In the summer of 2000, movie history buffs were entertained by Mel Gibson, who fought his way through the American Revolutionary War in “The Patriot”. The British Army under Lord Cornwallis made its way from Charleston in early 1780 with a loss at Cowpens, South Carolina, and a victory at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, in 1781, before crossing the Dan River into Virginia and making its way to Yorktown and surrendering to George Washington’s Continental Army and the French under the command of Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau.
There is a local connection to this fight for independence in Patrick County, Virginia, on the property owned by the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. Across the Ararat River from the site of Stuart’s birthplace stands a lone grave.
On June 29, I presented a program kicking off the American 250 celebration with a program at the oldest marked grave in our county: ‘A Tale of Two Great-Grandfathers: J E. B. Stuart’s Great-Grandfathers in the American Revolution.’
William Letcher was the great-grandfather of James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart. Little information has been passed down to us about Letcher, aside from the fact that he died around the age of 30, just like his famous Civil War great-grandson. We do know he was fervent in his love of the patriot cause. Papers in Henry County listed him on July 25, 1779, on the payroll list of Captain David Carlin’s Henry County Militia as a corporal. Patrick County was Henry County in 1780, and it descended from Pittsylvania and Halifax counties.
William Letcher was born to Giles and Hannah Letcher around 1750, in Goochland County, north of Richmond along the James River. William, the second son, was described as a man of fine appearance and greatly beloved and esteemed. On November 20, 1778, William Letcher married Elizabeth Perkins and moved to present day Patrick County. Elizabeth, born on May 13, 1759, to Nicholas and Bethenia Hardin Perkins, grew up at Perkins Ferry in present day Pittsylvania County.
On August 2, 1856, John Letcher, future Governor of Virginia, wrote of William Letcher, “He chose for his residence a spot in the southwest corner of Patrick County, Virginia, called The Hollow. It derives its name from the circular bend, which the mountains make around it. The Blue Ridge makes a semi-circular sweep halfway around it on the west and the Slate Mountain and Little Mountain on the east and south. The Ararat, with its waters as clear as crystal, and as swift as the arrow shot from the bow, traverses this whole valley from north to south and then empties into the Yadkin. On one of the gentle swelling hills that lifts its head on the banks of this stream, Mr. Letcher established his home.”
In August 1779, Henry County recommended William Letcher to the Governor of Virginia as a Commissioner of the Peace. Elizabeth and William Letcher left little documentation, except for a list of possessions and a summary of the major events in their lives. They grew corn and tobacco in the bottomland along the river. They held livestock, including 20 head of cattle, 10 hogs, and 5 horses. William Letcher’s estate inventory, located in the Henry County courthouse, includes many of the household and farm items that you would expect. Among these items were saddlebags, rifles, three feather beds, and a looking glass.
William Letcher’s granddaughter, the mother of J. E. B. Stuart, wrote of Letcher. “He had the promise of long years of happiness and usefulness and domestic felicity, but a serpent lurked in his path, for whom he felt too great a contempt to take any precautions.” The clouds of war reached the home of William and Elizabeth Letcher that summer with tragic results in the form of Tories, those loyal to the British. John Adams said of the Tories, “A Tory here is the most despicable animal in the creation. Spiders, toads, snakes are their only proper emblems.” The same day Bethenia was born, Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson wrote to Colonel William Preston in Montgomery County stating, “I am sorry to hear that there are persons in your quarters so far discontented with the present government as to combine with its enemies to destroy it.” It was 4 years since this famous Virginian had penned the words of The Declaration of Independence, and we celebrated the 250th anniversary on June 29.
William Letcher was killed, as the British troops depicted in “The Patriot” were moving through the Carolinas for their appointed destiny at Yorktown in 1781. The presence of the British Army emboldened locals who sympathized with George III. The records of the Moravians nearby in North Carolina show much activity relating to the Tories. Tories were pro-British, and Patriots favored independence from Great Britain. The Tories, partly due to this isolation, targeted him.
The most romantic and accepted story tells that Letcher was in his fields on August 2, 1780, when a stranger came to the house and asked Elizabeth Letcher about her husband’s whereabouts. She replied that he would be back shortly and invited the visitor to stay. When Letcher entered, the man identified himself as Nichols, a local Tory leader, and said, “I demand you in the name of His Majesty.” Letcher replied, “What do you mean?” Nichols shot Letcher. The Tory fled the home, leaving the dying Patriot in the arms of his wife.
Elizabeth Perkins Letcher would marry George Hairston of Beaver Creek Plantation in Henry County, and Bethenia, the daughter of William Letcher, would marry David Pannill and, one day, have her own daughter, Elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart, the mother of the Civil War General. Elizabeth’s brother William Letcher Pannill would become the ancestor of the famous textile company Pannill Knitting.
The Laurel Hill property would pass down through the family to Elizabeth L. P. Stuart and her husband Archibald. The Stuarts lived on the land from the mid-1820s until 1859, when Mrs. Stuart sold it. “Jeb” Stuart was born at Laurel Hill on February 6, 1833, the seventh of eleven children and the youngest son.
Whether or not “Jeb” Stuart identified with his great-grandfather while fighting for Southern Independence is unknown, but the only item remaining from the time of Stuart at Laurel Hill is the lone grave across the river, enhanced by the Sons of the American Revolution with an appropriate marker that states simply William Letcher, Patriot. The gravestone from a Richmond stonecutter named Montjoy, placed by Letcher’s daughter, Bethenia Pannill, before she died in 1845, states, “In memory of William Letcher who was assassinated in his own house in the bosom of his family by a Tory of the Revolution, on August 2, 1780, age about 30 years. May the tear of sympathy fall upon the couch of the brave.” An overlook was built near the Stuart house site so visitors can see down to the grave. You can also drive to the grave by taking Letcher Lane off the Ararat Highway.
