566 APPENDIX. 



but as preparations could not then be made for trial, the case was con- 

 tinued until the next sessions. 



" In the following May a battalion of militia, which had been organ- 

 ized by Benjamin Elliott, Lieutenant of the county, was ordered to 

 assemble in Hartslog valley. Some of the riotous element was present, 

 and after falling into ranks made an objection to mustering under 

 Colonel Cannan and Major Spencer, two field officers who had been 

 commissioned when the battalion belonged to Bedford county, and 

 who, it was alleged, had not been fairly elected — Colonel Woods, then 

 lieutenant of that county, having obtained the return of such men as 

 pleased himself. An assault was made upon Colonel Elliott, and he re- 

 ceived many severe blows from several persons. A friend of his who 

 undertook to protect him and restore order, was treated in the same 

 violent manner. Elliott, in an account of this affair, says that ' they 

 met, some for the purpose of doing their duty, and others for the pur- 

 pose of making a riot, which they effected, about the Federal govern- 

 ment, in which riot I was very ill used by a senseless banditti, who 

 were inflamed by a number of false publications privately circulated by 

 people who were enemies of the Federal government.' 



"A commander was then selected for the battalion, who, according 

 to previous arrangement, ordered that all who were unwilling to serve 

 under the field officers heretofore named should withdraw from the 

 ranks. More than one-third of those in line marched out and formed a 

 new line in front of the rest. Colonel Elliott and the field officers, 

 finding that the roll could not be called, and that to remain longer 

 would be unavailing, retired from the field, accompanied by that part 

 of the battalion which had shown a disposition to render obedience to 

 those who had a right to command them. 



"A few days afterwards warrants were issued by Thomas Duncan 

 Smith, one of the justices, for the arrest of three of the leaders in this 

 demonstration. The prisoners were taken by the constable before 

 Thomas McCune, another justice, who merely required them to enter 

 into their own recognizances for their appearance in five days before 

 Justice Smith. In the meantime they gathered a large force of men, 

 and when they came before the justice on the day appointed, his office 

 was instantly filled by the crowd. They refused to give bail, and in- 

 sisted that they should be committed. As he was aware of their designs, 

 and as he was unwilling to give them a pretext for the commission of 

 further outrages, he declined to comply with their request. There was, 

 besides, no safe prison in the county, none having been yet erected. 

 He reminded them of this, that the jail was but a 'block house,' and 

 told them that, as two of them were owners of real estate, and that as it 



