There were a lot of history making events before my birth in 1914 and also during my first six years. Many of these I was not aware of until much later. I learned of these events only after my education. My first three years of college were at Shepherd College near my birthplace four miles from Shepherdstown. I finished my degree at Davis and Elkins College, a Presbyterian school in Elkins, West Virginia. My education has been both secular and sacred. The religious training was through Emory University School of Religion preparing me for ordination in the Methodist Church. In later years I did graduate studies at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. I had a major in English, History, and Social Studies.
I now know some of the interesting events that took place after my birth. For instance I know there were two controversies about Shepherdstown. One is whether or not Shepherdstown is the oldest town in West Virginia. *1 I'm sure it is the oldest because it was first called Mecklinburg and since it is on the Potomac across the river from Maryland and near Antietam Battlefield and was the early gateway to the Shenandoah Valley and was settled by Dutch and German people from Pennsylvania. It was later called Shepherdstown when the prominent Shepherds came along.
The other controversy is whether or not James Rumsey, a native of Shepherdstown, is the inventor of the steamboat which he built and launched it with a demonstration on the Potomac in 1787. It is to be expected that like all visionaries and inventors he was referred to as Crazy Rumsey. On the day of the first demonstration Rumsey invited several people to take this first trip. His wife Mary Morrow Rumsey, Mrs. Charles Morrow, and other ladies but only two men, Charles Morrow and the local doctor Dr. McMechen. A large crowd of people, both young and old lined the banks on the Virginia side and across the river in Maryland. People were astonished to see the boat steaming up the river against the current above the launching site and down below. The current is very strong at this place in the river. I know this river like the palm of my hand. There were many submerged ledges of rock and in low water are a few inches under the water. His navigator must have know about these. The trial run was a great success but the history books make little if any reference to James Rumsey. A moment ago I mentioned the Virginia side of the river remembering that prior to the Civil war this was part of Virginia. *2
Another event in the area where I spent my early years that has found a larger part of the history of the United States that of James Rumsey was John Browns raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, now West Virginia. John Brown was an anti-slavery fanatic who set out to establish a republic of fugitive slaves in the Appalachians to wage war on the slave states. On the night of Oct. 16, 1859, leading a group of thirteen armed white men and five Negroes he seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. He killed the mayor of the small town and took several prisoners of some of the leading people of the community. He was taken prisoner after a company of Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee stormed the arsenal and seized Brown. He was tried after refusing a plea of insanity, in the Court House of Jefferson County, Charlestown, Virginia, only a short distance from Harpers Ferry. On Oct 31 a jury brought in a verdict of guilty of murder, criminal conspiracy and treason, and sentenced to hang. He was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859. On the 100th anniversary of this event, my brother who has a law office across the street from the Jefferson County Court House, had hundreds of copies of John Browns last will and testament. He appointed James W. Campbell, sheriff of the county and John Avis, Jailer, executors of his estate consisting of personal property scattered over the states of Virginia and Maryland. He advised that each receive a Sharp's Rifle and if not a rifle to each a pistol. As he calmly waited to be taken to the gallows, he made this last declaration, a prophecy that the people who watched him hang later found how true it was: "I John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had vainly flattered myself that without very much blood shed it might be done and now let it be done." An so he went to his death to become one of the first martyrs in the long and bloody struggle against slavery.
*1 The other town in West Virginia that claimed to be the oldest town
in the state was Romney, the county seat of Hampshire County. (DWM)
*2 West Virginia separated from the state of Virginia in 1863, during the
Civil War (DWM)
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