ANNE BAILEY.
VIRGIL A. LEWIS.
[Mr. Lewis is the State Historian of
West Virginia, the author
of "The History of West
Virginia" and many valuable publications con-
cerning the early historical events in
the Ohio Valley.]
All that was earthly of Anne Bailey, the
Pioneer Heroine of
the Great Kanawha Valley, that has not
crumbled to dust, has
been removed to Point Pleasant and
re-interred in Tu-Endie-
Wei Park. It is, therefore, now time to
eliminate from the story
of her wonderful career and life of
adventure, as scout and mes-
senger, everything of a mythical
legendary, fabulous and fanci-
ful character, and to learn and to know
the real narrative - the
truth - regarding that record female
heroism which has no par-
allel in the annals of the Border Wars.
The keeping of her
grave is now in care of the Colonel
Charles Lewis Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolution and
they must answer a
thousand questions regarding her, whose
bones they keep. Anne
Bailey was herself a Daughter of the
Revolution, a real one,
who served her country faithfully and
well when that struggle
was in progress. Then this western
border was the "Back Door
of the Revolution," and the men and
women who kept back from
it the savage allies of Great Britain
were the "Rear Guard of
the Revolution." Anne Bailey was
one of these; and the school
children should be able to tell to the
thousands who will hence-
forth visit her tomb, the real story of
her life.
The following facts obtained from Border
Annals, from offi-
cial records, and from persons who knew
Anne Bailey, will help
them to do this:
1742. Anne Bailey, whose maiden name was
Hennis, was
born in Liverpool, the western
metropolis of England the home
of her father, who, in early life, had
been wounded at the battle
of Blenheim, while serving under the
Duke of Marlborough. She
was named for Queen Anne.
(44)
Anne Bailey. 45
1747.
When five years of age her mother took her
to Lon-
don to visit relatives, and for the
first time and probably the last,
she saw the splendors of the British
capital. While there she wit-
nessed the execution, April 9th, of Lord
Lovet on a charge of
treason. (See any good history of
England.)
1748 to 1760. She resided in Liverpool
and attended school
in that city.
1761. Both parents were dead and she was
alone in a great
city. This year she crossed the Atlantic
to join her relatives, the
Bells who had emigrated to Virginia some
years before. A jour-
ney over the Blue Ridge brought her to
their home near Staun-
ton in the Shenandoah Valley.
1765. She wedded Richard Trotter, who
had been at Brad-
dock's Defeat and was prominent in
Border Wars. Representa-
tives of his family still reside in the
Shenandoah Valley.
1774. On the loth day of October, her
husband, Richard
Trotter, was killed in the battle of
Point Pleasant.
1774 to 1785. Eleven years of widowhood.
When she
heard of the death of her husband a
strange wild dream seemed
to possess her and she vowed revenge on
the Indian race. Hav-
ing matured her plans she submitted them
to Mrs. Moses Mann
then residing in Augusta, but afterward
in Bath county. She
approved them and gave a home to the
orphan son. It was now
that Anne Bailey abandoned that home
life that had once been so
dear to her and entered upon that
military career which has made
her name famous for all time. Clad in
the male costume of the
Border, with rifle in hand, she attended
the militia musters and
urged men to go to war against the
Indians in defense of hopeless
women and children; or to enlist in the
continental army and fight
the Briton from the sea. Then she became
messenger and scout
going from one frontier post to another,
thus continuing that ca-
reer of female heroism which made her
name a familiar one to the
pioneers.
1785. She was again united in marriage,
this time to John
Bailey, a distinguished border leader of
southwest Virginia. He
had assisted in carrying Col. Charles
Lewis off the field when
fatally wounded at the battle of Point
Pleasant. Rev. John Mc-
46 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Cue was the officiating clergyman. (See
Marriage Record, No.
I. p. 7, in the County Clerk's office at
Lewisburg.)
1788. She went with her husband to Fort
Lee which was
built by the Clendenins that year on the
present site of the city
of Charleston, the capital of West
Virginia. The husband was a
member of the Garrison and she served as
messenger between
Fort Lee and Fort Randolph, at Point
Pleasant.
1791. She made her famous ride from Fort
Lee to Fort
Savannah at Lewisburg to secure a supply
of powder for the Gar-
rison of the former place when it was
besieged by the Indians.
Having obtained this she returned and
thus saved the Garrison
and other inmates from death at savage
hands. The distance be-
tween the two forts was more than a
hundred miles, the whole of
it was a wilderness road.
1800.
Her son William, grown to full manhood, took Mary
Cooper, whose home was on the farm now
owned by George Pul-
lins, Esq., on the Kanawha river about
nine miles above Point
Pleasant in a canoe, to Gallipolis where
they were united in mar-
riage, the first Virginians married in
the old French town. (See
Records of Gallia county, Ohio. )
1802.
Her husband, John Bailey, died and was buried on the
Joseph Carroll farm, fifteen miles above
Charleston, on an emi-
nence overlooking the beautiful Kanawha
and there he now re-
poses. A second time Anne Bailey was a
widow and she went to
live with her son William Trotter. She rode
back and forth from
Point Pleasant to Lewisburg and
Staunton, acting in the capacity
of letter carrier and express messenger,
and thus she was em-
ployed for several years.
1817. She made her last visit to
Charleston and there and in
that vicinity spent the summer of that
year.
1818. She removed with her son to
Harrison township, Gal-
lia county, Ohio, he having sold his
farm on the Kanawha about
three miles above Point Pleasant, the
preceding year to William
Sterrett, the consideration being
fourteen hundred dollars, cur-
rent money of Virginia. (See Records,
Mason County Clerk's
Office.)
1820. About this time she was a frequent visitor at Galli-
polis where she was ever a welcome
visitor in the homes of the
Anne Bailey. 47
old French settlers of that place. Her home was nine miles away and she was in the habit of walking the whole distance. 1825. November 22nd, Anne Bailey died suddenly at night, while sleeping with her two little grandchildren, one of whom, the aged Mrs. Willey, still lives at Gallipolis. For seventy-six years her remains reposed in the Trotter graveyard in the vicin- ity in which she lived, her grave being kept green by her de- scendants. 1901. The members of the Point Pleasant Battle Monument Commission learned that the relatives of Anne Bailey were willing that her bones should be removed to Point Pleasant. On Satur- day, October 5th, Hon. John P. Austin, accompanied by Mr. Nor- man Gibson, of Henderson, West Virginia, was dispatched to the graveyard in Gallia county, Ohio, where, on that day the remains were exhumed and the next day conveyed to Point Pleasant, where on the 10th of October they were reinterred in the Monu- ment Park under the auspices of the Col. Charles Lewis Chapter, Daughters of the Revolution, and here they will repose while thousands who hereafter visit the spot will learn the story of her strange and eventful life. |
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