CHAPTER XI.

THE NATIONAL ROAD - THE ROAD FROM CUMBERLAND TO THE OHIO RIVER 
AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS IN 1806 - EFFORTS TO SECURE THE TERMINI OF THE 
ROAD AT DIFFERENT POINTS ON THE OHIO - THE COST OF THE ROAD UP TO 
1817 - PRESIDENT MONROE'S INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT MESSAGE - COL. MOSES 
SHEPHERD, JOHN MC LURE, DANIEL STEENROD AND OTHERS, CONTRACTORS - 
LITIGATION - TRAVEL AND TRADE ON THE ROAD - PROPOSED CHANGE OF 
LOCATION - HENRY CLAY THE FRIEND OF WHEELING - THE OLD ROAD FROM 
WHEELING TO WEST ALEXANDER - SIXTY ODD YEARS AGO - THE "LAND 
ADMIRAL"- COACHES RUN FIRST TIME DAY AND NIGHT ACROSS THE ALLEGHENIES 
IN 1827 - ROBBERY OF THE MAIL - ARREST AND PUNISHMENT OF THE ROBBERS 
- IN 1835 TWO LINES OF STAGES BETWEEN WHEELING AND FREDERICK - 
OPPOSITION LINES - AN INCIDENT - TAVERNS OF THE OLD NATIONAL ROAD - 
THE WAGONERS - THE "REGULARS" AND THE "MILITIA," SO CALLED -PRICE OF 
MEALS - THE "CONTINENTAL" LINE - THE OLD STAGE COACH A MEMORY. 

THE bill authorizing the construction of the National road, or as it 
is sometimes called, the Cumberland road, passed congress in the year 
1802, the same year in which Ohio was admitted as a state, but the 
construction of the road was not commenced until 1815. In 1812 there 
was a turnpike from Baltimore to Frederick and Hagerstown, and that 
portion of it between Boonsboro' and Hagerstown was the first piece 
of macadamized road in the United States. From Hagerstown west to 
Wheeling there were no turnpikes. On the 29th of March, 1806, 
congress passed a law providing for the construction of the road from 
Cumberland to the Ohio, and Thomas Moore of Maryland, Joseph Kerr and 
Eli Wilson, of Ohio, were appointed commissioners to decide upon a 
route. The route proposed by them with only one deviation at 
Uniontown, was approved by President Jefferson in 1808, as far as 
Brownsville - the route from that point to the Ohio being left 
undetermined. The point at which the road would strike the Ohio, was 
considered as of the utmost local importance, and every eligible 
point on the Ohio from Piitsburgh, to below Wheeling, was warmly 
engaged in urging its claims. It was anticipated that a city would at 
once spring up wherever the crossing was definitely fixed.
 
At this period dates the jealousy that subsequently existed between 
Wheeling and Pittsburgh, and in a greater or less degree with all the 
other points on the eastern shore of the river. It became a delicate 
question for the commissioners to decide, and remarking that "in this 
was to be consulted the wishes of that populous section of Ohio, and 
the connections with roads leading to St. Louis, under the act of 
1806," they left the question open. The route from Brownsville to 
Wheeling was afterward located by another commission, the engineer 
for which was a Mr. Weaver. Operations on the road were commenced 
forthwith, and up to 1817 it had cost $1,800,000, and had moreover in 
some portions become worn out so as to need extensive repairs. The 
question of abandonment came up. In 1822 President Monroe issued his 
celebrated internal improvement message, in which he argues with 
consummate ability the general improvement policy of the country, and 
enlarges upon the propriety of the government carrying out the 
original compact with the state of Ohio by continuing the road west 
of the Ohio river. (When Ohio was admitted into the Union in 1802, 
there was a proviso that one-twentieth of the public land within her 
boundaries should be set apart that the proceeds might be applied to 
the construction of such a road through that state, and ultimately to 
St. Louis.) Three commissioners had been appointed in 1817 to locate 
the western division; and it is at this date that we first read of 
its Ohio terminus being definitely fixed at Wheeling. Col. Moses 
Shepherd was a principal contractor on the road between Wheeling and 
Cumberland. Messrs. John McLure, Daniel Steenrod and others, had 
contracts more contiguous to the former place. The work was executed 
promptly and with apparent faithfulness; but subsequently much 
litigation arose on account of alleged failure to comply with the 
terms of contracts in executing masonry, etc., which afterward found 
its way into congress in the shape of bills for the relief of 
different parties. (Moses Shepherd, who, as above stated, was one of 
the contractors for building a portion of the road, had large landed 
possessions in its immediate vicinity. The original survey of the 
road was made on the north side of the creek which flowed in front of 
his residence and but a few rods distant. This original survey 
therefore located the road several hundred yards distant from his 
residence leaving the creek between it and the road as originally 
surveyed. But by means of influences brought to bear by him, he had 
the road changed from its original location to the south side of the 
creek in front of his residence, believing that this would enhance 
the value of his property. But this change involved a heavy expense 
to the the government in the construction of that portion of the 
road, inasmuch as it required the building of two stone bridges of 
considerable dimensions, to-wit: the one known as the "S" bridge 
opposite the residence of Moses Flay, between six and seven miles 
east of the city of Wheeling, and the one near the Shepherd place at 
the "forks of Wheeling." Had the road been built in accordance with 
the original survey, not only would it have been unnecessary to have 
built these bridges, but also the additional length of road which 
necessarily was a consequence. This gave rise to a large claim 
against the government, which, though persistently prosecuted by 
Shepherd during his life, and by his widow after his death, was 
wholly ignored by the government, and we think justly so.- G. L. C.)  
A large amount of money was expended by the government and large 
fortunes were made by some of the contractors out of the proceeds. 
The road gained great celebrity at the time from its magnificence of 
design, costly character, the romantic country traversed, and the 
immense trade and travel that passed constantly over it. It became 
the grand artery of emigration as well as of transportation between 
the east and the west. Fort wagons in a train all magnificently 
belled and otherwise equipped, might be seen at one time traversing 
this national highway, loaded with merchandise for the whole country, 
as far west as St. Louis.

Notwithstanding, however, the immense travel and trade, the tolls 
were insufficient to keep it in proper repair, and bidding fair to 
become a burden on the federal treasury, a growing disposition was 
manifested to abandon, or rather to transfer it to the state it 
traversed. About the year 1825, it was terribly out of repair, 
especially that portion of it between Brownsville and Wheeling; and 
so desperate had become the condition of the western division that a 
change of location was seriously talked of from the Wheeling route to 
the route via Wellsburg. During the previous long and acrimonious 
contest for the crossing place, Wellsburg had been the equal and 
formidable rival of Wheeling, and now, when it was re-opened, she 
renewed her rivalry with a desperate zeal. Topographical advantages 
were confessedly in her favor, both as to distance and nature of the 
ground to be traversed in order to strike the Ohio, but even at that 
early day, and indeed a long time previously, the narrowness of the 
river had suggested the practicability of a bridge at Wheeling 
Island, and there were influences also on the Ohio side, that 
operated strongly in her favor. She was also fortunate in her 
advocates in congress. Henry Clay, the reputed father of the internal 
improvement policy of the government, "threw in her favor the weight 
of his influence; and contributed greatly to her success by his zeal, 
and his sarcastic allusions to a panther mountain," a high hill two 
miles to the east of Wellsburg which he came out of his way to 
explore on one of his journeys to Washington city, purposely to see 
for himself the comparative merits of the rival routes. He, perhaps, 
unwittingly misrepresented the character of the Wellsburg route; the 
entire twenty-three miles of which, it has been estimated since, 
would have cost less than the two miles nearest Wheeling, of the 
route as adopted. But superior management triumphed and the original 
location to Wheeling was confirmed. When, afterwards, Henry Clay 
became a candidate for the presidency in opposition to Gen. Jackson, 
in 1832, he was remembered by the adherents of the respective routes. 
Ohio county went for him with the greatest unanimity, while in 
Brooke, he only received one vote, that of Prov. Mounts, an 
eccentric, hair-brained individual, whose solitary vote was for a 
long time a subject of amusement among his neighbors and 
acquaintances. The fact coming to the ears of Mr. Clay, elicited from 
him a humorous and good-natured remark. "Harry of the West" was 
defeated; but the impress of this local controversy remained not only 
upon the neighborly relations of the parties, but upon their 
political complexion. Wheeling became thoroughly and persistently 
whig; and together with the county of Ohio, firmly devoted to the 
interests of Mr. Clay; while Wellsburg and all the vicinity 
sympathizing with her, became uncompromisingly anti-Clay and 
democratic. Subsequent events and the obliterating effects of time, 
have softened and modified this local antipathy in some degree; but 
to this day, the effects may still be distinctly seen, both in local 
jealousy and national politics. At the time of this last desperate 
effort to wrest from Wheeling, the possession of the terminus of the 
national road, Philip Doddridge represented this district in 
congress. This was in 1829-32." (From the Life and Times of Patrick 
Gass, by J. G. Jacob, Esq.) 

An old resident states, that, before the National pike was 
constructed, the road to West Alexander followed the side of the hill 
parallel to the present route of the National road to a point a short 
distance beyond the Steenrod house, when it descended to the bank of 
the creek, and binding thereon, continued its course to Roney's point, 
where it took up the hill at the Sisson place and followed a country 
road to West Alexander. When the National road was first constructed, 
it was laid with corded stone, that is to say, the stones were placed 
on edge, but in 1827 it was repaired and in places these corded 
stones were removed, but in the sunken places they were permitted to 
remain and the whole road was leveled up macadamizing the same. 

Sixty odd years ago, mails and travelers from New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, and the Ohio river, at Pittsburgh and Wheeling, were 
carried by stage lines largely owned and managed by James Reeside, 
popularly known and designated as the, "Land Admiral." The first line 
of stages run by him was from Hagerstown, Md., to McConnellstown, 
Penn., in 1814, and in a few years afterward be became one of the 
largest mail contractors in the United States. He possessed a grand 
physique, being six feet four and a half inches high, without any 
surplus flesh, measuring fifty-three inches about the chest, and 
kicked the beam at two hundred and twenty pounds. He was a person of 
great enterprise, remarkable executive ability, strict integrity, 
frank in speech and open-handed in his generosity. He was an intimate 
friend of Gen. Jackson, and the associate of Clay, Crittenden, 
Benton, McLean, and other distinguished men of that period. Shortly 
after the war of 1812, Mr. Reeside was concerned in establishing a 
daily line of stages across the Allegheny mountains. At this period 
there were no turnpikes from Hagerstown west to Wheeling. The first 
through stage line between Baltimore and the Ohio river was organized 
in relays. These relays lodged the first night at Hagerstown, the 
second at Cumberland, the third at Uniontown, and the fourth at 
Wheeling. The stages were of the old fashioned kind, somewhat similar 
to the modern ambulance, open in front and having a rack behind to 
hold one or two trunks. Persons rarely traveled in those days with a 
trunk. The passengers all faced the team on a level with the driver. 
Saddle-bags, then the usual baggage of travelers, were slung around 
the standards which supported the roof. It was the custom at night 
when they reached the lodging place, to give their saddle-bags into 
the custody of the landlord whose wife put them under her bed, and 
delivered them to the travelers in the morning. Travelers often 
carried large sums in this way.
 
It was not until the year 1827 that any coaches running day and night 
crossed the Allegheny mountains. At about this time Mr. Reeside 
became the contractor for carrying the mails between Baltimore and 
Wheeling, via Hagerstown and the National road, and from Philadelphia 
via Harrisburg, Chambersburg and Bedford to Pittsburgh, upon which 
routes previous to this, no mails had been carried at night. The 
system of running day and night was introduced by him between 
Philadelphia and Baltimore and the west, reducing the time from four 
days to fifty-two hours, and thereby earned the sobriquet of "Land 
Admiral," bestowed upon him by a Philadelphia editor, who, in giving 
him that title said "that he could leave Philadelphia with a hot 
johnnie cake in his pocket, and reach Pittsburgh before it would grow 
cold." When Reeside was contractor for the mails going out of 
Philadelphia to Baltimore, Wheeling, Pittsburgh, etc., a robbery of 
the mails was committed which was the sensation of the time. The mail 
for Kimberton, a short line running out of Philadelphia, was robbed. 
A few days subsequent the important mail for Reading and Pottsville 
was robbed near the point where Girard college now stands. The driver 
of the coach was a man of the name of Charles Wilhower. There were 
nine passengers in the coach. It was stopped by three men, named 
respectively, Porter, Poteet and Wilson, at about 2o'clock in the 
morning. They forced the passengers to get out and stood them in 
line. Wilson and Poteet watched the team and driver, while Porter 
robbed the passengers. After rifling the mail they allowed the coach 
to proceed. Porter and Wilson were arrested at Reeside; Poteet by a 
policeman in Philadelphia. Poteet was remanded to the Maryland 
penitentiary, from which he had escaped, to serve out the remainder 
of a sentence of eleven years; he died, however, before the 
expiration of his sentence. Wilson turned state's evidence and Porter 
was hanged. It is said that Gen. Jackson was influenced to commute 
the sentence of Wilson to a few years' imprisonment because of a 
service rendered to him many years previous on a race course in 
Tennessee.
 
During the time of the excitement about nullification in South 
Carolina, Gen. Jackson's proclamation was expressed through to New 
York. The son of Mr. Reeside related the following incident 
concerning it: "On its arrival at Philadelphia, owing to the injuries 
sustained by the express rider regularly employed, I, on my way home 
from school, was substituted to carry it on to New York. I left 
Philadelphia at 5 o'clock in the evening and reached Jersey City at 
9:26 P.M., four hours and twenty-six minutes. I was taken across the 
river in the yawl by Mr. Dodd, and delivered the proclamation to Mr. 
Gouverneur, at the postoffice. The relays of horses used by me in 
making the run were from three to five miles apart. It was a very 
dark night, several of the bridges over which I had to pass had 
draws. But there was no time to stop to think whether they were open 
or closed. I had to take my chances of jumping them, if they happened 
to be open. Fortunately, however, they were all closed."
 
In 1835 there were two competing lines between Frederick, Md., and 
Wheeling, viz.: the Good Intent Stage company and the Stoke & 
Stockton or National road line. The coaches and stock of the former 
cast of Cumberland were owned by Messrs' Alpheus Beall and Thomas 
Shriver, of Cumberland, John A. Wirt and J. A. Hutchinson, of New 
Jersey, and William H. Steele, formerly of New Jersey, and afterward 
a resident of Wheeling; James Reeside owned the stock between 
Cumberland and Wheeling. The ownership of the National Road Stage 
company was vested in L. W. Stockton, Moor N. Falls and Daniel Moore. 

While the two were running opposition, three daily lines were started 
from Wheeling, and frequently they were supplemented by a large 
number of chartered and extra coaches, as many as twenty being 
dispatched in one morning. During the California fever there was an 
unusually large number of passengers to be carried. 

When President Zachary Taylor and his party were on their way to 
Washington city, they were caught at Moundsville by the ice and their 
boat was frozen in. A driver of the Good Intent Stage company was 
called upon to help forward the presidential party, and drove for 
eighteen hours with only such delays as were necessary to change his 
teams. The stage companies being intent on making the best possible 
time bought up the best stock within their reach, the Consul and 
Mayduke horses having the preference. They were usually about sixteen 
hands high, rather leggy, but having good body and action. On one 
occasion two of the horses jumped over the wall, near to the spot 
known as McColloch's leap, just east of Wheeling, and being suspended 
by the wheelers and the coach until they were choked and had ceased 
to struggle, they were cut loose and allowed to fall a distance of 
nearly twelve feet, when they were again harnessed and completed 
their trip without experiencing any damage. 

After the lapse of some years, Reeside dissolved with his partners in 
the Good Intent line and started a line of his own from Wheeling to 
Frederick. At this time then there were three competing lines, and 
the result was that the competition cut down fares from $8 and $10 to 
the nominal fare of 50 cents. This, however, could not long continue, 
and after losing a large amount of money the other two lines bought 
Reeside out, and thenceforward the two survivors, although continuing 
as separate organizations, divided way-bills and kept up rates. Two 
more attempts were made to start opposition lines over the same 
route, the Henderson company of Pittsburgh, which put on a daily 
line, and two sons of Reeside, who started a fancy line called the 
"Junebug." The Henderson line, however, was soon bought off and the 
"Junebug" line broke up. The two original companies held the field 
until the completion of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad to Wheeling in 
1852 deprived them of their occupation.
 
The following interesting communication from A. Allen Howell, Esq. of 
Wheeling, was furnished to the writer at his request, Mr. Howell was 
connected with one of the companies just mentioned, and therefore 
speaks by the card.  It is as follows:
 
"In 1841, the year I became connected with the National Road Stage 
company, there were two separate lines running between Frederick 
City, Md., and Wheeling, Va., - the National Road Stage company and 
the Good Intent Stage company. The two lines were running the road in 
complete harmony - each line doing the same amount of work, and 
dividing gross receipts each quarter. The only rivalry was the 
laudable one of excelling in good coaches, teams and drivers, and in 
making the best time on the road. The office at this end of the line 
(Wheeling) was occupied jointly by the companies. In 1843 of 1844, 
Mr. L. W. Stockton died, and the National Road Stage company became 
the property of Mr. Daniel Moore, Henry Moore, J. C. Acheson, M. W. 
Falls and Dr. Howard Kennedy. The National Road Stage company had the 
contract for carrying the United States mail, and it is within the 
knowledge of our older citizens how well and loyally the service was 
performed. An incident may not be out of place, showing the spirit 
governing the proprietors in regard to failures of the mail. In the 
year 1842 I was agent of the N. R. S. Co., at Uniontown, Penn. The 
mail was due at that place at 5:30 P. M., and at Wheeling at 8 A. M. 
Owing to a snow storm in the mountains east of Uniontown, the mail 
was behind time. Mr. Stockton remained at the office until near 
midnight, determined to save the mail if possible. Not having arrived 
at 12 o'clock, he left for bed, giving me orders to save the mail if 
it reached Uniontown by 2 o'clock A. M. The mail arrived twenty 
minutes before 2 o'clock, and I had it transferred to the inside of a 
small six-passenger coach, and at ten minutes to 2 o'clock I started 
it for Wheeling with no one on the coach but the driver and Mr. 
Buntering, the road agent. The mail reached the postoffice in 
Wheeling just as the clock struck 8 A. M., thus saving the mail and 
making the trip from Uniontown to Wheeling (sixty-eight miles) in six 
hours and ten minutes, including changes of horses on the route. 
Three horses were killed and at least a dozen more were placed "hors 
de combat" (no pun intended), and the expense of that fast trip could 
not have been less than $1,000 from injury to stock, etc.

"The fine for failure of a mail was only $50 in case no good excuse 
could be offered. In this case the company had a valid and sufficient 
excuse for the delay and no fine would have been exacted by the 
department, but Mr. Stockton had so high a sense of honor and pride 
as connected with his service that he did not regret the loss 
sustained. I may add that the team I started from Uniontown on this 
trip, had his private carriage horses in the lead, he having ordered 
me to place them there. When the nature of the road from Uniontown to 
Wheeling is considered, this was a remarkable trip. The message of 
the president of the United States was carried by relays of horses in 
very short time (under six hours I think), and so far as I remember, 
without compensation.
 
"During the palmy days of staging it was a pleasant sight to view the 
long string of coaches - of both lines - sometimes they would be in 
close order, and after the coaches starting from Brownsville joined 
the string, it resembled a caravan in its proportions. On one 
occasion I think there were twenty-four coaches from Wheeling and 
Brownsville at one time on the road going east, and as they were in 
close order the sight was interesting. The taverns on the road were 
generally good - notably the Frostburg House and Bass Rush's, 
National House and McClelland's (Uniontown), etc. The drivers on both 
lines were a class of men, suigeneris. They have nearly all passed 
away. As a rule they were first-class in everything pertaining to 
their occupation - honest, trustworthy, sober and polite. They took 
much pride in their teams, and it was a rare occurrence that an old 
hand was discharged for misconduct. Mr. John Foster, better known as 
'Pap Foster' was the office agent for the two companies in Wheeling. 
No more faithful man was ever employed by any company. He always 
slept at the office and was well-known to the traveling public. In 
1852 the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was finished to Wheeling, and then 
the wheels of the coaches stopped. The horses were sold and the 
drivers scattered." 

The National road was indeed the Appian Way of the republic. It was 
in its palmy days more like the grand avenue of some proud city than 
a road through rural districts.
 
A writer (Col. Seabright) in speaking of it says,- "It was the great 
route between the east and the west; many of the southern and all of 
the western statesmen of the olden times traveled upon it from their 
homes to Washington and back. As many as sixteen two-horse coaches 
have been counted in continuous procession at one time passing along 
the old pike, and large broad-wheeled wagons covered with white 
canvass, laden with merchandise and drawn by six Conestoga horses, 
have lined it from sunrise to sunset without intermission, besides 
innumerable caravans of horses, mules, cattle, hogs and sheep. 

The road was famous for the number and excellence of its inns or 
taverns. On the mountain division they averaged probably one for 
every mile of road. All were provided with commodious wagon yards. 
The sign boards with their golden letters winking in the sun ogled 
the passer-by from the hot road-bed, and gave promise of good cheer, 
while the big horse-trough full of clear fresh water, and the ground 
below it sprinkled with droppings of fragrant peppermint, lent a 
charm to the surroundings that was at once irresistible. Men who 
drove teams on the old pike were invariably called wagoners - not 
teamsters, as is the modern word. They carried their beds in the 
forepart of the wagon, rolled up, and spread them out before the big 
bar-room fire, when they retired for the night. Some of the bar-room 
grates would hold as much as seven bushels of coal. Teams were rarely 
ever stabled, but almost invariably stood upon the wagon yard, no 
matter how inclement the weather might be. There were two classes of 
wagoners, the "regular" and the "sharpshooter." (These latter were 
also called the "militia." - G. L. C.) The former were engaged in the 
business from year's end to year's end, and did nothing else. The 
latter were composed for the most part of farmers, who put their 
teams on the road when freights were high, and took them off when 
they declined. The "regular," drove his team on an average about 
fifteen miles a day, while the "sharpshooters" would make twenty, or 
twenty-five miles. There was naturally much jealously between the 
classes.
 
Twenty-five cents was the uniform price of warm meals at the old 
taverns, and a drink of whisky thrown in. A cold check was set out in 
the middle of the day for 12 1/2 cents, a "levy," in the old phrase, 
and a drink thrown in. The "regulars" were very hostile to 
encroachments of railroads, and regarded them as the invention of the 
evil one. They had an old song among them that ran something after 
this fashion: 

Come all ye jolly wagoners,
Turn out man for man,
Who's opposed to the railroad
Or any such a plan.
When we go down to Baltimore,
And ask for a load,
They'll very soon tell you,
It's gone by railroad. 

There was a line of these wagons belonging to a voluntary company, 
called the "Continental line," which had its headquarters at 
Wheeling, of which J. B. Ford was agent, as well as for the Baltimore 
& Ohio railroad, at Cumberland, Md., and J. A. Rowe was agent at the 
former place. Several of our old-time citizens were interested in 
this line. The late Joseph Caldwell, Esq., had three or four teams in 
this line, which were under the control of one Newlove, who kept a 
wagon yard where the freight depot of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad 
now stands. Abner Charnock also had one or two teams in the same 
line, and others whose names we cannot now recall. The line only went 
to Cumberland. A team carried from 7,500 to 10,000 pounds, and this 
was drawn by six horses. The length of time it took to make the trip 
from Wheeling to Cumberland was nine days and the same number of days 
returning. So far as we are aware there are now living in Ohio county 
but three of these knights of the whip. The rest have driven over the 
bridge which spans between time and eternity. Their names are Charles 
Prettyman, George Weddel and William Tracy.
 
Alas, the old-fashioned stage-coach with its experience and 
associations as well as the old Conestoga wagon, with its white cover 
and its belled horses and their driver have become relics of the 
past, pushed aside by the progressive spirit of the age. The toot of 
the horn is no longer heard in our midst, and the graceful flourish 
of the long whip is seen no longer as the lumbering coach rattles 
along at break-neck speed as it draws up at the place of its 
destination. But now instead is heard the weird shriek of the rushing 
train, as with swift wings it flies along the ringing rail. The gayly 
decorated coach, drawn by a spanking team of four matched horses, 
driven by a knight of the whip, swelling with pride, and handling the 
"ribbons" with the skill of a master, is but a fast fleeting memory.

"We mourn, bereft of the post-horn deft,
Blown by that famous driver,
For we only hear when the cars draw near,
A screech down by the river."