Samuel Stalnaker
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Samuel Stalnaker (1682 or 1715 – 1769) was an explorer, trapper, guide and one of the first settlers on the Virginia frontier. He established a trading post, hotel and tavern in 1752 near what is now
Chilhowie, Virginia Chilhowie is a town in Smyth County, Virginia, United States, on the Middle Fork of the Holston River. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. The name Chilhowie is said to come from a Cherokee word meaning "valley of many deer". It is als ...
. He was held captive by
Shawnee Indians The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
at
Lower Shawneetown Lower Shawneetown, also known as Shannoah or Sonnontio, was an 18th-century Shawnee village located within the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District, near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky and Lewis County, Kentucky. The population ...
in Kentucky for almost a year, before escaping and traveling over 460 miles to
Williamsburg, Virginia Williamsburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It had a population of 15,425 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern par ...
, to report on French preparations to attack English settlements in Virginia and Pennsylvania. He later served as a guide under
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during the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
."Captain Samuel Stalnaker, Colonial Soldier and Early Pioneer,"
excerpted fro
Leo Stalnaker, ''Captain Samuel Stalnaker, Colonial Soldier and Early Pioneer and Some of His Descendents,'' 1938.
/ref>


Birth and arrival in Virginia

Samuel Stalnaker was probably born about 1715, although some sources give a birthdate of 1682. He was born either in
the Palatinate The Palatinate (; ; Palatine German: ''Palz''), or the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz''), is a historical region of Germany. The Palatinate occupies most of the southern quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (''Rheinla ...
of southwestern Germany,M. Lisa deGruyter, "A History of Early Stalnakers," ''Stalnaker Family Association,'' June 29, 2006
/ref> or in
Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...
,Samuel Stalnaker (EST 1715 - AFT 1769)
/ref> or possibly in western New York or Pennsylvania. George and Adam, who accompanied or followed him to southwestern Virginia, were probably his brothers. Some sources report his arrival in Virginia as early as 1732.
/ref>[http://usgwarchives.net/special/chalkley/ Lyman Chalkley, ''Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia, extracted from the original court records of Augusta County, 1745-1800,'' Rosslyn, VA: Mary S. Lockwood, The Commonwealth Printing Co. 1912-13] In December 1742, he first appears in the records (as "Samuel Stolenacre"), in the estate settlement of Matthias Harmon in New Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. By 1745, Samuel Stalnaker was living on the New River (Tennessee), New River in southwestern Virginia, which was the far frontier and populated mainly by Scots-Irish and German immigrants, as well as English settlers from farther east in Virginia. He and his wife Susanna had a daughter, Maria Barbara, in 1743, who was not christened until November 1755. In October 1745, Samuel bought land granted to the Wood's River Company. He paid John Buchanan, agent for the company, £3 for 100 acres opposite the Buffalo Pound (later Bingamon's and then Pepper's Ferry) near what is now
Radford, Virginia Radford (formerly Lovely Mount, Central City, English Ferry and Ingle's Ferry) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of 2020, the population was 16,070 by the United States Census Bureau. For ...
.


First homestead on the Holston River

Dr. Thomas Walker writes in his journal that in April 1748, he met Stalnaker, then on his way to visit the Cherokees between the Reedy Creek settlement and the
Holston River The Holston River is a river that flows from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Knoxville, Tennessee. Along with its three major forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork), it comprises a major river system that drains much of northeastern Tennessee ...
. Stalnaker had established a trading post and traded with the Indians of southern Ohio, Kentucky, and the Carolinas, and was already an experienced trader and hunter. In November 1749 he and his wife Susanna had a son, Samuel, and then moved even further west to the Holston River, (near present-day
Chilhowie, Virginia Chilhowie is a town in Smyth County, Virginia, United States, on the Middle Fork of the Holston River. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. The name Chilhowie is said to come from a Cherokee word meaning "valley of many deer". It is als ...
), referred to in James Patton's will as a "tract of land of about 5,000 acres on which Samuel Stalnaker lived." On 23 March 1750, Dr. Walker and his associates again met Stalnaker on the middle fork of the Holston River, on the north side, just a few miles above its junction with the South Fork, and helped him to build a cabin there. Walker himself states in his journal:
"March 23rd, we kept down the Holston River about four miles and camped; then Mr. Ambrose Powell and I went to look for Samuel Stalnaker, who I had been informed was just moved out to settle. We found his camp, and returned to our own in the evening. Mar. 24th, we went to Stalnaker's, helped him to raise his house and camped about a quarter of a mile below him."
Stalnaker was Virginia's westernmost colonial settler. His route to the
Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
s, with whom he was trading for skins and furs at the time, was a passage through the mountains later to be named the
Cumberland Gap The Cumberland Gap is a Mountain pass, pass in the Eastern United States, eastern United States through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains and near the tripoint of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. At&n ...
by Walker, in honor of
Prince William, Duke of Cumberland Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (15 April 1721 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S./nowiki> – 31 October 1765) was the third and youngest son of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ire ...
, son of
King George II of Great Britain George II (George Augustus; ; 30 October / 9 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 ( O.S.) until hi ...
.Stalnaker acted as a guide and Indian liaison to Walker and his crew leading them through the treacherous path to the lands west so that they could chart the then unknown territory. In May 1750, Stalnaker was listed as "Saml. Stanlick" as part of a team to build roads from Ezekiel Calhoun's to Wood's River and then to the South Fork of the Roanoke. This road opened up traffic and commerce, inviting an influx of settlers from other parts of colonial Virginia, and Stalnaker decided to open a tavern and hotel alongside his trading post to take advantage of the growing activity. On 21 November 1752, Samuel qualified as a captain of foot in the
Virginia militia The Virginia militia is an armed force composed of all citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia capable of bearing arms. The Virginia militia was established in 1607 as part of the English militia system. Militia service in Virginia was compulso ...
, then under the command of the newly commissioned Major George Washington.


Stalnaker's tavern

On 7 November 1752, he posted a large bond, in the amount of ten thousand pounds of tobacco, with Alexander Sayers, for an ordinary (tavern-keeper's) license:
"Know all men by these presents that we, Saml. Stalnaker and Alexander Sayers are held and firmly bound to our sovereign Lord, George the Second, in the sum of ten thousand pounds of tobacco to which the payment well and truly to be made we bind ourselves and every of us and every of our heirs, executors, administrators, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents sealed with our seals and dated this 7th day of Nov. 1752. THE CONDITION of this obligation is such that whereas the above bound Saml. Stalnaker hath obtained a license to keep an ordinary in this county; if therefore, the said Stalnaker doth constantly find and provide in his ordinary good, wholesome and cleanly lodgings and diet for travelers and stablage and fodder and provender, or pasturage and provender as the season shall require for horses, for and during the term of one year from this seven day of Nov. and shall not suffer or permit any unlawful gaming in this house on the Sabbath day or suffer or permit any to tipple or drink more than is necessary; then this obligation to be void and of none effect or else to remain in full force and virtue."
Samuel Stalnaker signed this bond with his initials "S. S." Records indicate that Stalnaker used the structure he had originally built as a fort in 1748 and renovated it as a tavern. By 1752 there was apparently a large encampment of Cherokees near Samuel's trading post on the Holston. The Cherokees came to trade at Stalnaker's and settled there more or less permanently, and Stalnaker provided them with corn and other supplies. When Stalnaker asked the Governor Robert Dinwiddie to pay for their keep, the Governor refused until they finished a road they had agreed to build, and Samuel started charging them for their provisions. In January 1753, a Cherokee leader known as "The Emperor" (possibly either
Amouskositte Amouskositte of Great Tellico was an 18th-century Overhill Cherokee leader. Following the death of his father Moytoy of Tellico in 1741, Amouskositte succeeded him as "Emperor of the Cherokee", a title bestowed on Moytoy by Scottish adventurer Al ...
or
Moytoy of Citico Moytoy of Citico was said to be a Cherokee leader or war chief living in Virginia during the time of the Anglo-Cherokee War (1759–1761), but there is little evidence that he existed or that this name is correct. Earliest References The earliest ...
) petitioned Governor Dinwiddie for the removal of Stalnaker from his farm on the Holston River because Stalnaker was allegedly overcharging the Cherokees for goods at his trading post. This charge was supported by Erwin Patterson, Stalnaker's neighbor. The Governor agreed to order Stalnaker to charge fair prices.Milo Quaife, ed. "The Preston and Virginia Papers of the Draper Collection of Manuscripts," in Wisconsin Historical Publications Calendar Series, Volume l, ''Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin,'' Madison, 1915
/ref> An investigation proved that Stalnaker's prices were reasonable and that the Cherokees were satisfied. On 24 November 1753, the governor ordered a road built from Stalnaker's settlement to that of James Davis, trusting Samuel Stalnaker to oversee the work. His three sons George, Adam and Jacob were among the crew. At the same time, existing roads were extended as far as
Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...
, allowing for additional traffic, improved communications and new commercial opportunities. Stalnaker's tavern became known as "The Town House." In negotiating the Catawaba and Cherokee Treaty of March 1756, the Indians requested that the treaty be held at Stalnaker's tavern, as it was near the home of Conocotocko, the Cherokee chieftain who wanted to participate,"A Treaty: Between Virginia and the Catawbas and Cherokees, 1756." ''The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,'' 13, no. 3 (1906): 225-64. Accessed May 9, 2021
/ref> Samuel Stalnaker himself had been captured by the Indians and was believed dead. The tavern eventually became a
stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
stop under the name Chillhowie Springs by 1815. In 1938 Leo Stalnaker reported that the remains of Samuel Stalnaker's tavern were still standing just outside Chilhowie, Virginia, and described it as "very likely the original log cabin of Samuel Stalnaker which later had been weather-boarded and enlarged into an Inn...
t is T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...
a two-story, rambling building obviously used as a tavern. Numbers are still on the doors upstairs nd..logs of a cabin are visible behind rotting weatherboarding."


Capture and escape

On 18 June 1755, Shawnee Indians attacked Samuel Stalnaker's settlement, capturing Stalnaker, his wife and son Adam, along with Samuel Hydon, Matthias Counce, and an unnamed male servant. They executed all except Stalnaker and Hydon. Stalnaker's mother and four children were in another building when the Indians rushed the house, and got away by hiding in a "rye patch."''Pennsylvania Gazette,'' No. 1387, July 24, 1755 Stalnaker and Hydon were taken through Glinch Valley along the Sandy Creek by the Indians on their way to Ohio. The ''Pennsylvania Gazette'' reported:
Williamsburg, July 11. Last Sunday an Express arrived in Town, with the melancholly News of several more of our inhabitants being cut off, on Holston's River. Captain Stallnicher and his Wife were taken Prisoners, his Mother and four Children being in an Out House made their escape, and concealed themselves in a Rye Patch, till the Affair was over; there were three more taken prisoner and killed. Colonel Stewart, and William Long, on their Return from Fort Cumberland, where they had been to supply Provisions for the Army, were shot at there several Times, but escaped unhurt to the Augusta Court-House, from whence they were about 45 Miles distant.
On 20 August 1755, John Buchanan, Samuel Stalnaker's colonel in the militia, assuming he was dead, filed at the
Augusta County Augusta County is a county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The second-largest county of Virginia by total area, it completely surrounds the independent cities of Staunton and ...
Courthouse to administer his estate. Stalnaker's fellow officers Captain Israel Christian and Captain Pat Martin, were
sureties In finance, a surety , surety bond, or guaranty involves a promise by one party to assume responsibility for the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. Usually, a surety bond or surety is a promise by a person or company (a ''sure ...
on Buchanan's bond as administrator. The Indians took the prisoners to "Fort Ouabach" (possibly
Fort Ouiatenon Fort Ouiatenon, built in 1717, was the first fortified European settlement in what is now Indiana, United States. It was a palisade stockade with log blockhouse used as a French trading post on the Wabash River located approximately three miles ...
in Indiana), and then to "the Shawnese Towns" (
Lower Shawneetown Lower Shawneetown, also known as Shannoah or Sonnontio, was an 18th-century Shawnee village located within the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District, near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky and Lewis County, Kentucky. The population ...
) on the Ohio River. An article in the ''New-York Mercury'' of 16 February 1756, describing Mary Draper Ingles' escape from captivity mentions that, during her stay in Lower Shawneetown in August 1755, she met Stalnaker and reported "that Capt. Stahlnicker, who was carried Captive from Holston River, and supposed to be kill'd, was still a Prisoner among them, and was in Health."Contemporary newspaper account of Mary Ingles' escape in the ''New York Mercury,'' 26 January 1756, p. 3, col. 1; in ''Early Documents Relating to Mary Ingles and the Escape from Big Bone Lick,'' transcribed by James Duvall, Boone County Public Library, Burlington, KY 2008
/ref> Major Andrew Lewis led the
Sandy Creek Expedition The Sandy Creek Expedition, also known as the Sandy Expedition or the Big Sandy Expedition, (not to be confused with the Big Sandy Expedition of 1861) was a 1756 campaign by Virginia Regiment soldiers and Cherokee warriors into modern-day West V ...
from mid-February until April 1756, in a failed attempt to rescue prisoners taken by the Shawnee. On Sunday, 29 February 1756, Captain William Preston wrote in his journal: "The creek has been much frequently used by Indians both traveling and hunting on it, and...I am apprehensive that Stalnaker and the prisoners taken with him were carried this way." The expedition was planning to attack Lower Shawneetown (where Stalnaker was being held), but bad weather and inadequate supplies forced them to turn back and abandon their mission. On 10 May 1756, Stalnaker escaped and traveled for 40 days,''Pennsylvania Gazette,'' July 1, 1756 covering over 460 miles to Williamsburg, Virginia to report to the Governor Robert Dinwiddie on an impending assault by the French and Indians on English frontier settlements. A letter from the governor dated 21 June 1756, reports Stalnaker's escape: "One Stalniker, who was taken prisoner by the Shawnesse, made his escape and says he saw six Fr. Officers with 1,000 Ind's from Oubatch, bound to F't Dusquesne, and reports they intended to visit our Front's y's Sumer."Robert A. Brock, ed. ''The official records of Robert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1751-1758,'' vol. II. Richmond: The Society, 1883-84; p. 447.
/ref> The ''Pennsylvania Gazette'' reported:
"Williamsburg, June 11 -- Capt. Stalnacker, who was taken Prisoner by the Shawnese, the 18th of June last, on Holston's River, and has been at the Shawnese Town, and Ouabach abashFort ever since, till the tenth of last Month, when he made his Escape from them, is come to this Town, and informs us, that on the evening before he made his escape (9 May 1756), 1,000 Indians and six French officers came to the Shawnese Town, destined for
Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne ( , ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed ...
, to wait there some time to see whether any attempt would be made upon it, and if not, to disperse themselves, and fall upon the Frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania."
On 29 July 1756, at a council of War in
Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...
with Colonel Buchanan, Stalnaker represented the Holston Settlement and recommended that stockade forts be built at Dunkard's Bottom on the New River and Davis' Bottom at the middle fork of the Holston River.


Military service in the French and Indian War

On 8 September 1756, Governor Dinwiddie, writing to Colonel Clement Reed, acknowledged the receipt of a letter from that officer through Captain Stalnaker and said "Give Stalnaker 100 pounds to qualify him to raise his Company and build a stockade fort at Drapers Meadow."Ryan S. Mays, "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756) Part II," ''Smithfield Review,'' vol 19, 2015
/ref> Dinwiddie also proposed promoting Stalnaker to lieutenant. Governor Dinwiddie wrote to Major Lewis on 17 December 1756: "As to Stalnaker...I'm of the Opin'n he sh'd, and desire ou wouldapoint him a Lieut., in one of the Forts, as probably he may be of Service hereafter, being well acquainted in the Woods and a good Pilot or Guide on Occasion." A second Sandy Creek expedition was planned in early 1757,Johnston, David Emmons. ''A History of Middle New River Settlements And Contiguous Territory,'' chapter 2. Huntington: Standard Printing & Publishing Co., 1906
/ref> and Stalnaker was going to participate, but the plan was never implemented. By the summer of 1758, Stalnaker was serving as a guide or scout with the British troops commanded by Colonel
Henry Bouquet Henry Bouquet (born Henri Louis Bouquet; 1719 – 2 September 1765) was a Swiss mercenary who rose to prominence in British service during the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. He is best known for his victory over a Native America ...
in western Maryland. Colonel Washington wrote to Henry Bouquet on 25 July 1758: "Kelly and Stalnaker (two Guides) are on the Road with Major Peachy."


Final years

Stalnaker must have remarried, because in the fall of 1761 he and his wife Margaret served as administrators of the estate of Valentine Snyder, who had died in 1755, and Vincent Williams, killed by
Bemino Bemino (fl. 1710s–1780s, Delaware)—known as John Killbuck Sr. to white settlers, was a renowned medicine man, Chief, and war leader of Delaware (Lenape) and Shawnee warriors during the French and Indian War (1754–63). Killbuck, Ohio is named ...
in a raid in 1756. Stalnaker continued to operate his tavern, which served Colonel William Byrd and his troops in 1761 during the
Anglo-Cherokee War The Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761; in the Cherokee language: the ''"war with those in the red coats"'' or ''"War with the English"''), was also known from the Anglo-European perspective as the Cherokee War, the Cherokee Uprising, or the Cherok ...
, when they constructed a
blockhouse A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...
named Fort
Attakullakulla Attakullakulla ( Cherokee”Tsalagi”, (ᎠᏔᎫᎧᎷ) ''Atagukalu'' and often called Little Carpenter by the English) (c. 1715 – c. 1777) was an influential Cherokee leader and the tribe's First Beloved Man, serving from 1761 to ...
nearby. While staying at Stalnaker's tavern in July 1761, Major Robert Stewart wrote a letter to George Washington, mentioning that construction of the fort at Stalnaker's settlement was delayed due to an "epedemick" fever (possibly malaria) which had affected most of his troops. At some time in the 1760s Stalnaker may have gone to South Carolina with his daughter Barbara. Records show that he purchased land there, but had returned to
Hampshire County, Virginia Hampshire County is a List of counties in West Virginia, county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 23,093. Its county seat is Romney, West Virginia, Romney, West Virginia's o ...
by 1768. He was last seen in May 1769, when he was visited at his home by J. F. D. Smyth (John Ferdinand Dalziel Smyth, pen name of John Ferdinand Smyth Stuart), an English traveler, who found him living at his old
log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a minimally finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first-generation home building by settl ...
on the middle fork of the Holston River. Smyth says that after crossing the stream three times during the day,
"at night we came to Stalnaker's where a few people, indeed all the inhabitants, had erected a kind of wretched stockade fort for protection against Indians; but they had all left it a few days before our arrival and returned to their respective homes. We remained two days at the old Dutchman's house, for rest and refreshment for ourselves and horses, and also our future route, which was into Kentucky. The old pioneer, Capt. Stalnaker, still wise in all the learning of the wilderness was able to describe to Smyth, as he had to Walker many years before, a new route into Kentucky, which had recently been discovered, and which was a nearer way than commonly used."Summers, Lewis Preston. ''History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786: Washington County, 1777-1870.'' Richmond: J.L. Hill Print. Company, 1903.
/ref>
Samuel Stalnaker does not appear in records after this, and 1769 is generally recorded as the date of his death and burial.


Family and children

Samuel Stalnaker is believed to have had three brothers, George, Jacob and Adam. He had five children: Jacob (1737–1834), Adam (1738–1755), Maria Barbara (born 1743), Samuel (born 1749, christened 15 November 1750), and George Christian (born 18 November 1752). His first wife Susanna and his son Adam were killed during the Shawnee attack on 18 June 1755. He remarried to Margaret sometime around 1761.


See also

* Mary Draper Ingles * Draper's Meadow Massacre *
Lower Shawneetown Lower Shawneetown, also known as Shannoah or Sonnontio, was an 18th-century Shawnee village located within the Lower Shawneetown Archeological District, near South Portsmouth in Greenup County, Kentucky and Lewis County, Kentucky. The population ...
*
Sandy Creek Expedition The Sandy Creek Expedition, also known as the Sandy Expedition or the Big Sandy Expedition, (not to be confused with the Big Sandy Expedition of 1861) was a 1756 campaign by Virginia Regiment soldiers and Cherokee warriors into modern-day West V ...


References


External links


Captain Samuel Stalnaker: Colonial Soldier and Early Pioneer



1939 photo of Stalnaker's Town House tavern after it was abandoned, just before demolition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stalnaker, Samuel Year of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain 1769 deaths History of Virginia French and Indian War 18th-century German people People from colonial Virginia Captives of Native Americans Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire to the Thirteen Colonies American frontier