Chapter II
Pre-Historic Randolph
History of Randolph County West Virginia
RANDOLPH COUNTY was never the settled abode of the Red Man. To him it was only a large game reservation, into which he made periodic incursions for the hunt and the chase. When the first white men visited the county there was little evidence of any except temporary occupation by the savages. Squaw patches, or small clearings were found in some localities: however they were of such a character as to indicate only transitory habitation. Indian mounds are still to be seen in some localities, but as a rule are found on or near old trails. A mound of considerable size is still visible on the farm of Archibald Lytle, near where the old fort stood, about three miles south of Elkins. This mound is on an Indian trail which passed up Westfall Run to the West side of Rich Mountain, through the Caplinger settlement on the East side of the mountain, thence up Chenoweth’s Creek. Excavations in this mound have revealed fragments of human skulls and stone implements. An Indian burial ground existed also in Valley Bend district on the Currence farm, once owned by Henry Clay Dean.
The Indian population in what are now the two Virginias was never very dense. It is conjectured that at the time of the discovery of America, the territory embraced in these two states contained a population of about 8,000 savages. The Shawnees were the white man’s greatest foes during the first half century of his occupancy of the New World. They were a branch of the Algonquin family. The remnants of this family live in the Indian Territory, in a condition of semi civilization. They are a superior race mentally and physically. Tecumseh, a member of this tribe, was a man skilled in the arts of warfare and of dauntless courage. He was a Brigadier General in the British army in the war of 1812, and was killed in the battle of the Thames.
The ethnic stages as adopted by most archaeologists are savagery, barbarism and civilization and in each of the two lower stages there are three subordinate periods. The distinction between savagery and barbarism is marked by the point where the manufacture of pottery is begun. In the lower status of savagery men lived in their original restricted habitat and subsisted on fruits and nuts. Articulate speech may be supposed to have begun in this status. All existing races of men had passed beyond it at an unknown antiquity. In the middle status of savagery men had learned how to catch fish and to use fire. The invention of the bow and arrow marks its close. The upper status of savagery, in which some of the lowest American tribes still continue, such as the Athamaskans of Hudson Bay, ends, as above stated, with the invention of pottery. They know nothing of horticulture, make no potter) and depend for subsistence entirely on roots, fish and game. They have little or no village life. The lower status of barbarism exhibits the domestication of animals other than the dog. In 1492, at the time of the discovery of America, the dog was the only animal domesticated by the North American Indians. This was true of all the American aborigines, except the Peruvians. The absence of domesticable animals is no doubt important among the causes that retarded the development of the American Indians. The horse, which is shown by fossil remains to have existed in six or seven species, had become extinct, and was reintroduced by the invaders. The regular employment of tillage with irrigation, and the use of adobe brick and stone in architecture, marked the end of the lower status of barbarism in America. The middle status of barbarism was marked in the Eastern Hemisphere by the domestication of other animals than the dog, and there as well as in the Western Hemisphere, by the development of irrigation in cultivation, and the use of brick and stone in building, by great improvement in the manufacture of stone implements, and ultimately the introduction of implements of copper and bronze. The middle status may be regarded as ending with the discovery of the process of smelting iron ore ; and this process becomes more and more important through the upper status of barbarism and is finally associated with the production of written records by means of a phonetic alphabet or of advanced hieroglyphics. Among the influences which have affected the more or less rapid development of races the following suggest themselves: The condition of soil and climate as favoring or impeding the acquisition of ample and varied means of sustenance, the existence or absence of the various animals suited for domestication, notably, sheep and cattle : the opportunities for contact, by migration, commerce or war, with races occupying a higher ethnic scale ; inherent ethnological defects or advantages in special races.
The Indian that made incursions into this section, belonged to the lower status of barbarism. He practiced a limited agriculture. However, he domesticated no animal except the dog. He discovered the tobacco plant, smoked but never chewed. Smoking was a civil and religious rite and was indulged as a means of communicating with the Great Spirit as well as emphasizing the sanctity of treaties between tribes. Thus originated the phrase “smoking the pipe of peace.” The Indian raised corn and had many ways of preparing it for food. “Green corn” was an important food with the Indians. Many tribes celebrated its season with festivals and religious ceremonies. The Indian cleared land by deadening the trees with the stone tomahawk. However, his main subsistence was upon game and fish. His hut was made of long poles bent together and fastened at the top, and covered with bark. There were two openings, a place to go in and out and a place for the smoke to escape. Clothing was made from the tanned skins of animals. His weapons were bone and stone instruments and the bow and arrow. He was Unacquainted with firearms until the white man came. The tradition that the Indian visited lead and other mines has no foundation in fact. Implements used in the hunt and the chase were hurried with the Indian because he believed that the soul took its flight to the happy hunting ground. The coward and the deformed were denied admittance to the Indian’s paradise. In scalping and mutilating an enemy, he prevented his foe from entering this abode of bliss.
The Indian had great skill in finding his way through the forest. The moss and bark on the trees revealed to him the prevailing direction of the wind and the rays of the sun. In this way lie was enabled to distinguish the points of the compass. Foot-paths were as a rule established along water courses, but in crossing from stream to stream dividing ridges were followed. Although not provincial, each tribe claimed a definite territory, and any infraction thereof was a cause of war with neighboring tribes. Individual ownership of land never prevailed and all claims thereto were of a tribal nature. However, individual rights to cultivated patches were respected, but his use of the land gave him no permanent title. Tribes consisted of groups, each living in a separate village. Their laws were founded upon custom. Matters of tribal interest were settled in council.
The Indian was sometimes a cannibal, but not often, and was closely associated with economic necessity. The custom was practiced only under circumstances of the direst extremity. The custom of leaving old men in the woods to die, is bad enough but not as bad as supposed. They carried the old man with them until he himself grew tired of being a burden and begged to be killed. When this point was reached he was given more than his share of food and left in the woods to die. He believed in revenge, but it was to be measured by the offense. His revenge was only directed against his enemies and he at all times defended the members of his own tribe. Within the tribe everything was shared in common. However scant the food, it was shared by those present.
SOURCE: Page(s) 12-16 , A History of Randolph County West Virginia, From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time, Dr. A. S. Bosworth, 1916
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