Excerpt from A History of Middle New River Settlements: And Contiguous Territory I have had in mind for several years to write and publish a history of Mercer County and its people, but finding on research and investigation that the settlement of the territory thereof and incidents connected with the life of its people are so interwoven with that of the people who first crowned and crossed the Alleghanies and made settlements on and along the upper waters of the Clinch, Sandy, Gnyandotte, Coal, and other rivers and streams, that it will be necessary to broaden the scope of the work beyond what was at first intended. Mercer County as originally created, and as it now exists, embraces territory which was formerly a part of that vast domain known as Augusta, later, and in succession, Botetourt, Fincastle, Montgomery, Greenbrier, Wythe, Monroe, Tazewell and Giles Counties. The early history of the County, and that of its settlers and people, is largely common all those who occupy the territory referred to. Their long sufferings, dangerous encounters with the wild 2 beasts and the savages, their patient endurance, their history during and after the close of the war between the States, their manly and heroic efforts to restore and reestablish their rights I as citizens of a free Republic, not less renowned than their chivalric deeds in war, deserve a place in the annals of history to be handed down to succeeding generations, as examples off valor, heroism and fortitude worthy of emulation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.