U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Darke, William (1736-1801) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Aler's History of Martinsburg and Berkeley County, West Virginia by F. Vernon Aler, 1888 Printed for the Author by The Mail Publishing Company, Hagerstown, MD. CHAPTER VIII. Historical Pen Sketches of the Early Residents of Berkeley County by the late Hon. Chas. James Faulkner. Pages 193-199 GENERAL WILLIAM DARKE, A DISTINGUISHED WEST VIRGINIA PIONEER. [By Virgil A. Lewis, of Mason City, W. Va., in W. Va. School Journal.] In the settlement of the western wilderness, what is now West Virginia can boast of pioneers whose names are as honored and should occupy as high a place upon the temple of fame as any that appear in the pages of pioneer history. But alas! many of them have been lost in oblivion, while those known to us, some who merit enduring monuments, scarce found a tomb. The great Roman lyric poet informs us that, "The names of the heroes who flourished before the days of Agamemnon were lost for want of a recording pen." This is true, too, of many of those who first planted the standard of civilization within the present confines of West Virginia. What a valuable contribution to the literature of the State would the record of their lives be? But much is irretrievably lost. Then let that which has survived the lapse of a century, be carefully preserved and cherished by a generation now enjoying the fruits of the toils and privations of the men and women who reared the first cabin homes within the confines of the " Little Mountain State." On the bank of Middle Creek, a tributary of Opequon River, in the southern part of Berkeley County, stands the little village of Darkesville, which was made a town by an act of the Virginia Legislature December 7, 1791, when Washington had served two years of his first term as President of the United States. Who that now visits the little town or sees dimly marked on the map of the State, "Darkesville P. O." stops to enquire why it was so called I And who, that does, will not be surprised to learn that it commemorates one of the most distinguished names which appear in frontier annals — that of General William Darke. He was born near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1736, and in 1741, when but five years of age, accompanied his parents south of the Potomac, where they reared their cabin home within a few miles of the present site of Shepherdstown, now in Jefferson County, W. Va. Here they were on the outmost boundary of civilization, while to the west of them lay the vast, untrodden American wilderness. Their nearest neighbors appear to have been Thomas Shepherd, the founder of Shepherdstown, and Robert Harper, whose name is preserved in that of Harper's Ferry. Here, among wild solicitudes, young Darke grew to manhood. Nature made him a nobleman; he was endowed with a herculean frame; his manners rough; his mind was strong but uncultivated, and his disposition was frank and fearless. From infancy he was familiar with "war's dread alarm," for throughout his youthful years he had listened to the recital of the bloody drama then being enacted on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania. "This familiarity with the story of savage warfare aroused within him a spirit of adventure and daring, and he longed to engage in "struggles fierce and wild." The opportunity soon came. In the spring of 1755, General Edward Braddock arrived in Alexandria, Virginia, with an army of two thousand men, consisting of the 44th and 4Sth Royal Infantry Regiments. This force proceeded up the Potomac, and at Fort Cumberland— now Cumberland City, Maryland — was joined by a regiment of Virginia Provincials, in the ranks of which were many Valley men, one of them being William Darke, then but nineteen years of age. The march into the wilderness began. Slowly the splendid pageant moved on; the long line of scarlet uniforms contrasting strangely with the verdure of the forest, while strains of martial music filled the air — sounds so strange beneath the dark shades of the American forest. It was the evening of the 8th of July, 1775, when the English columns for the second time reached the Monongahela, at a point ten miles from Fort Duquesne. On the next day a crossing was effected, and once across the stream the order to march was given, but scarcely was the column in motion when Gordon, one of the engineers, saw the French and Indians bounding through the forest. At once a deadly fire was poured in upon the English, who returned it; with but little effect. Braddock formed the regulars into squares, as though he had been maneuvering in the fields of Europe, and thus they were shot down in heaps. Of the twelve hundred men who crossed the Monongahela, sixty-seven officers and seven hundred privates were either killed or wounded. Braddock was among the fallen, and of all his aides, Washington alone was left. Many Virginians were among the dead, but a sufficient number were left — among whom was William Darke — to form a line and cover the retreat of the shattered army back to Fort Cumberland, whence Colonel Dunbar marched the regulars back to Philadelphia, and the Virginians returned to their frontier homes, there to withstand a storm of warfare then raging fiercer than ever before. During the next fifteen years, Captain Darke was engaged in defending the Virginia frontier against the incursions of the savages, and associated with him in the same daring and noble work, were many destined to leave a name behind them, and some to leave an impress upon the age in which they lived. Among them were George Washington, George Rogers Clark, William Clark and Andrew Lewis. When the storm of revolution came, Captain Darke hastened to join the patriotic army in which, because of meritorious service, he was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He, together with the greater part of his regiment, was taken prisoner at Germantown and de- tained on board a prisonship until November 1, 1780, when he was exchanged and returned to his post in the army. During the next spring he recruited his regiment (known as the "Hampshire and Berkeley regiment") at the head of which he marched to Tidewater, Virginia, and was actively engaged during the siege of Yorktown, at which place, on the 19th of October, 1781, he witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis' army to the combined forces of America and France. At the close of the Revolution, Colonel Darke, like his illustrious chieftain, returned to his home and engaged in agricultural pursuits until called upon to serve his State in another capacity than that of a soldier. Soon it was seen that while the Articles of Confederation had bound the country together in the time of war, they were not adapted to the new order of things; and for the purpose of forming "a more perfect union," the Federal Constitution was framed. Its firmest supporters were the great men who had led the armies of the Republic and achieved its independence. The convention which assembled in Richmond in June, 1788, to ratify that instrument, was composed of some of the most illustrious men of Virginia. The names of Marshall, Madison, Monroe, Mason, Nicholas, Henry, Randolph, Pendleton, Lee, Washington, Wythe, Harrison, Bland, Grayson and a host of others, shed a lustre on the deliberations of that august body, which has never been surpassed in the annals of the Old Dominion. The debates display a degree of eloquence and talent, certainly, at that time unequalled by any gathering of public men in this country. There sat General Adam Stephen, the founder of Martinsburg, and General William Darke, as the delegates from Berkeley county. Both were ardent Federalists, and both voted for the ratification of the Federal Constitution, despite the powerful opposition at the head of which was the immortal Henry. From the halls of the convention General Darke retired to his Berkeley county home, where he continued his agricultural pursuits until the renewal of the Indian war in 1791. With it came the call to arms and once more General Darke, aroused by the military spirit within him, entered the army as colonel commanding the Second Virginia Regiment. Descending the Ohio his force reached Fort Washington — now Cincinnati — where the army was collecting for invasion of the Indian county. General Arthur St. Clair was rplaced in command, and in October of the above named year the march into the wilderness began. On the 3rd of November the army encamped near the present boundary line between Indiana and Ohio, on the bank of the St. Mary's river, a tributary of the Wabash, but which St. Clair believed to be a branch of the Miami of the Lake. Here, at day break the next morning, it was attacked on all sides by the combined strength of the western tribes, at the head of which was the distinguished chief tan Little Turtle, and for five dreadful hours was continued a slaughter unparalleled in the annals of forest warfare. At the time of the attack Col. Darke's regiment, together with two battalions, occupied the second line, and when the first gave way his regiment received almost the entire shock of battle, the men executing every order of command. During the dreadful hours which followed, he was the coolest man on that bloody and chaotic field, and his escape seems to have been almost miraculous. Possessed of a tall, striking figure, in full uniform and mounted on horseback, he headed three desperate charges against the enemy, in each of which he was a conspicuous mark. His clothes were cut in many places, but he escaped with only a slight flesh wound. In the last charge the ensign of his regiment, a youth of seventeen, was shot through the heart and fell in the rear of the regiment, which was then returning to its original position. An Indian, attracted by his rich uniform, sprang up from the grass and rushed forward to scalp him. Col. Darke, who was then at the rear of the regiment, suddenly wheeling his horse, dashed at the savage and cleft his skull with his broadsword. By this act he drew upon himself the rapid discharge of more than a dozen rifles, but escaped and joined his regiment, though forced to leave the body of the ensign to the enemy. Among the killed in this charge was Captain Joseph Darke, the youngest son of the Colonel. At length the troops yet alive began a rapid retreat which was covered by Darke's regiment to Fort Jefferson, a distance of thirty miles, which they reached the same night. Here a council of war was held and Colonel Darke urged the expediency of an immediate attack, believing that the savages flushed with victory were unprepared for a second contest, but he was overruled. Stowed away among the archives in the oflice of the Secretary of War at Washington, deposited there during the administration of that office by General Henry Knox. "The Artillerist of Revolution," is a production in Which is told a melancholy tale of sadness and woe. It is the official report of General St. Clair, written after the return of the shattered army to Fort Washington, and bearing date November 9, 1791. In it he speaks at length of the heroic bravery exhibited by his men when hundreds of them were being shot down on the banks of the St. Mary — falling under the fierce fire of an unseen enemy — and then says: "Colonel Darke was ordered to make a charge with a part of the second line and to turn to the left flank of the enemy. This was executed with great spirit, and at first promised much success. The Indians instantly gave way and were driven back three or four hundred yards; but for want of a sufficient number of riflemen to pursue this advantage, they soon returned, and the troops were obliged to give back in their turn. At this moment they had entered our camp by the left flank, having pursued back the toops that were stationed there." From the same sad recital we are, told farther on, that Col. Darke's Virginians made a second charge, in which every commissioned officer of the regiment was killed except three, and of them — Captain Greaton — was dangerously wounded. Of the Virginians who yielded up their lives on that fatal field, eighty are said to have been from Berkeley county, now in West Virginia. Long years after the mournful story of their fall was rehearsed around the hearthstones in the mountain homes of West Virginia, old soldiers chanted "St. Clair's Defeat," which told in plaintive accents how "We lost nine hundred men on the banks of the St. Mary." From Fort Washington Col. Darke returned to Berkeley county, which he almost continuously represented in the General Assembly until his death which occurred November 20, 1801, when he found a grave near the spot where early in life he had found a home. Thus passed to rest a representative of the Pioneer Age, which was to West Virginia what the Heroic Age was to Greece. The men with whom he lived and acted were as fearless and hardy a race as ever braved the perils of the wilderness. Time has waged a merciless warfare upon the memorials of the age in which they lived, and that which has survived should be placed beyond the possibility of destruction. ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Berkeley County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/berkeley/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------