By Tom Perry
With the recent renewed interest in the American Revolution, I thought it would be good to remember the most crucial event that actually occurred at Laurel Hill in Patrick County, Virginia, involving J. E. B. Stuart’s great-grandfather, William Letcher. The following is from the multiple interpretive signs placed at Laurel Hill by the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc., the 501 (c) (3) non-profit that owns and operates the site, which is on the Virginia and National Registers of Historic Places.
“William Letcher, the maternal great-grandfather of James Ewell Brown Stuart, was born about 1750 near Petersburg, Virginia. He was the second son of Giles Letcher of Goochland County, who was born in Ireland, and his wife, Hannah Hughes, who was of Welsh descent. Giles established himself as a successful merchant in Petersburg, but unfortunately lost his property in a fire. He eventually prospered and, at the time of his death, was a well-to-do landowner. By the late 1770s, William Letcher was described as ‘a man of fine appearance and greatly beloved and esteemed.’ Ventured out of his own. On November 20, 1778, he married Elizabeth Perkins of Perkins Ferry near Danville, Virginia. After their marriage, William and Elizabeth decided to head west towards Kentucky, as other settlers were doing at the time, but they stopped in the far southwestern part of what was then Henry County, Virginia. Patrick County was not formed from Henry until 1791.
He chose a place known as ‘The Hollow’ due to the circular bend the mountains made around it. The Blue Ridge Mountains sweep around the west side, while Slate and Little Mountain are on the east and south sides. The Ararat River runs through the length of the valley and empties into the Yadkin River to the South. On a slight elevation along the banks of the Ararat, William Letcher built his home, which was probably of log construction, as were any other supporting structures. No documentation is known to exist that William Letcher ever held title to this land. The deed could have been lost or destroyed, or, given the short time Letcher was here, he may never have had the opportunity to record it. There is some evidence suggesting that Letcher’s connection to this property may have come through his wife’s family, the Perkinses.
William Letcher had as many as nine enslaved people while living here. He grew corn and tobacco in the bottomland and had many livestock, including cattle, hogs, and horses. An inventory in the Henry County Courthouse includes many household and farm items such as saddlebags, rifles, featherbeds, and a looking glass. William and Elizabeth were blessed on March 21, 1780, with a daughter, Bethenia, who was named after her grandmother.
William Letcher was said to be a born leader and an ardent supporter of the Patriot cause during the American Revolutionary War, and was active and very prominent in the local militia. In 1779, Letcher appears on the payroll list of Captain David Carlin’s Henry County Militia. In a letter written by Letcher’s granddaughter, she states, ‘He was a volunteer at the Battle of Shallow Ford on the Yadkin River near the village of Huntersville, North Carolina.’ He likely participated in other skirmishes and raids against Tories and other British sympathizers in the area, but he appears to have never been in any major battle, nor was he a member of the Continental Army. Letcher was appointed Justice of the Peace for Henry County by the Governor of Virginia in 1779. The area around The Hollow and along the Virginia and North Carolina border, spreading into Western North Carolina, was a hotbed for Tories and others loyal to the British Crown. The people who settled this western backwoods region were far removed from the more populated eastern sections of the colonies and had no quarrel with the British government.
A large number of these individuals aligned themselves with the British Army and harassed and threatened the colonists in the area who were supportive of the Revolution. William Letcher was a loyal supporter of the latter, which put his life in jeopardy. The letter from Letcher’s granddaughter goes on to state that ‘He had the promise of long years of happiness and domestic felicity, but a serpent lurked in this path, for whom he felt too great a contempt to take any precautions. He had been warned that his life was in danger, but being naturally fearless and thinking the Tories too few, he underrated the danger. He had helped defeat them once and thought them too cowardly to attack again. He would frequently go alone, armed only with a shotgun, into the most inaccessible recesses of the mountains and hunt the Tories from their hiding places.’ Threats to his life and property became more and more common and culminated in his death on August 2, 1780. There are several versions as to how Letcher was murdered, but the most accepted is that the perpetrator of this foul deed was a local Tory by the name of Nichols, who came to the home and demanded him in His Majesty’s name, and shot Letcher in the presence of his wife and daughter. Nichols was later apprehended, and after evidence was found on him that linked him to the murder, he was promptly executed. One other man who was involved tried to escape to Kentucky with his family, but Native Americans killed them along the Holston River. Prompted by Letcher’s death and seeking vengeance, the Patriots and Whigs in the area rounded up numerous Tories around The Hollow, and several were hanged without mercy or delay. After William Letcher’s death, his wife and daughter returned to Pittsylvania County, where Elizabeth later married George Hairston, a large landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the region. They made their home at Beavercreek Plantation in Henry County, which still exists. This estate contains the grave of George and Elizabeth Perkins Letcher Hairston and numerous family members. William Letcher lies in a grave not much more than a stone’s throw away from the site of his home along the Ararat River, and sadly, the place of his murder.
His daughter Bethenia had a white marble slab placed over the grave from a Richmond, Virginia, stonecutter before she died in 1845. On the stone was carved a fitting tribute to her father. The grave, the oldest known in Patrick County, with an inscription reads: ‘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.’ “
“One of the enduring mysteries in the preservation of Laurel Hill has been finding the location of William Letcher’s home. Recent discoveries have shed some light on that question. In June of 2009, several students from Radford University, led by Dr. Cliff Boyd, Dr. Rhett Herman, and Dr. Susan Christopher, attempted to answer that question. Using modern methods, including ground penetrating radar, the group set out to locate foundations and other evidence dating back to William Letcher’s time. After an initial evaluation, a grid was laid out over the area and then scanned with radar. The area before you showed clear evidence of a previous structure. After surface excavation, numerous foundation stones and other small items were uncovered. This location was where what appeared to be foundation stones lay on the surface, and where local and oral tradition states was the location of the Letcher’s home. Additional studies are planned for the future.
It must be noted that the Stuart Family also occupied this area at a later date, as was evidenced by a Scottish Thistle button found near the old well by Tony Marks. The button was dated about 1840. A second mystery was finding the graves listed as ‘others’ that Elizabeth Stuart designated when she sold the Laurel Hill Farm in 1859. These graves were for an infant son, who died in 1834, and a daughter who died at the age of six in 1842. These burial plots, children of Archibald and Elizabeth Stuart, were thought to be near William Letcher’s grave. After initial scans, at least one spot looked promising, but further study determined it was not a grave. At this time, the location of ‘others’ remains a mystery.”
