Braxton County History
Braxton County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on January 15, 1836 from parts of Lewis,
Kanawha and Nicholas counties. At that time, there were 2,371 people residing in the county.
It was named in honor of Carter Braxton (1736-1797), a noted Virginia statesman.Carter Braxton was born on September
10, 1736. His father, George Braxton, was a wealthy planter who left his estate in Newington to Carter following
his death which occurred shortly after Carter's gradation from William and Mary College. In 1755, at the age of
nineteen, Carter married Judith Robinson, a wealthy heiress. They had two daughters before her untimely death in
1757. In 1760, he married Elizabeth Corbin, the daughter of a British Colonel. They lived in elegant splendor on
his plantation and had sixteen children, ten surviving infancy. Also, in 1760, he was appointed to represent King
William county in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses until the outbreak
of the American Revolutionary War in 1776. During his service in the legislature he joined the "radicals"
by supporting Virginia's sole right to tax inhabitants. When the House of Burgesses was dissolved in 1774, he joined
the patriot's Committee of Safety in Virginia, and represented his county in the Virginia Convention. In 1775,
following Peyton Randolph's sudden death, he was selected to fill Randolph's seat in the Continental Congress.
He served in the Congress for two years, was one of the signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and then
returned to the House of Burgesses. During the Revolutionary War, he loaned £10,000 sterling to support the
revolutionary cause, and sponsored several shipping ventures during the conflict. Unfortunately, nearly every one
of the ships he had a financial interest in was either captured or sunk by the British, causing him to fall into
debt. He was forced to sell off many of his valuables and, finally, he was forced to sell his estate. In 1786,
he moved to Richmond. He died from a stroke on October 10, 1797.
The First Settlers
The first native settlers in central West Virginia (Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Lewis, Nicholas, Roane, Upshur,
and Webster counties) were the Mound Builders, also known as the Adena people. Remnants of their civilization have
been found throughout northern West Virginia, with many artifacts found in the Northern Panhandle, especially in
Marshall County.
A more thorough presentation of the first native settlers in West Virginia can be read on-line here. The following is a brief overview of that history:
Several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia during the late 1500s and early 1600s.
During the 1600s, the Iroquois Confederacy (then consisting of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca
tribes) drove the Hurons from the state and used it primarily as a hunting ground.
During the early 1700s, the Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, and other Indian tribes also used present-day West Virginia
as a hunting ground. West Virginia's Potomac Highlands was inhabited by the Tuscarora. They eventually migrated
northward to New York and, in 1712, became the sixth nation to formally be admitted to the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Cherokee Nation claimed southern West Virginia.
In 1744, Virginia officials purchased the Iroquois title of ownership to West Virginia in the Treaty of Lancaster.
The Delaware, Mingo, and Shawnee sided with the French during the French and Indian War (1755-1763). The Iroquois
Confederacy officially remained neutral, but many in the Iroquois Confederacy allied with the French.
When the French and Indian War was over, England's King George III feared that more tension between Native Americans
and settlers was inevitable. In an attempt to avert further bloodshed, he issued the Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting
settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. The Proclamation was, for the most part, ignored.
During the summer of 1763, Ottawa Chief Pontiac led raids on key British forts in the Great Lakes region. Shawnee
Chief Keigh-tugh-qua, also known as Cornstalk, led similar raids on western Virginia settlements. The uprisings
ended on August 6, 1763 when British forces, under the command of Colonel Henry Bouquet, defeated Delaware and
Shawnee forces at Bushy Run in western Pennsylvania.
In 1768, the Iroquois Confederacy (often called the Six Nations) and the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Hard Labour
and the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, relinquishing their claims on the territory between the Ohio River and the Alleghenies
to the British.
In April 1774, the Yellow Creek Massacre took place near Wheeling. Among the dead were Mingo Chief Logan's brother
and pregnant sister. Violence then escalated intoLord Dunmore's War.
On October 10, 1774, Colonel Andrew Lewis and approximately 800 men defeated 1,200 Indian warriors led by Shawnee
Chief Cornstalk at the Battle of Point Pleasant, ending Lord Dunmore's War.
The Mingo and Shawnee allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War (1776-1783). One of the more
notable battles occurred in 1777 when a war party of 350 Wyandot, Shawnee, and Mingo warriors, armed by the British,
attacked Fort Henry, near present-day Wheeling. Nearly half of the Americans manning the fort were killed in the
three-day assault. Following the war, the Mingo and Shawnee, once again allied with the losing side, returned to
their homes in Ohio. As the number of settlers in the region grew, both the Mingo and the Shawnee move further
inland, leaving western Virginia to the white settlers.
Braxton County's European Pioneers and Settlers
The first land survey in the county took place in 1784 on behalf of John Allison who had a warrant on 11,000 acres
of land in area. Adam O'Brien, an Indian scout and noted hunter, was part of the survey party. John Sutton, of
Alexandria, Virginia, purchased 7,000 acres of Allison's land. His son, John D. Sutton, explored the area in 1798
and discovered an abandoned cabin on the land. He never found out who had built the cabin.
The county's first permanent white settlers were the Carpenter family, including brothers Jeremiah, Benjamin, Jesse,
and Amos, and their mother. They arrived in 1789 or 1790 and built cabins near Centralia, along the Holly River.
According to local folklore, Benjamin Carpenter and his wife were killed by two Indians passing through the area.
Supposedly, the Indians found some wooden chips cut by an axe floating downstream. Recognizing this as a sign of
white settlers, they headed upstream to investigate and found the Carpenter settlement.
In 1800, Jeremiah Carpenter and Henry Mace settled near present-day Sutton. In 1807, Colonel John Haymond moved
from Harrison County and settled near the Falls of the Little Kanawha. Three brothers, Benjamin, Daniel, and John
Conrad, settled three miles south of him. Also in that year, Nicholas Gibson and Asa Squires moved into the county.
In 1810, John D. Sutton moved to the present site of Sutton, then known as Newville.
Important Events in Braxton County during the 1700s
Braxton County was, reportedly, the site of the famous Bulltown Indian massacre in 1765. At the conclusion of the
French and Indian War (1755-1763), the French ceded their North American possessions to the British. Many of the
Indians that sided with the French returned to their homes. However, some Indians continued to view the British
as a threat to their sovereignty and refused to end the hostilities. Among them was Captain Bull, son of Teddyuscung,
the last chieftain of the Delaware tribe. In 1763, Captain Bull led approximately 600 Delaware Indians on a series
of attacks on settlements and forts in upstate New York as part of Chief Pontiac's Rebellion against British forts
and interests in the Great Lakes region. In March 1764, Captain Bull and twenty-eight other Delaware Indians were
captured and sent to New York City in chains. That summer, Captain Bull was given the choice of being hanged or
released on the condition that he move west of the Alleghenies and never return to New York. He left New York with
about forty other Delaware Indians and arrived at Frederick Ice's settlement on the Cheat River in western Virginia
late that summer. They stayed there until the fall and then moved up the Monongahela River and camped at present-day
Fairmont. In the Spring of 1765, they moved to present-day Weston, camped for awhile, and then moved to present-day
Bulltown.
Captain Bull was regarded by most of the settlers in the region as friendly, but, in 1772, there were a series
of Indian attacks in western Virginia and some settlers suspected that he was providing information to and harboring
unfriendly Indians. In June 1772, German immigrant Peter Stroud's seven children and wife were murdered, presumably
by Indians, in the vicinity of Bulltown (some accounts place the murder in present-day Webster County). Peter Stroud
was away at the time of the murders. There are several conflicting accounts of what happened next. The most mentioned
account is that Peter's brother, Adam Stroud, discovered the bodies, and after burying them, found a trail left
by the murderers. The trail led in the general direction of Bulltown. Peter then headed for Hacker's Creek where
he met with several other settlers, including Jesse Hughes, William White, John Cutright, and William Hacker. They
agreed to join him in an attack on Bulltown. They ambushed the Indians in the village, killed them all, including
the women and children, and threw their bodies into the nearby Little Kanawha River. News of the Bulltown Massacre
spread across the western frontier and set off a series of incidents between the Indians and settlers.
Several historians have questioned the veracity of the various accounts of the Bulltown Massacre, especially the
ability of a small number of settlers to kill over forty Indians (some accounts place the number of Indians killed
at more than 100) without any casualties of their own. Moreover, later reports suggest that Captain Bull and his
Indian companions may have already moved from the area at the time of the Massacre. Nevertheless, the story of
the Bulltown Massacre has become a part of West Virginia and Braxton County folklore.
Important Events in Braxton County during the 1800s and early 1900s
Union troops, under the command of a Lieutenant Dawson, occupied Sutton during the early months of the Civil War,
but left on December 29, 1861 when Captain John Sprigg, who lived just north of Sutton, led about 100 Confederate
soldiers to a hill overlooking the town. Convinced that he was outnumbered, Lieutenant Dawson evacuated the town.
Captain Sprigg then took some of his men to chase the retreating northern troops, leaving Captain Jack Tuning in
charge of the remaining soldiers. He, and his brothers Al and Fred, who were also from the area, reportedly tried
to extort money from the townspeople. When they refused to pay, the Tunings set fire to a frame house. As the fire
spread to other buildings in the town, John Camden, a local hotel proprietor and southern sympathizer, pleaded
with the Tuning brothers to stop the fire, but they refused. Finally, when Sprigg returned to town he ordered his
men to put out the fire, but by that time most of the town had already burnt to the ground. A few days later, the
Confederate forces left the area after discovering that 400 Union troops had left Summersville and were marching
on their position. Sprigg and Tuning quarreled over strategy and divided their forces. Sprigg's men were later
defeated in a skirmish near Cowen. Tuning's forces continued to attack Union troops and northern supporters for
the next two years. The Union Army later placed a bounty on the Tuning brothers. Al and Fred Tuning were gunned
down and killed in 1864.
Braxton County was also the site of the Battle at Bulltown on October 13, 1863. About 400 Union soldiers under
the command of Captain William Mattingly (one account suggests that he led a force of just 124) held a relatively
well-fortified position on a hill located on the Moses Cunningham farm overlooking Bulltown. Approximately 600
Confederate forces, commanded by Colonel W. L. Jackson, approached the town from the southeast through Webster
County. Colonel Jackson split his force into two at Falls Mill, about three miles southeast of Bulltown, in an
attempt to launch a synchronized two-pronged, surprise attack on the Union position. A Major Kessler took half
of the command and swung around to the right to position himself for an attack on the hill from the northeast.
Colonel Jackson took the remaining troops to the left and positioned his troops on high ground opposite the Union
Army's position. The plan was to begin the attack before dawn, but after the firing of a cannon. Unfortunately
for the Confederate Army, part of Major Kessler's command moved before the signal, at around 4 a.m., and alerted
the Union Army to the Confederate's presence. The battle continued in intervals until late in the afternoon. Unable
to dislodge the Union Army, the Confederate force retreated toward the southwest and later to Pocahontas County.
During the battle, seven Confederate soldiers were killed and four were wounded. None of the Union soldiers were
killed, and they suffered only two wounded, although one of their wounded was Captain Mattingly who was shot in
the lower leg.
After the war, Braxton County's economy began to grow, with most of the growth due to the presence of tanneries,
brick manufacturers, pottery manufacturers, grain mills, and the smelting of iron ore. Also, the timber industry
was an important source of employment in the county. In 1892, a railroad extending from Clarksburg in Harrison
County to Sutton, and then on to Richwood in Nicholas County was built. The railroad line helped the county's economy
to continue to grow by providing it a means of shipping goods to and from northern West Virginia.
In 1904, Braxton County's resurgence continued when the Coal and Coke Railroad, which ran from Charleston to Elkins
in Randolph County, added a branch from Gassaway to Sutton. Previously, the only way to ship goods to Charleston
was by boat.
The Braxton County Seat
The first meeting of the Braxton County court took place on April 11, 1836 at the home of John D. Sutton in Sutton.
The Honorable Edwin S. Duncan presided. William Newlon was appointed Clerk pro tempore of the Court (County Clerk).
On May 24, 1836, Andrew Sterett, Asa Squires, David Given, John C. Haymond, and John B. Byrne were appointed county
commissioners. Felix Sutton was Braxton County's first surveyor and Francis C. Bogg, its first sheriff.
Sutton, the county seat, was chartered as a town by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on January 27, 1826.
Originally located in Nicholas County, it had been known as Newville and later as Suttonville. As mentioned previously,
John D. Sutton moved there in 1810. His brother Andrew arrived in 1812 and John's son, Benjamin, arrived shortly
afterward. William and Robert Jackson built the town's first mill and sold groceries carried in on horseback from
Clarksburg. The town's name was changed to Sutton on March 1, 1837 and was incorporated on February 20, 1860.
References
"Ernie Carpenter: Tales of the Elk River Country." Goldenseal (Summer 1986): 112.
Norman, Don. 2003. "Bulltown." Internet article. Accessed on-line at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~hcpd/norman/BULLTOWN.
Rice, Otis K. 1985. West Virginia: A History. Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press.
Sutton, John Davison. 1919. History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing
Company.
Vinci, John, Editor. 2003. "Biography of Carter Braxton." Colonial Hall: A Look at America's Founders.
Accessed on-line at:
http://www.colonialhall.com/braxton/braxton.asp.
West Virginia Writer's Project. 1940. Of Stars and Bars. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Writer's Project.
West Virginia Writer's Project. 1941. Sutton
On-The-Elk, 1798-1941. Charleston, WV: West Virginia Writers
Project.
Williams, John Alexander. 1993. West Virginia: A History for Beginners. Charleston, WV: Appalachian Editions.
Author
Dr. Robert Jay Dilger, Director, Institute for Public Affairs and Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University.
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