

Provided by Kellee Blake.

In urging the end of slavery, the governor offered no religious or humanitarian rationale, but simple practicality, for the reality on the ground was that in virtually every place where the Alexandria government operated the Union army was also present, able and likely to interfere with the day-to-day functioning of slavery. Thus in February 1864 a special convention convened to draw up an amendment to the state constitution that would end slavery. Among its delegates were Arthur Watson and

William H. Dix from Accomack, and William P. Moore from Northampton. Eventually this convention not only amended but also re-wrote the constitution, abolishing slavery in the process.

On April 7, 1864, the convention voted 13 to 4 to adopt the new constitution, Dix voting for it, Watson and Moore against it. The following day it was resolved that instead of having the new constitution approved by the people in a referendum, it would take effect “and be in full force from and after the adjournment of the Convention.” The convention then adjourned four days after making the decision.

On that day — April 11, 1864 — slavery officially came to an end on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

It was sixteen months after the Emancipation Proclamation, a year before the end of the Civil War, twenty months before the 13th Amendment — and two hundred and forty-five years since Africans first set foot on Virginia soil.

Sources:

For the list of sources please contact events@shorehistory.org.

Tangier Islanders Make Medical History

Written by Dr. Arthur Fournier

Tangier Island - Aerial 

Photography By: Neil Kaye

To pass their Boards in medicine, doctors in training must study the rarest and most arcane diseases. When this blogger studied for his boards in 1976, arguably the most esoteric of them all was Tangier Disease – a rare genetic disease technically known as Familial Alpha – Lipoprotein Deficiency. According to the texts, the disease leads to low blood levels of the "good cholesterol", HDL, with cholesterol building up in cells that cause difficulty in the ability of peripheral nerves to function. Naively, I assumed the disease derived its name from the eponymous North African port city. Then, after passing my Boards, I came to the Eastern Shore to work for Eastern Shore Rural Health. It was then I learned the "inside story"of Tangier Disease.

Photo of Teddy Laird
in an article written by
John Pruitt

The year was 1959. It was a time when almost all children had their tonsils taken out, on the unproven theory that their removal would reduce the frequency of strep throats and other upper respiratory infections. The children of Tangier Island were no exception. Dr. Thomas Edmonds Sr., an Ear Nose and Throat specialist from Accomack traveled regularly to Tangier for this purpose. One child, however, Teddy Laird, at that time five years old, had tonsils that proved extraordinary – they were huge and they were bright orange! Intrigued, Dr. Edmonds sent the tonsils to the National Institutes of Health. There they discovered that the tonsils were full of foamy cells containing cholesterol. Scientists from the National Institutes of Health descended upon Tangier Island, convinced that the small number of families who founded the island and intermarried there had created conditions that would result in rare genetic diseases. In actuality, only Teddy and his sister were discovered to have the telltale orange tonsils! In truth, there is little clinical significance to this disease other than the orange tonsils, but the rarity of the condition and the exotic history of Tangier Island captured the imagination of medical researchers and academicians. To date, only approximately 100 patients with Tangier Disease have been identified worldwide. The claim to fame, however, for the first cases reported belongs forever to Teddy and his sister on Tangier Island.

Teddy S. Laird

October 13th, 1955 - April 18th, 2011

Obituary: Dateline – Kinards, SC Teddy S. Laird, age 55 of 33389 Hwy 76 died Monday, April 18, 2011 at home. He was born at Tangier Island, VA and was the son of Peggy Parks Laird of the home and the late Gladden Laird. He was a former employee of Ingles and a member of Joanna Church of God. Surviving is his wife, Amelia Nabors Laird of the home; four stepsons, Reggie Nabors and Kim of Joanna; Johnnie Bunton of Joanna; Eric Bunton and Karen of Conway; Chris Hightower and Nina of Conway and seven grandchildren. He was predeceased by a sister, Elaine Evans. A memorial service will be conducted on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 2:00pm at Joanna Church of God. The family will receive friends Wednesday, April 20, 2011 from 1:00 to 2:00pm at the church. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.grayfuneralhome.com Gray Funeral Home of Clinton.

Sources:

Lisa Seachrist Chiu, "When a Gene Makes you Smell Like a Fish"

http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/FF/B/B/F/N/_/ffbbfn.pdf

http://www.tangierisland-va.com/tangierdisease/

The Battle of the Barges

Written by Bill Helin

Throughout the Revolutionary War British barges plundered and harassed farmers living on the Maryland and Virginia Eastern Shore creeks. By 1782 the state of Maryland had had enough and ordered Commodore Zedechiah Whaley of the Maryland State Navy to clear the Chesapeake Bay of this British threat. Commodore Whaley in command of a flotilla of 4 sail and oar driven barges spotted the enemy in

Revolutionary War Barges

Tangier Sound. Determining that the British force was too strong for his lightly manned barges, Commodore Whaley sailed into Onancock creek on 28 November 1782, and asked Lieutenant Colonel John Cropper (County Lieutenant of Accomack County) to assist him with volunteers to man his barges. Colonel Cropper gathered up 25 local men and boarded Whaley’s flagship PROTECTOR. Officers with Colonel Cropper were Captain Tom Parker, William Gibb, and Major Smith Snead. Underway the following day the American flotilla sighted the British force east of Tangier Island heading north at a fast pace.

After a 24-hour chase the Maryland fleet caught up with the six British barges at the head of Kedges Strait, the water that divides Smith Island and South Marsh Island to the north. Whaley ordered his fleet to attack and in a short while they had closed the enemy to 300 yards. Encountering heavy cannon and musket fire 3 of the 4 Maryland barges turned back leaving PROTECTOR and it’s 65-man crew alone to fight the British.

As the battle pressed on, gunpowder on PROTECTOR exploded killing four men. Others jumped overboard in flames. A musket ball killed commodore Whaley. In hand to hand fighting Colonel Cropper was badly wounded. Overwhelmed by a superior force, PROTECTOR surrendered. Of the 65 men who

Headstone of

Commodore Whaley at

 Scott Hall Cemetery

went into action aboard PROTECTOR, 25 were killed or drowned, 29 were wounded and only 11 escaped. By 3 December Colonel Cropper and the other American prisoners were released and were back in Onancock. The Battle of the Barges was over. Ironically the battle had occurred on the same day that the Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and the United States was signed.

George Corbin of upper Accomack County arranged the funeral of Commodore Whaley. Carried through the streets of Onancock by a procession of Accomack County militiamen, Commodore Whaley was buried on 3 December 1782 in the Corbin family cemetery at Scott Hall with full military honors.

Sources:
Barton Haxall Wise,  "Memoir of General John Cropper”
Alton Brooks Parker Barnes,  “John Cropper; A Life Fully Lived”

What is a Log Canoe?

Written by Joe Valentine

The Annie C Log Canoe

From colonial times until the early 1900’s, the log canoe was the basic mode of transportation on the Eastern Shore. Its origins go back to the native Indians who would cut down a tree and hollow it using hot coals to burn into the log and then scrape the charred wood out with clam shells and beaver teeth. The colonists had the advantage of iron tools, axes and adzes. Over time they wanted larger and more stable canoes and started using two or more trees spiked together with iron rods.

During the colonial times, roads were few and far between. One of the most efficient modes of transportation was by water, and the log canoe was a sturdy and inexpensive means of providing water transportation. It also provided a means of making a living off the water harvesting seafood. In the book, “Parson of the Islands”, by Adam Wallace, the parson, Joshua Thomas, a preacher in the early 1800’s used his log canoe, The Methodist, to spread religion alone the Eastern Shore. The watermen of the time used their log canoes for oystering, crabbing, and hauling produce. The log canoe was the pickup truck of its time.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society is fortunate to have what is probably the largest log canoe still in existence, the Annie C, built in 1904. At 45 feet long from stem to stern, not including the bow sprit, and with a 9 ½ foot beam, one may wonder why she is called a canoe. The reason for this is that the term canoe refers to a boat that is double ended; it has a sharp bow and a sharp stern. The reason she is a log canoe is that her bottom was carved from logs. Log canoes come in many sizes. Some are made from three logs but they have been made from up to seven logs. The Annie C is made from five logs, but the logs used in the Annie C were larger than most, some being nearly three feet in diameter. The diagram below shows how the Annie C was constructed. The logs formed the bottom of the hull and the sides were built up from regular lumber, pieces called risers or rising wood.

Come to Ker Place in Onancock and see a piece of history, the log canoe Annie C.

Sources:

M. V. Brewington, “Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes and Bugeyes”
Edward Eggleston, “Stories of American Life and Adventure”
H. S. Holcomb, line drawings of the Annie C.
Adam Wallace, “Parson of the Islands”