The Ratifier and the Homespun Girl
When researching dead relatives, occasionally you can discover someone more connected to history than the rest of the gang. Either they lived in a geographical area during a time that someone considered important enough to record—such as the settlement of a town, or a local battle—or they made a discovery or came up with an invention, or maybe they did something notorious so that they ended up in the newspapers and court records. When your relative helps to establish a town or ends up in jail, count yourself fortunate. These eureka moments that happen in genealogical pursuits, both consequential and relatively obscure, keep everybody hunting. But sometimes you have to go off-road to encounter such moments, dig around outside the usual line of descent. A cousin or nephew of your ancestor stole a horse, devised a new medical procedure, invented a way to make something useful or commanded troops in a war. Extended kin can shine a light on your line of ancestors. Such an occurrence happened for me recently when I discovered Andrew Moore, brother of Polly Steele, my ancestor. Andrew Moore did me the great favor of serving as a Virginia delegate to ratify the constitution. Ratify the constitution! Oh, my! With this new information about the brother of a Steele ancestor, I suddenly found copious clues that could reveal the life and times of the third generation of the Steeles of Steeles Tavern. Yippee!
Gen 1. David and Janet
Gen 2. Steele—Robert and Elizabeth Steele
Gen 3. David and Mary (Polly) Moore Steele (sister of Andrew Moore)
Before we visit the information that I gleaned from historical records about Andrew Moore, let’s revisit Polly and her husband, David (the Revolutionary War soldier who lost part of his skull at the Battle of Guilford) as they receive a distinguished guest at their tavern.
Not long after the Battle of Guilford, François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux visited Polly and David at Steeles Tavern on his way south from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, a day's ride on horseback. Chevalier de Chastellux intended to write a travel journal for his friends back home, and David ended up having his remarkable story recorded for their benefit. Thank you, Chevalier! As a major general in the French forces, Chevalier de Chastellux acted as the principal liaison between the head honcho General Rochambeau, commander of the French expeditionary forces, and George Washington. So he was famous, more or less. Chevalier de Chastellux was also an historian and philosopher who, before coming to America, was recognized as a talented man of letters and a member of the Académie française. I am beholden to Chevalier de Chastellux for using his talents to write about David Steele in “Travels in North America in the Years 1780-81-82.”
Chevalier de Chastellux
Chevalier de Chastellux’s moderate fame made discovering details about my ancestor, David Steele, much easier for me. Chevalier de Chastellux's observations about David and Polly also led me to ask questions about Polly Steele, which in turn led to the discovery of Polly’s brother, Andrew Moore, the Ratifier.
But I didn't appreciate everything Chevalier de Chastellux wrote about my ancestors. In his travel journal, Chastellux described David and Polly Steele as people with “pastoral manners.” I’m rather certain this comment wasn’t meant as a compliment. He was giving his friends back home in France a picture of the quaint backwoods settlers in the strange, new world of America. Can’t you hear them snickering? He also dissed the Steele's accommodations, referring to their rustic home as “ill suited to travelers.” Pastoral? Not suited to travelers? And this from an enlightened Frenchman who’d come to help liberate the colonists from English tyranny? Shall we not call him a snob?
This was during the Revolutionary War, mind you. People were nearly starving. Seven years had passed since the beginning of the war. Commerce had ended with England, the colonies main trading partner. Americans had to rely on themselves for everything. The Valley was hit hard. Relentless demands were made for provisions of war but supplies remained limited. Continental soldiers suffered not just from lack of food but also lack of pants. (This is true.) Of course, the Frenchman Chevalier de Chastellux knew of these deprivations since he was a soldier. He hung out with General Washington—who worried a lot about feeding and clothing the troops and was continually vexed by the lack of government funding for the war. So Chevalier should’ve known not to complain about his accommodations.
Times were hard! The disappointed Chastellux had to do without freshly baked bread and—perhaps this was the worst part— hard liquor since “the house made use of none.” Poor guy! But I give him credit for trying to make the best of the situation. He admits that the proprietors—my ancestors—provided his men with grilled hoecakes and “excellent butter,” and so no one went away hungry (even if they weren’t able to wet their whistles). Best of all, my guy David Steele entertained Chevalier de Chastellux and his companions with the tale of his near-death experience at the hands of the notorious Banastre Tarleton during the Battle of Guilford. David’s extraordinary tale made the time pass “agreeably.” Well, thank goodness for that! And as the Frenchman recounts David’s amazing story in his journal, he takes the opportunity to rail against the English, and so David gave him a reason to vent. “I certainly little thought of finding amidst the solitudes of America, such lamentable traces of European steel…” Why ever not? Didn’t he expect to run into a few soldiers in the hinterlands? Who did he think was fighting the war?
As David was making the time pass agreeably for Chevalier de Chastellux, Polly was grilling hoecakes. Hoecakes are not pancakes (says the blogger, Emily Horton). Hoecakes aren’t made pliable and fluffy with leavening, milk, eggs, and flour. Hoecakes aren’t like corn tortillas either, which are made with cornmeal from pre-treated corn. A hoecake is a thin, unleavened round cake made from a batter of cornmeal, water, and salt. Fried in fat, hoecakes are crispy at the edges, creamy but dense enough to use for shoveling food into your mouth--and so no need of a fork, which was a good thing since most people didn't own such fancy cutlery. Contrary to oral tradition, hoecakes were probably not cooked on hoes. In parts of England, people used the term “hoe” for a griddle. (I am relieved that Polly didn’t have to cook a cornmeal patty on a farmer’s hoe over a fire.) Although I’d loved to taste a genuine hoecake, I’m not sure anyone can pull one off today. You'd have to go back in time to create suitable conditions for one of Polly's hoecakes. Polly would’ve used stone-ground, cold-milled grain grown at home and milled at the family’s flour mill. She would’ve used a cast-iron skillet that prevented sticking. Her dough would’ve been thick, made with boiling water to keep the cornmeal patty from falling apart on the griddle. If she was highly skilled—and I’m assuming she was quite experienced since she ran a tavern—Polly could’ve flipped a large cake (about a half-inch thick) before serving it up to her guests with her homemade butter and fresh milk. Yum!
(http://legacy.culinate.com/content/228005/index.html)
Frontier women took pride in making good butter. Since David was a craftsman who made rifle butts, he probably made Polly’s wooden paddle that she used to work the buttermilk out of the butter and then mold the butter into the desired shape. When I mentioned this method of making butter to my friend, Michele, she told me that her mom, who was born in Ireland, had kept the wooden paddles used on her family’s dairy farm back home in Ireland. These paddles have ridges on the inside for shaping butter into little balls. My maternal grandmother, Laura Brent Payne, was renowned in her community for her superior butter. Although she gave up the practice before I was born, I heard stories of her butter-making fame. I wonder if Polly’s “excellent butter,” as Chevalier de Chastellux reported, made her famous throughout the Valley from the many travelers who dined at the tavern.
Wooden paddles and butter
How did Polly feel about her visitors that day? According to his journal, Chevalier de Chastellux found Polly to be “young and handsome” and also “industrious.” But what did Polly think about him? A Frenchman who palled around with George Washington, and who’d visited Thomas Jefferson just yesterday, had come to Steeles Tavern where he sat in Polly’s kitchen and talked about the hole in her husband’s head. What did she make of that? How did Polly feel about fetching her husband’s skull bone? A bone that should never have seen the light of day. A bone that belonged on her husband’s head and not on a table as the centerpiece of an amiable and entertaining discussion with a total stranger.
Try to climb into her shoes—although she may have been barefoot. (Pioneer women often went without shoes.) She’d just fed the man fresh milk and hoecakes with her excellent butter. Then he inquires why David was so “sluggish and inactive.” Did she find the question rude and intrusive? But David wasn’t put off by the inquiry. Like most Revolutionary War soldiers, he was most likely grateful to the French for helping America out with the war. Talking soldier-to-soldier, he informed the Frenchman that he’d “been in a languishing state ever since the battle of Guildford” where he received sixteen blows with a sword, his worst wound occurring after he surrendered. He pretended to be dead, David told his visitor, and then found his way off the battlefield (no small miracle since the rain poured relentlessly that night and the wounded on both sides couldn’t be carried off the field and lay on the hard ground crying out for their mothers. Such a horrible night!) Doctors patched up the hole in David’s forehead with a piece of silver—who could’ve imagined such a thing could be done? They sent him home with his old skull bone in his pocket, which he continued to keep in the house. Where? Under a bed? In a chest? In a shelf by the door? Chevalier de Chastellux was impressed with David’s “piece of his skull, which his wife brought to show me.” He considered the skull bone to be David’s medal.
David and Polly Steele appeared to the Frenchmen as simple, rustic people, similar perhaps to European peasantry but with the distinctly American sensibility of independence and self-reliance. True Americans but also uneducated tavern-keepers—while he was a distinguished man of letters. Did Polly sense his condescension?
A typical log cabin tavern in the Shenandoah Valley
Polly might’ve been a backwoods woman, but she hailed from a prosperous landowning family of proud Scots-Irish descent. As a young girl, Polly’s paternal grandmother, Isabel Baxter, had witnessed the siege of Londonderry in 1689. Polly and her siblings grew up hearing stories about fellow Protestants in Londonderry who were driven to take refuge under the walls of the city during the siege. Some died from starvation with “tufts of grass in their mouths.” After years of political and economic strife in Ireland, seven Moore brothers, including Polly’s grandfather, Andrew Moore, set off from Londonderry for the colonies, settling first in Pennsylvania.
Siege of Londonderry
Andrew and Isabel Baxter Moore immigrated again to the Shenandoah Valley with most of their ten children, including my ancestor, David Moore, Polly’s father.
David Moore was about the same age as David Steele, the first of my line of Steeles to immigrate to the Valley. They had to know each other. The Valley wasn’t that big. They probably knew each other in Pennsylvania. Perhaps their families journeyed together to the Valley. Two of David Moore’s brothers, William and John, married into the Steele family. The families may have been neighbors in Ireland. The Moore and Steele families could’ve been tied together for centuries. Then my ancestors, David and Polly Moore Steele, were hardly strangers when they married.
David Moore and his wife, Mary Evans, raised Polly and her siblings at Cannicello, the family farm located near Vesuvius in Rockbridge County not far from Steeles Tavern. I can’t find the exact location of Cannicello, but you can visit Vesuvius today. The name “Vesuvius” could’ve been inspired by the family smelting furnace, don't you think?
Captain David Moore’s sons, Polly’s brothers, became soldiers during the American Revolution. One son worked alongside the Founding Fathers as a politician—Andrew Moore, the ratifier!
Gen 1. Andrew Moore and Isabel BaxterGen.
Gen 2. David Moore and Mary EvansGen.
Gen 3. Andrew Moore and Sarah (Sally) Reid
and also Mary (Polly) Moore who married David Steele
On the day when Chevalier de Chastellux made his judgmental observations about Polly’s rustic lifestyle, her brother, Captain Andrew Moore, was serving as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Take that, you snob!
Andrew Moore joined the militia to serve with Daniel Morgan in the Continental Army. As part of Morgan’s select corp, known as Morgan’s Rangers, Captain Andrew Moore witnessed the humbling of the British at Saratoga in the fall of 1777.
Did Polly mention her brother to François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux? I don't think so. The Frenchman would’ve found the connection between Captain Andrew Moore and the (probably) barefoot miller/tavern owner’s wife too surprising a tidbit not to slip into his travel journal to amuse his more sophisticated friends back home. On the day of the Frenchman’s visit, even Polly didn’t know that her big brother, Andrew, would have such a distinguished political career. Although he was a Virginia delegate when the Frenchman dined on her hoecakes, Polly didn’t know that Andrew would become part of the 1788 Virginia Convention where he would vote for the ratification of the Federal Constitution. She didn’t know that he would be commissioned brigadier general, then major general of the Virginia Militia. She didn’t know that brother Andrew would be elected to the First Congress and serve throughout Washington’s administrations alongside James Madison, whose positions he supported. She didn’t know he would one day return to serve in the Senate during Jefferson’s time in office. But maybe she wasn’t surprised since he was her big brother and she knew his potential.
Ratify the Constitution? Serve in Congress? Now that’s just plain COOL! To be truly compelling, history should always have a personal angle, don’t you think? Great-great-great-great Uncle Andrew Moore ratified the constitution! He was a congressman and senator! How impressive! And for my purposes, how convenient! Now I can pull up a private chair and look through the window of Polly Moore’s family to view the unfolding of America.Thank you, Uncle Andrew!
But who was this Andrew Moore? I snooped around to discover that as a young man, Moore sought adventure, embarking for the West Indies. During the voyage, his ship was overtaken by a storm, and he ended up on a deserted island. I’m not making this up! The shipwrecked party lived on reptiles. Even as an old man, Andrew remembered the unpleasant taste of these lizards. After he was rescued, he gave up on ocean-going vessels and turned his adventurous spirit to soldiering.
Uncle Andrew wasn’t just any soldier. Early on, he raised a company of riflemen from Augusta County. These hardy, young sharpshooters were participating in a log-rolling contest in Moore’s neighborhood. In log-rolling contests, two men stand on each end of a free-floating log in a body of water, in this case, a river in Rockbridge County. The competitors try to stay on the log while attempting to make their opponent fall off. They try to make their opponent fall off by kicking the log or sprinting so that the log rolls fast—thus the name of the contest. On the particular day of this log-rolling contest, Andrew, fresh from log-rolling victory, successfully coaxed nineteen of his fellow log-rolling companions into enlisting in the Colonial forces. This company of sharpshooting, backwoods, log-rolling boys became part of Morgan’s Rangers and helped to secure a victory at the Battle of Saratoga, which turned out to be a pivotal confrontation with the British.
Morgan’s Riflemen were probably the most famous of the sharpshooting rangers in the war. Years before Chevalier de Chastellux visited David and Polly Moore Steele, Morgan’s spirited rangers, including Polly’s brother, Andrew, had already become icons of the American Revolution. Their illustrious leader, Daniel Morgan, was one of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the Revolutionary War. His company of marksmen employed guerrilla fighting tactics to hassle the enemy during battles and also behind the lines. During the Revolution, battle tactics remained traditionally European with both sides fighting in line formations, exchanging volleys of musket fire and then stabbing each other with bayonets. Both armies also employed cavalry, equipped with pistols and swords, and stationary artillery like cannons. New to America—and greatly annoying to the British—were the sharpshooters who hid on the sidelines and picked off enemy targets using long rifles with twice the range of a typical soldier’s musket.
The innovative long rifle was the weapon of choice of backwoodsmen. These beautifully handcrafted rifles (David Steele carved wooden rifle butts) were a new-and-improved version of a gun brought to the colonies by German immigrants. The slender, small-bore American gun was designed with grooves to spin the ball, greatly improving accuracy. Andrew Moore and his log-rolling compatriots grew up shooting this long rifle (also known as a Kentucky rifle or Pennsylvania rifle), a superior weapon for hunting in the backwoods. They also used these guns as members of the militia. Members of the militia learned guerrilla tactics from their native enemies, such as the Shawnee. When the call came to fight the British, Moore and his backwoods friends proved to be perfectly suited as expert long-range shooters and unconventional soldiers.
Daniel Morgan knew how to put an experienced riflemen’s talent to good use. His men had to pass a test of superb marksmanship before they were accepted into his radical-fighting troop. During battles, they harassed the British from the sidelines. Off the battlefield, they wore down the enemy forces using pesky hit-and-run tactics to harass and destroy supply lines. Because reloading the rifle proved laborious, sharpshooters remained restricted to rough country, always keeping open a line of retreat.
Now we can picture what kind of guy Captain Andrew Moore must’ve been when he rode with Morgan.
Daniel Morgan
In the fall of 1777, the Continental Army under Horatio Gates forced the surrender of a British army at Saratoga, New York. Andrew Moore was with Morgan’s Rangers. Before the battle, Morgan’s riflemen launched attacks on native tribes allied with the British. During the battle, Morgan’s men drove back an advanced British unit, and later on, they attacked the enemy from the right flank, helping the American forces to secure a victory that resulted in a formal alliance with the French. Morgan’s Rangers have been credited with forcing the British retreat at Saratoga.
Surrender at Saratoga
After Saratoga, the British turned their attention to the southern colonies. In response, General Green gave Morgan and his men the job of harassing the enemy in the backcountry of South Carolina. The British Legion under the notorious Colonel Tarleton (the bad guy who tried to kill my ancestor, David Steele) tried to track Morgan down, but Morgan surprised everyone by deciding to change tactics and face Tarleton. Morgan made a stand on land north of the town of Cowpens, South Carolina.
During the ensuing battle on January 17, 1881, Morgan devised one of the most successfully executed pincer movements in modern military history, considered by many to be the tactical masterwork of the Revolutionary War. (A pincer movement is when troops attack both of the enemy’s flanks at the same time.) The British army retreated.
From Steele Bone @ Guilford; January 27, 2019: Morgan's strategic plan at Cowpens took advantage of the longer range and accuracy of the Virginia riflemen who he positioned in the front line with other skirmishers, followed by the militia in the second line, with the regulars, the professionally trained soldiers, on top of a hill in the third line. After firing, the first two units withdrew, inviting a premature charge from the British that resulted in attacks from all sides, trapping the enemy.
Why was Morgan’s success at the Battle of Cowpens important? The success at Cowpens gave the American forces renewed confidence. Ordinary soldiers began to believe they might win the war.
Tarleton had met Morgan at Cowpens with 1,000 British troops but escaped the field with only 200 men. He was still nursing his anger two months later when he met the colonials again at the Battle of Guilford (which the British won but without gusto). After the surrender at Guilford, Tarleton turned against the defeated colonials, striking down men like my ancestor, David Steele.
Banastre Tarleton
Andrew Moore wasn’t present at the Battle of Guilford to help his wounded brother-in-law, David Steele. He’d left off soldering after Saratoga to become a member of the House of Delegates for Virginia. The war soon found him again. On April 18, 1781, Jefferson was informed that fourteen enemy vessels were moving up the James River toward Richmond. Help! To evade the British, the Virginia General Assembly moved the government to Charlottesville. But on the morning of June 4, news arrived that the British were headed toward Charlottesville. Run! David Steele’s nemesis Tarleton had set out to capture Governor Jefferson and the legislature, including Andrew Moore. His plans were foiled! Whew! Jefferson and the assemblymen left for Staunton, thirty miles north of Steele Tavern.
Andrew Moore no doubt visited his family in Steeles Tavern to reassure them of his safety—and rail against the infamous Tarleton with his brother-in-law, David Steele, who was still recovering from the wounds he received at Guilford.
Seven years would pass before Andrew Moore helped to ratify the Constitution.
The Constitutional Convention convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787. (Andrew Moore didn’t attend.) After three months of debates, moderated by a resolute but gentlemanly George Washington, delegates signed a document for the newly independent United States that stipulated a strong federal government with a system of checks and balances. To be binding, this document had to be ratified by at least nine states.
Constitutional Convention
The Virginia Ratifying Convention met in 1788 to reject or accept the United States Constitution. The 168 delegates at the Convention, including Andrew Moore, deliberated in Richmond through June. Unlike the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, the Virginia Ratifying Convention was open to the public. Crowds filled the galleries of the New Academy on Shockhoe Hill, pushing into the largest room in the city that could accommodate big groups of people. The public remained keenly interested in the proceedings. Some of those who couldn’t fit into the large room demonstrated in the streets. Newspapers turned out accounts of the proceedings along with peppery commentaries.
There was a lot of arguing. Those in favor of a strong federal government became known as Federalists. The Anti-Federalists, so named by their opponents, argued that they were the true Federalists since they sought to secure the best interest of the average person. The majority of the population lived outside cities and earned a living by working the land. The Anti-Federalists believed that the Federalists represented the interest of the upper classes at the expense of these ordinary people.
Anti-Federalists had the oratorical advantage with Patrick Henry. Henry believed that the rights of the individual would be threatened by the new Constitution. Henry and the Anti-federalists argued that the position of the president might evolve into a monarchy, the judiciary might spin out of control, and that a national government couldn’t possibly be close enough to the people to respond to local needs. Henry and the Anti-Federalist contingency began to insist that the Constitution needed amendments in the form of a Bill of Rights.
Patrick Henry
James Madison led those in favor of ratification (with support from Andrew Moore). The united confederation of states had served a purpose during the revolutionary years, but a new government was needed now. Relying on negotiations among states could never be efficient. Confederations brought "anarchy and confusion,” and invited foreign invasion. With a strong federal government, states could still retain powers because the House of Representatives would be chosen by citizens from each state. The Senate would be selected by state legislatures. The proposed Constitution created a republic with each branch of government grounded in the people. Maddison kept assuring the delegates that the Constitution limited the national government to specified powers.
James Madison
Throughout the month, delegates changed sides. Andrew Moore heard the debates and sided with Madison. Believing that the existing confederation of states might destroy the Union, Edmund Randolph began urging ratification. George Mason countered that a consolidated government would burden Virginians with direct taxes in addition to state taxes, and derail liberty. George Washington supported a strong federal government, and many former officers of the Continental Army aligned with Washington out of loyalty. But Patrick Henry remained hostile to the Constitution. He would later refuse to join the new government, turning down offers to serve as a justice of the Supreme Court and Secretary of State.
Under George Wythe’s leadership, Federalists became better organized than the Anti-Federalists and that gave them an advantage. Andrew Moore worked alongside George Wythe. He'd studied law with Wythe at William and Mary. Wythe remained highly respected among the delegates. He'd mentored John Marshall, Henry Clay, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson.
George Wythe
Reports that most Virginians were siding with the Anti-Federalists didn’t sway the eventual outcome. Sent to Richmond with a mandate from his constituency to vote against ratification, Andrew Moore aligned with Madison and voted to ratify the Constitution. His vote came as no surprise since his constituency suspected that he'd probably disobey them. His decision to vote for ratification didn’t hurt his political career. At the next election, Uncle Andrew Moore returned to the House of Delegates, voted in by a large majority of citizens from Rockbridge County.
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut quickly voted to ratify the Constitution, but some states refused to sign, insisting on clarification of states rights and better protection for freedom of speech, religion, and the press. After assurances that proposals for amendments would soon follow, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina voted for ratification, followed by New Hampshire.
Virginia voted for ratification after the requisite nine states had already voted. The Anti-Federalists couldn’t prevent the adoption of the Constitution, but their efforts led to the Bill of Rights. Madison, a Federalist, led the First Congress in sending the Bill of Rights to the states for additional ratification.
Citizens across the country remained aware of the ratification proceedings. Pamphlets and newspapers kept people informed. As tavern keepers, Polly and David kept up with every passing traveler who carried news about the debates. They would’ve been expected to convey this news to family members and neighbors. Everyone who lived near Steeles Tavern could’ve come to the tavern to find out the news.
Celebrations must’ve occurred at the tavern when Andrew Moore returned to Steeles Tavern after the ratification of the Constitution. Perhaps there was even some log-rolling in Steele's Run, the creek that meanders through the property. But no libations since the tavern served none!
Interior of a typical tavern
Someone like me who’s curious about the stories connected to her ancestors can find a wealth of information by tapping into broader historical accounts. When I learned that Andrew Moore voted with Madison during his time in the Virginia House of Delegates and United States Congress, I realized that I could discover where Andrew Moore stood on many pertinent issues of his day. I also found Moore’s voting record. As a result, I know Moore and my extended family a little better now. Thank you, James Madison!
After much thought, Madison concluded that America needed a strong federal government to help regulate the state legislatures and create a better system for raising federal money. But he felt the government should be established with a system of checks and balances so that no branch could dominate another. Madison’s “Virginia Plan” detailed a government with three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. This plan formed the basis of the United States Constitution. During the years after ratification, Madison sought to uphold the Constitution, preserve the balance of power between the branches of government, and assert states rights unless otherwise indicated by the Constitution.
Uncle Andrew Moore championed Madison’s positions.
Madison championed the separation of church and state, as did Moore. When religious dissenters like Moore joined forces with Virginia gentlemen like Jefferson and Madison, who were committed to ideas about individualism and toleration, the political tide began to turn away from the tidewater elites (like my mother’s side of the family who were wealthy Episcopalians). As a result, the government of Virginia no longer supported a state-sponsored church.
Madison insisted on adhering to the stipulations of the Constitution, including the stated restrictions of federal powers. As a lawyer, Andrew Moore certainly agreed.
Madison considered a string of measures adopted by the Adams administration to be a corruption of the framer’s original intentions. He was alarmed by what he perceived to be a shift in the interpretation of the Constitution under Adams. Madison asserted, for instance, that Congress didn’t have the authority to deport friendly aliens, nor did the president.
Don’t these issues sound familiar? Is this history so very far away from our times? Is Uncle Andrew Moore a dusty relic of a forgotten era, or a pertinent political figure for the concerns of our day? I think Uncle Andrew deserves to be dusted off.
Andrew Moore entered the Virginia Assembly in 1799 to help secure passage of Madison’s Virginia Resolutions in opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts—laws that made deporting foreigners easier (and increased the power of the federal government and the presidency). The Alien and Sedition Acts were signed into law by President John Adams in 1798 and passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress as America prepared for war with France. The new laws mandated that residency requirements for American citizenship be increased from five to fourteen years. Although a Federalist during ratification, Madison sought to defend the Constitution as written. He drafted the Virginia Resolutions, a political statement that positioned the legislature against the Alien and Sedition Acts, finding the laws unconstitutional. Negative reaction to the Alien and Sedition Acts helped contribute to the Democratic-Republican victory in the 1800 elections, paving the way for Jefferson’s election (and Andrew Moore’s entrance into the United States Senate).
Some of the founding fathers were for selective immigration, even though their opinions weren’t codified into law. They couldn’t imagine trying to keep people out of America, but they believed that citizenship shouldn’t be offered to every immigrant. Madison introduced the first bill in Congress intended to facilitate immigration, but he insisted that anyone coming permanently to America should be the “worthy part of mankind.” Like Adams, Washington, and Jefferson, James Madison didn’t think the government should encourage "emigrants, unless it be in cases where they may bring with them some special addition to our stock of arts or articles of culture.”
Then who should become a citizen? According to Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Miller was an example of a special artisan craftsman who should be admitted to the United States. Joseph Miller came to the attention of Andrew Moore through a letter from Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had appointed Andrew Moore as federal marshal for the state of Virginia. Then he asked Moore for a personal favor. (Is that legit?) In a letter to Moore, Jefferson shared the story of his friend, Joseph Miller, who’d helped Jefferson to establish a brewery at Monticello. He also taught Jefferson’s slave, Peter Hemmings, how to brew beer. Now that’s a man worth recruiting to American!
From Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Moore: “… having become intimate in my family…I feel an interest for his success, and have the most perfect confidence in his honesty and sincere dispositions towards our country, and shall therefore be gratified by any indulgence which your duty may permit you to extend to him…” As a federal marshal working under the 1798 Alien Act, Andrew Moore could grant visitors to the country a monthly permit, waiving the standing requirement of his office to remove enemy aliens (like anyone from Britain) from the coast. Andrew Moore agreed to extend the favor to Jefferson but informed Jefferson that the permit he’d sent out was contingent on Miller behaving himself.
Soliciting favors worked both ways for Andrew Moore since at least on one occasion he asked George Washington for help. In September 1789, Andrew Moore wrote to Washington to put forth a cousin, Col. John Steele who he said was “well qualified to fill such an office.” Steele had served in the Ninth Virginia Regiment. “He has been high in the Estimation of his Acquaintances—not only in the Army But in private life…” As for character references, he referred George Washington to Colonel Grayson, General Matthews, and General Muhlenburgh. Moore candidly told Washington that the reason he was suggesting John Steele for the job was that Steele’s present situation wasn’t as comfortable “as I think his Merits Entitle him to.”
While brother Andrew busied himself shaping the new government and receiving and handing out favors from the higher-ups, Polly remained in the Valley nursing her invalid husband, David, and helping him to run the tavern and mill in Steeles Tavern, while also raising three children, Jennie, Polly and John. But Polly didn’t come into her marriage penniless. Polly’s father, David Moore, left Polly an inheritance in the form of continuing profits from a family still, which is interesting since Polly’s brother, William, claimed he “never drank a pint of spirits in the whole course of his life,” and according to the writer, Chevalier de Chastellux, Polly and David served no liquor in their tavern.
Polly named one of her daughters after her sister, Jennie. I want to keep mentioning the women because otherwise they’ll be lost to the scuttlebutt of history. Polly and Jennie weren’t ratifier’s of the Constitution but they lived big lives, albeit in seemingly smaller ways. The ratifier Andrew Moore married Sally Reid. Since I’m trying to include the women, let’s mention her too. Sally Reid was the daughter of Magdalen McDowell who was the daughter of Samuel McDowell, a member of the House of Burgesses and the Revolutionary conventions. I can’t seem to mention a woman without tracing her back to a man.
I can’t seem to mention a woman without tracing her forward to a man either. Andrew Moore and Sally Reid Moore’s son, Samuel Moore, was elected to the Twenty-third Congress from 1833-1835. Years later, he became a delegate to the secession convention in 1861 and served in the Confederate States Army like most of the men in my family.
Polly Moore Steele remained in Steeles Tavern while her extended family fought wars, entered politics and settled the West. I’m continually interested in the differing roles of men and women in our collective past and how these roles determine our memories. History often keeps to the political arena and so the lives of women are forgotten. But women have been the keepers of family histories, writing personal stories in letters and journals (if the women could write) while men recorded commerce, battles, and politics. No one passed down to me that Andrew Moore ratified the Constitution. Did the women find that family tidbit of little interest? I knew about David Steele’s hole-in-the-head because frankly, that’s too juicy a morsel to leave out of a family saga. I was aware that a lot of the men fought in various battles, mostly because they had “Captain” or “Lieutenant” in front of their names. John Steele’s wife, Eliza, is reported by women in the family to have fed General Green’s troops during the Revolution, but no official record remains of that incident.
Discovering that General Andrew Moore served in Congress throughout Washington’s Administration personalizes those early years of American history for me. Careful research has brought the women into the picture. The men making our laws had long family sagas that played into their causes--family tales that included both women and men. Andrew Moore probably fought harder for the separation of church and state because his dissenter grandparents were chased out of Ireland by the British. He championed immigrants because his entire family had to emigrate. His role in history-making was personal. History is always personal.
Then why does it so often feel remote? If as a young student, I’d been exposed to Moore’s role as a ratifier of the Constitution, I’m sure I would’ve been more interested in Virginia history. Even now, whenever the lives of my forebears burst through historical events, I sit up and take notice. Not just because they’re my relatives—although the personal approach certainly plays a part in keeping me interested—but because I’ve begun to see the American narrative as composed of a collection of personal stories. Even now, my current story is being grafted into a continuously unfolding tale.
Great-grandfather, Walter Searson and siblings/Great-grandparents, Walter Searson and Irene Steele Searson and their children/Grandmother, Edith Steele Searson Hawpe and sisters/my father, Kemper Hawpe/my granddaughter, Annabelle/ me and some of my family
We are truly The People, the subjects of our own story, and as such we are the keepers of our defining memories, memories that do not belong to the dusty realms of the past. The stories of our foremothers and forefathers remain with us in our day-to-day lives as anyone who listens to the news today can attest. We’re still debating the extent of federal powers, aren’t we? We certainly can’t agree on which political party champions the ordinary citizen. We don’t agree on what to do with people who want to immigrate to America. We’re still arguing about the limits of church and state.
What would Andrew Moore make of these continued discussions? Did he think the arguments would end after the signing of the Constitution? Would the ratifiers of the Constitution be surprised to find that their debates have lasted over two-hundred-and-thirty years?
Long debates are exhausting!
The men who entered the political arena back then returned home to rest. At home, they found their attention drawn to mundane matters—to the farm or their trade, their communities, their home, and family. We might say they fought a war and engaged in political skirmishes so that they could go home again.
John Steele's home in Steeles Tavern
Back home they’d often find someone like Polly Moore Steele, who nursed an invalid husband while raising three children and helping out her extended kin. Even though I’m delighted to have a ratifier in my family tree, my mind and heart keep returning to Polly. I feel I owe her a debt. At home in Steeles Tavern, Polly made her famous butter, grilled hoecakes, wove sheep’s wool and sewed garments, boiled fat for soap and made candles out of tallow, assisted women friends in the throes of labor, attended church and helped to bury the dead. Her story is a quiet one but I hope she won’t be forgotten.
A young pioneer girl like Polly Moore Steele
Sources
Travels in North-America, in the years 1780-81-82
by Chastellux, François Jean, marquis de, 1734-1788; Grieve, George, 1748-1809; Washington, George, 1732-1799
https://archive.org/details/marquistravels00chasrich/page/n6
The Steeles of Steeles Tavern, Augusta Co. Virginia and Related Families by Mildred S. Goeller
The_Steeles_of_Steeles_Tavern_Augusta_Co._Virginia_and_Related_Families (14).pdf
Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse
by Lawrence E. Babits and Joshua B. Howard
The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas
by John Buchanan
"Many Were Sore Chased
And Some Cut Down"
Fighting Cornwallis with the Rockbridge Militia
by Odell McGuire, © Oct '95
"You're Doing It Wrong: Cornbread" by Emily Horton; July 2, 2014 (Slate)
"Working butter with wooden paddles," Buley, The Old Northwest, p. 217
"Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871" by Joseph A. Waddell
https://archive.org/stream/annalsofaugustac00wadd/annalsofaugustac00wadd_djvu.txt
The Rifle in the American Revolution by John W. Wright [courtesy: American Historical Review, Jan.1924; vol.29, no.2, pp.293-299]
Daniel Morgan:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Morgan
"Daniel Morgan and His Riflemen" by Gerardo Rodriguez
https://gerardorodriguezhistory1301.weebly.com/
http://tangledrootsandtrees.blogspot.com/2018/02/morgans-rifle-corps-travel-north-to.html
Books on Daniel Morgan:
The Life of General Daniel Morgan by James Graham, published in 1859
Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life by Albert Louis Zambone; Battle of Cowpens: Primary & Contemporary Accountsby Morgan Daniel, Greene Nathanael, et al. | Jun 1, 2019
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Saratoga
Books on Saratogo:
Sergeant Lamb's America by Robert Graves
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution (The American Revolution Series Book 2)
by Nathaniel Philbrick
About religious disenters:
https://books.google.com/books?id=gPwJAwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA57&lpg=RA1-PA57&dq=Andrew+Moore+and+Morgan%27s+Rifle+Corps&source=bl&ots=32XJN3qsvL&sig=ACfU3U1dE_kOrolFE-xcK4FevCSCxmiHrA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSz9SFsq7jAhU4JzQIHS9rDqgQ6AEwCXoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=Andrew%20Moore%20and%20Morgan's%20Rifle%20Corps&f=false
The Founders of Washington College
Historical Papers
Washington and Lee University, p. 56-62
Siege of Derry 1689: The Military History Kindle Edition
by Richard Doherty
"Virginia militia in the Revolutionary War : McAllister's data”
https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/An_act_for_regulating_and_disciplining_the_Militia_May_5_1777
https://books.google.com/books?id=LHkDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Virginia+militia+in+1803&source=bl&ots=E5otT-cdTK&sig=ACfU3U3YYOwQAHnYfVvv7fF4Q2Y1qUDsWA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ0N3N7K7jAhViB50JHbVdAII4MhDoATAFegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=Andrew%20Moore&f=false
p12
https://www.history.org/foundation/journal/autumn04/soldier.cfm
Christopher Geist, professor emeritus at Ohio's Bowling Green State University, contributed an article on the occupation of Williamsburg to the spring 2004 journal.
"A Common American Soldier" by Christopher Geist
https://www.historyisfun.org/yorktown-victory-center/militia-in-the-revolutionary-war/
Edward Ayres, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Historian
Madison on free speech:
https://firstamendmentwatch.org/history-speaks-james-madisons-report-virginia-house-delegates-1800/
Andrew Moore to James Madison, September 14, 1800.
https://www.loc.gov/item/mjm013401/
Annals of the Congress of the United States, Volume 2; Volume 6
records voting record of Andrew Moore
https://books.google.com/books?id=Dc4fTTcBHOcC&pg=PA1667&lpg=PA1667&dq=James+Madison+and+Andrew+Moore&source=bl&ots=6c_yvRq2eP&sig=ACfU3U28NnitbA2Xzi0x08JF6azVw6Dndw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvjv6mmbHjAhUIOs0KHSgfAZ84ChDoATAAegQICBAB#v=onepage&q=James%20Madison%20and%20Andrew%20Moore&f=false
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-04-02-0031
To George Washington from Andrew Moore about John Steele
17 September 1789
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Samuel L. Campbell and Andrew Moore to George Washington, November 14, 1798
“Washington Academy” as Moore calls it
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw4.113_0532_0534/?sp=1
Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical by William Henry Foote
https://archive.org/details/sketchesvirgini00footgoog/page/n9
A History of the Valley of Virginia, by Samuel Kercheval, Winchester, Samuel H. Davies, 1833