The Strouds in the Civil War

 Two members of our Stroud family served in the American Civil War, both in the Confederate Army, and both in Arkansas units. John P. Stroud, and his nephew; Isham A. Stroud. 

John Perkins Stroud was born in Clark County, Arkansas, on August 8, 1819. By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he was 40 years old and had settled his family in Sevier County, Arkansas. 

Lt. John P. Stroud pictured here with his officers sword and wearing a militia battle shirt while still in the Arkansas State Troops.

On May 16th, 1861, John P. Stroud enlisted in Company H, 5th Infantry Regiment, Arkansas State Troops where he would attain the rank of 1st Lieutenant. In August of 1861 he participated in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, one of the first major battles of the war. 

The Arkansas State Troops were an Arkansas State Militia unit and, as it became evident that the war would not be a short one, the various State Militia units began to absorb themselves into the regular Confederate Army. By mid September 1861 the 5th Arkansas State Troops were mustered out. 

Confederate Service Records for John Perkins Stroud 

On November 8, 1861, John P. Stroud enlisted in Company F, 19th Arkansas Infantry Regiment where, on December 1, 1861, he was appointed wagon master. The 19th took part in the Battles' of Elkhorn Tavern, March 7th,1862, and Arkansas Post, January 11th, 1863. At Arkansas Post half of the 19th was captured. John Stroud was not captured. The remaining 19th was consolidated with portions of the 24th Arkansas and formed Dawson Hardy's Regiment. It is unclear as to where John Stroud was reassigned. Capt. McKean Returned home and raised Company H, of the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry. The 3rd operated in Arkansas and Missouri until the end of the War. It is suspected that John Stroud followed Capt. Mckean. Pension records show that John served to the end of the War.

John Stroud lived for another decade after the war and died on February 12, 1875. He is buried in Stroud Cemetery, Sebastian County, Arkansas. 

Isham A. Stroud. 

Isham A. Stroud Confederate service record 

Isham A. Stroud was born in Clark County, Arkansas in 1840.  He was 20 years old when the Civil War started. He enlisted in the 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles on July 27th, 1861. He appears as “absent without leave” on the December 1861 muster roll. He was later promoted to Corporal on November 10th, 1862, and was shortly after again marked as “absent without leave” on December 27th, 1862. He was, however, marked as present for the January and February 1863 rolls. In October of 1863 he was detailed to provost guard. According to muster rolls Isham A. Stroud deserted the Confederate Army on January 8th, 1864. 

February 1864 muster roll listing Isham A. Stroud as a deserter. 

Little is known about Isham A. Stroud after the war. If you or a family member have more information on him please email the author of this blog. 

The Strouds Come to Texas

 The earliest member of our Stroud Family to arrive in Texas was Isham L. Stroud, who moved with his wife Emily to Bell County, Texas, in 1852. Isham Strouds siblings all remained in Arkansas, but his nephews Richard H. Stroud (1860-1935) and James C. Stroud (1872-1958) had both settled in Fannin County, Texas, by the late 1890’s. 

Isham Louis Stroud (also spelled "Isom") was born at Arkansas Post in 1814 and grew up in Crittenden, Clark County, Arkansas working on his fathers farm until the age of 26. After marrying Emily Gallihar in Clark County in 1851 Isham moved his family to Texas, where many in the Stroud family still reside today after 6generations.

Isham Stroud moved his family to Texas shortly after his marriage to Emily. The very next year he appears in the 1852 Bell County, Texas, Tax Records. His son William Riley Stroud was born there on August 31, 1856. Isham and Emily settled the family near Belton, Bell County, Texas, and started a cattle farm. Isham Stroud is listed as a "Stock Raiser" in the 1860 US Census. Here they would have three more children; Nancy Caroline Stroud born September 3rd 1858, James Asher Stroud born 1862, and Emily Adelia Stroud born 1869.

By 1880 Isham Stroud had settled his family in McCulloch County, Texas, near Brady City, now known as Brady. Isham is listed as living in Brady City in the 1880 US Census and is listed as a Farmer while his two sons William and James are listed as Cattle Herdsmen.

Brady City was settled in the 1870's. It had a Post Office by 1876 and became the seat of McColluch County government in 1878. The primary occupation in Brady City was raising stock, and local ranchers in Brady City drove their cattle to Kansas on the Western Trail. The Western Trail was one of the last old-time Texas Cattle trails, al trails east having been fenced of by this time. Large numbers of cattle were driven up the Western Trail between 1876 and 1886, including over 200,000 head ni 1881 alone. Because Isham Stroud was a Stock Raiser and his sons Cattle Herdsmen living in Brady City during this time, though no direct evidence exists today, it is very likely that the Strouds drove cattle on the Western Trail through to the mid 1880's. Isham himself may or may not have done the trail, being 6 years old in 1880, but his young sons William (23) and James (18) almost certainly would have.

(Above Image) Cattlemen near Alpine, Texas, in 1916. James Asher Stroud is pictured furthest on the right.

The death of Isham Stroud is, perhaps, one of the biggest mystery's of my entire research of our Stroud Family in America. No recorded grave, death certificate, obituary, or any other evidence of his death appears to exist today. The last record of Isham Stroud appears to be the 1884 McColuch County Tax Records. One year later in 1885 his son William Riley Stroud appears ni the McColuch Co. Tax Records with no sign of Isham Stroud. William Riley was in Callahan County Texas by 1890, with no sign of Isham Stroud after examining tax records. His son James Asher Stroud was in Brewster County Texas by 1881, also with no sign of Isham Stroud in Brewster County records. It is most likely that Isham died in, or shortly after, 1884. The lack of any evidence surrounding the death of Isham Stroud may indicate that he died on the Cattle Trail, perhaps somewhere between Texas and Kansas. If anyone has any information on the death or burial of Isham Stroud please contact the author of this blog. 

His wife Emily does not appear again until the 1900 US Census living in the home of her son-in-law Jim C McKinney, the husband of her daughter Margaret Gallihar, living in Fisher County, Texas. She appears there again ni the 1910 US Census, listed as 86 years old. Like her husband, no information on the exact date of death or burial can be found for Emily Stroud. The best estimate can only place her death between 1910 and 1920, when she no longer appears in census records.

Adam Stroud Jr, Pioneer of Arkansas

 Adam Stroud Jr. was only 7 years old when the Stroud Family migrated, along with several other families, to Monroe County, Illinois in 1797. He grew up on the Frontier in the New Design Colony where he acquired the skills of hunting and trapping. Shortly after the death of his father in 1804, Adam Jr. headed for the Louisiana Territory to what would later become the State of Arkansas. As a young man, somewhere between the age of 16 or 17, he set out down the Mississippi River. He followed the Mississippi south until its junction with the Arkansas River, which he likely followed west to Arkansas Post, a popular fur trading location on the Arkansas River.

By 1807 Adam Stroud had taken up residence at Arkansas Post and married Mary Ann Easley in 1811. Mary Easley was the daughter of Chloe Wade and Thomas W. Easley, a Revolutionary War veteran. Adam Stroud appears to have kept his residence at Arkansas Post through 1818 according to the work "Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas" by Josiah Shin. During this time, he made his living hunting and trapping the Arkansas wilderness for furs to trade at the post. Adam and Mary had five children while living at Arkansas Post; Nancy Stroud born 1807, Rebecca Stroud born 1810, Elisha Stroud born 1812, Isham Stroud born 1814, and Eliza Stroud born 1817.

(Above Image) an early trapper on the Arkansas River by historical artist David Wright. 

Adam appears to have done much hunting and trapping around the area that eventually became Clark County. In 1819 he moved his family west and settled about one mile east of what is now Hollywood, Clark Co., Arkansas. Adam Stroud's time and influence in Clark County is well documented by an article written by local historian Laverne Todd in the 2019 Journal of the Clark County Historical Association. Clark County was created in December of 1819; that year Arkansas officially became a U.S. Territory. The original County Seat was located at the home of Jacob Barkman on the Caddo River. As settlers pushed west, however, a more central location was desired. Adam Stroud, along with others, was influential in getting the location moved. Adam Stroud, John Wilson, and Thomas Fish were appointed by the Commissioners to choose a location to build a Courthouse and Jail. Here, Adam Stroud was to construct a building specified by the Clark County Circuit Court before July of 1822. According to Todd's article in the 2019 Journal of the Clark County Historical Association, a Circuit Court Record reads; 

"The building was to be twenty feet wide by twenty four feet long, to be hewn down and floor laid loosely down in the said building, and to make good and suitable doors and shutters and cover the said building with boards three feet long and a half feet to weather and board the cracks with boards, to the weather boarded at the gable ends, which building the said Stroud has bound himself to complete in the manor aforesaid."

(Above Image) excerpt from “The Arkansas Gazette”, December 4, 1827. 

(Above Image) historical marker located at the current Clark County Arkansas Courthouse. 

The Clark County Circuit Court first met in the home of Adam Stroud in March of 1822, with Judge Thomas Eskridge, presiding. By Fall of that year the new town had been laid off on lots by Adam Stroud, William Kelley, and John Butler. An advertisement for the sale of the lots appeared in the Arkansas Gazette on December 31, 1822. (See image below)

The town of Crittenden was named for Robert Crittenden, the first Territorial Secretary of Arkansas and acting Governor of the Arkansas Territory. Crittenden was never classified as a "town". According to Todd's article in the 2019 Journal the entire "town" of Crittenden consisted entirely of Adam Stroud's home and a few other buildings. Records state that Court was held in Adam Stroud's home as well as additional buildings on his property and that Stroud was compensated for the use of his property.

After settling in Crittenden Adam and Mary Stroud had three more children; John P. Stroud born 1819, Samuel R. Stroud born 1821, and Archnard H. Stroud born 1825. By 1830 Adam Stroud had a farm and was a slave owner. According to the 1830 U.S. Census he owned 3 slaves and by 1860 he apparently owned 9 slaves.

Crittenden remained the Seat of Government for Clark County until 1830 when it was moved to Greenville, approximately one mile west of present day Hollywood, and was later permanently moved to Arkadelphia. After the Seat of Government was moved, the town of Crittenden did not fare well, and would soon become a ghost town. By 1860 the town no longer appeared on State maps and all operations had been moved to nearby Hollywood.

Adam Stroud would live the rest of his life in the Crittenden area. He would become a notable character in early Clark County history and a successful farmer, tavern owner, road overseer, coroner, and, when the Post Office was moved to Crittenden in 1843, Adam Stroud was appointed Postmaster, a position he held until the Crittenden Post Office was discontinued in 1848. Crittenden's days were numbered and by the 1860's it no longer appeared on State maps and all operations had been moved to nearby Hollywood. Adam Stroud became such a well-known citizen that Thomas S Drew, appointed clerk of the Clark County Court in October 1823, and later elected Governor of Arkansas in 1844, felt inclined to include a sketch of Adam Stroud Jr in his papers and documents detailing many interesting facts about Clark County as mentioned in an article published in an Arkadelphia newspaper, "The Southern Standard", on January 11, 1889. And even today the small stream that runs through Hollywood bears the name "Stroud Creek".

Adams wife Mary passed away in December of 1850. Ten years later, in December of 1860, Adam Stroud passed away while living in the home of his son, Archnard, at the age of 70. According to FindaGrave.com Adam and Mary are buried in Alpine Cemetery, Alpine, Arkansas, a few miles north of Hollywood. Upon visiting the cemetery in 2020, however, no marker could be found. Many of the headstones were broken, worn beyond the point of reading, or just plain missing.

Their daughter Nancy married Josiah Tweedle and lived the rest of her life in Clark County. Their daughter Rebecca married Thomas Proctor, and later Josiah Little, and lived the rest of her life in Clark County. Their son Elisha married Delilah Huddleston and lived the rest of his life in Clark County. Their daughter Eliza married Archibald Rutherford and lived the rest of her life in Clark County. Their son John married Matilda Dollarhidex, and later Penelope White, and would serve as a Lieutenant in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, after which he would live the rest of his life in Arkansas. Their son Samuel married Mary Hasley and later Mary Huff and lived the rest of his life in Clark County. Their son Archnard would marry Sarah Wingfield and later Mary Davis and lived the rest of his life in Clark County.

Their son Isham, the next ancestor in our lineage, would work on his father's farm until the age of 26. On December 9th, 1841, he would marry Leanah B. Davis in Clark County. They had one child who died in infancy. There is no further record of Leanah Davis after the record of their marriage in the work "Arkansas Marriages; Early to 1850".

In 1851 he married Emily Gallahar born 1827 in Arkansas. They appear to have been married ni Clark County. By this time, they already had a daughter, Elizabeth Arkansas Stroud, born in 1847. Unlike all the rest of his siblings, Isham Stroud would not spend the rest of his life in Arkansas.

From Virginia to Illinois; Journey to New Design Colony.

 Upon moving to Hampshire County after the events of the Stroud Massacre in 1772, Adam Stroud seems to have met and married Eve Hand (born 1751). It is unclear who Eves parents were, though she is said to have been born in Virginia. No record exists confirming the exact date of their marriage, but they were apparently married by the birth of their first child in 1775. This child seems to have died in infancy. In 1776 they had a second child, Catherine Stroud, and in 1778 their third child, Rebecca Stroud. Both Catherine and Rebecca lived into adulthood. In 1780 they had a daughter named Betsy, and in 1782 they had another daughter named Polly, neither of whom appear to have survived into adulthood. No records exist confirming the exact dates or circumstances of their deaths. In 1784 they had their first son; Samuel Stroud.

In 1786 Hardy County was created from the area of Hampshire County where the Stroud Family had settled. In 1782 the Stroud Family is listed as living in Hampshire County in the work "Census Index: Colonial America 1607-1789". They are later listed as living in Hardy County in the work "Virginia Tax Payers 1782-1787". In 1790 Adam and Eve had a son; Adam Stroud Jr, their first child born in the newly created Hardy County. Later, in 1792 they had yet another daughter; Susan Stroud. In 1795 they had their ninth and final child; Peter Stroud. Of the nine children born to Adam and Eve Stroud only six appear to have reached adulthood; Catherine, Rebecca, Samuel, Adam Jr, Susan, and Peter.

In 1796 a Hardy County Baptist Minister by the name of David Badgley voyaged from Virginia to the "Illinois Country". There he established the first Protestant Church in the history of Illinois in a community called New Design situated four miles south of present-day Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois. After organizing the church at New Design, David Badgley returned to Hardy County, Virginia, to report to his friends and neighbors of the fertile country they had scouted and of the Church he had established. By the Spring of 1797 Reverend Badgley had convinced 154 people, including Adam Stroud and his family, to journey with him back to Illinois and the New Design Colony.

The journey of Reverend David Badgley and his fellow settlers from Virginia to Illinois is briefly mentioned in the work "The Pioneer History of Illinois", by John Reynolds. The most detailed account of this journey, however, can be found in the work "Foundations: a Baptist Journal of History and Theology" in a volume published in 1977 by Lyn Allison Yeager. The following narrative of the journey is derived from Yeagers account;

In the Spring of 1797, the group of 154 pioneers travelled by wagon, packhorse, and on foot, to Morgantown, Virginia, situated on the Monongahela River. From there they followed the Monongahela up to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, where they decided to have their flatboats manufactured. The Flatboat, also known as the "Kentucky Boat" or "Kentucky Flat", was the popular method of river transport at the time. They could range from 40 to 100 feet in length and usually were outfitted with a roofed shelter for protection from the elements for the passengers. The production of the groups flatboats in Brownsville took longer than expected and by May the group decided to set off in open, unfinished, Flatboats. They could wait no longer as they had to a lot themselves time to plow and plant crops by years end, and because navigation of the Ohio became more difficult after the Spring rainy season. Because the Flatboats had not been outfitted with roofed shelters the group had to endure wind, rain, and sun for the entire trip.

From Brownsville the pioneers floated the Monongahela River up to Pittsburg where it links with the Ohio River. They then floated the Ohio River for over 1,300 miles west to Fort Massac near modern day Metropolis, Illinois. Here they sold their flatboats and set out overland for the New Design Colony around 100 miles north. The overland trip took some three weeks to travel, during which time the group suffered a fever epidemic. According to the account; "Scarcely a family of all these immigrants but did not have to mourn the loss of one or more of its number." It is very possible that one or more of Adam and Eves daughters died on this voyage. They arrived at New Design in July of 1797, where David Badgley became the Pastor of the New Design Church.

(Above Image) Excerpt from “History of St. Clair County, Illinois” 

(Above Image) The Journey to New Design. 

Life in the New Design Colony was described as "genuinely pioneer." The Indians were a constant threat, and settlers had to build their new homes while guarding their families. They met in each other's cabins for Church services where the minister would preach dressed in "buckskin, with moccasins on his feet, shot pouch slung to his side and the ever-present rifle on his shoulder, and preached the Gospel to the few neighbors gathered inside the log cabin while others were stationed as pickets." It is here that Adam Stroud settled with his wife and four children on a tract of land in Monroe County near Fountain Creek.

Adam and Eves first daughter, Catherine Stroud, married Aaron Badgley, the son of Reverend David Badgley, on June 20*, 1799, in St. Clair County, Illinois. They settled near Belleville in St. Clair County, just north of Monroe County. Adam Stroud died in 1804, around the age of 65, in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois. His wife Eve died nine years later in 1813 in Monroe County, Illinois.

The following was written by Adam Badgley, son of Catherine Stroud, in the year of 1887, at age 78;

"The old folks names were Adam and Eve. They came from Virginia. They raised a family of 8: Adam, Samuel, Peter, Catherine (my mother), Rebecca, Susan, Poly and Betsy. They owned atract of land in the bottom of Monroe County North of Fountain Creek. They died there, then the children left there and went to Arkansas and never sold the land. I believe two of the heirs sold their undivided interest. The place has been sold for taxes time and again. His son Adam kept a Post Office somewhere in Arkansas for a long time. Susan and Samuel came back. She married a man by the name of Goacher. They, two, and Sam died in Jersey County, Illinois. She had no children."

(Above Image) Land Indenture naming Rebecca and Adam Strouds interest. Source; “Illinois, Monroe County, Deed Records, 1816-1900” , page 282.

The work "Portrait and Biographical Record of St. Clair County, Illinois" published in 1892 includes a sketch of the life of Adam Badgley and an excerpt from which reads;

"He was the son of Aaron and Catherine (Stroud) Badgley. Theywere natives of Hardy County, VA., the father born in the year 1773, and the mother in 1776. The mother was of Dutch parents and was the daughter of Adam and Eve Stroud - hence the pleasant little fiction in the family that their home was the Garden of Eden, with an Adam and Eve, but no serpent."

Their younger daughter, Rebecca Stroud, would marry Mordecai Zaine in 1808, also in St. Clair County. Susan and Samuel both appear to have died in Jersey County, Illinois. Their youngest son, Peter Stroud, would marry Margarett Atcheson in 1816 in St. Clair County and by 1830 he had moved his family to Arkansas joining his brother Adam Stroud Jr.

Lord Dunmore’s War and the American Revolution

 

The Stroud Family Massacre and Bulltown Massacre are only two of a lengthy list of atrocities that took place along the border in the years leading up to what came to be known as "Lord Dunmore's War" in 1774. As hostilities increased between the Colonists and the Shawnee and Mingo Tribes, the Virginia House of Burgesses declared War.

As hostilities increased Adam Stroud moved back to the South Branch of the Potomac River, this time settling near Romney in Hampshire County. Here he joined the Virginia Militia and served as a soldier in Lord Dunmore's War. In the work "Virginia's Colonial Soldiers", by Lloyd Bockstruck, Adam Stroud is listed in "The Names of the Soldiers on the Pay Rolls at Romney and Winchester" under "Captain John Harniss's Roll of Rangers." The Battle of Point Pleasant was the only major engagement of Lord Dunmore's War. Adam Stroud was not present at the battle because the Hampshire County Militia had been sent to Fort Pitt on the Ohio River beforehand. The short war ended soon after the battle with the signing of the "Treaty of Camp Charlotte".

(Above Image) source; “Virginias Colonial Soldiers”  

After Lord Dunmores War in 1774, most of the men who had served in the Virginia Militia went on to serve the Revolutionary cause when hostilities broke out with the British in 1775. In the work "Historic Register of Virginians in the Revolution, 1775-1783" by John Gwathmey, Adam Stroud is listed as a soldier from Romney. Adam Stroud is also found in the work "Archives of the Revolutionary Soldiers in the Virginia Militia, Richmond'" by H.J. Eckenrode, the "DAR Patriot Index" by the Daughters of the American Revolution and is listed as a "Soldier in the Virginia Troops out of Hampshire County" in the "Patriot Research System" of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Adam Stroud served throughout the American Revolution in the Hampshire County Militia. Local militia units on the western Virginia frontier were often more occupied with defending settlements from the Indians than they were with fighting the British. In his essay "Disaffection in the Rear; German Torries in the West Virginia Mountains" Klaus Wust summarizes the attitude of many German settlers of western Virginia;

"News trickled very slowly into the narrow vales and hollows along Lost River, Moorefield River, and South Branch of the Potomac where numerous German-speaking neighbor- hoods existed among settlers of English and Scotch-Irish descent. All of these settlements had suffered great destruction and loss of life from Indian incursions ever since 1755. Most families had fled eastwards several times in the span of one generation. Throughout the Revolutionary War these communities remained threatened by Indian war parties which explains the reluctance of men to march off into far-away battlefields. The combination of remoteness, lack of information and the Indian danger at their doors, caused many of the German settlers in the western mountains to show a lukewarm response at best to the many demands the authorities made on men and means. They had never failed to take up arms in the defense of their neighborhoods. Neither had they actually ever felt oppressed by British colonial authority because for decades they had been very much left alone to fend for themselves."

The Stroud Family Massacre

 By 1772 tensions between the White Settlers and the Native Tribes were on the rise. Many atrocities were committed along the border in the years leading up to Lord Dunmores War in 1774. Especially effected by Indian hostilities were the German Communities of the Virginia Backcountry. The Stroud Family was apparently the first German family attacked by the Indians as noted in and excerpt from "The Report by the Society for the History of Germans in Maryland."

The following account published by the "County Commissioners Association of West Virginia" seems to be the most accurate summary of the massacre;

“While away from home in June 1772, the family of a German immigrant named Peter Stroud was murdered, presumably by Indians. The trail left by the murderers led in the general direction of Bulltown. Peter's brother, Adam Stroud, had a cabin nearby and seeing smoke rising into the sky, raced to his brother's cabin. He gathered up what was left of the bodies and buried them. He then headed for Hacker's Creek where he met with several other settlers who agreed to join him in an attack on Bulltown."

Historical maker located in Webster County, West Virginia. 

There are as many versions of the story as there are sources that cite the event. Many sources exclude any mention of Peter Stroud, instead citing the family of Adam Stroud as the victims. This is the result of confusion because Adam Stroud does not seem to have met his wife Eve Hand until returning to Hampshire County and would not have his first child until 1776, four years after the Stroud Family Massacre. Additional evidence of Peter Stroud's wife and children being the victims of the massacre is that of Peters mysterious and untimely death at the age of roughly 30 just one year later.

It is not clear exactly what Peter Stroud did or where he went after the murder of his wife and children. The only evidence of Peter Stroud after the massacre of his family is that of his own death, recorded in Chalkley's Augusta County "Chronicles" on August 28th", 1773. The cause of his death is unclear, however, given the circumstances one may draw a quick conclusion.

Today, almost 250 years later, the area surrounding the site of the massacre near the junction of Strouds Creek and the Gualey River is dotted with landmarks named for the Stroud Family. These include "Strouds Creek," two roads; "Strouds Creek Road" and "Strouds Creek Loop," a region known as "Strouds Glades," and a small unincorporated community known as "Strouds." There was also the now defunct “Stroud's Creek and Muddlety Railroad Line”. 

After discovering the massacre of his brother's family most accounts agree that ti was Adam Stroud who made his way to Hackers Creek Settlement where William White, John Cutright, William Hacker, and the famous frontier scout Jesse Hughes agreed to help him track down the murders of his brother's family. The trail left by the murderers of the Stroud Family, who were later determined to have been a band of Shawnee from the Ohio Valley, led in the general direction of Bulltown. Returning two days later the group reported having seen no Indians and that Bulltown had been abandoned. However, on his deathbed in 1850, at the age of 105, John Cutright admitted that the men had massacred the entire Bulltown settlement and had thrown the bodies into the Little Kanawah River.

The first account of the Bulltown Massacre was published in "Chronicles of Border Warfare" by Alexander Withers in 1831. Withers was not certain if the story was true and gave the names of only William Hacker and William White. In 1915 Lucullus McWhorther published "The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia, 1768-1795". In a footnote to the Withers story, he added the account of John Cutrights deathbed confession and the names of John Cutright, Jesse Hughes, and a man named "Kettle." Some sources substitute "Kettle" with Adam Stroud.

Whether or not the Bulltown Massacre occurred is still debated by historians to this day. A writer in the historical newspaper "Awhile Ago Times", terms the entire story "A Ridiculous Tale", adding; "If these five men could attack Bulltown, where sixteen warriors were fortified in twenty cabins and they being in the open and fighting behind trees, the Squaws were no doubt loading weapons for the warriors and they all being aware of the approach of the white men, it would be a feat unheard of and unsurpassed in all history of the frontier, to believe that they could kill all sixteen of the warriors, the fifteen squaws and eight children, dump their bodies in the Little Kanawha River and never suffer wound or casualty themselves. This is unbelievable and much too much to comprehend."

Frontier historian and novelist David Begler, who is a descendant of Jesse Hughes, and with whom the author had the pleasure of corresponding, has a different view. He believes that because the Bulltown Indians were not previously considered hostile they would not have been on the alert for an attack. He also believes that Peter Stroud may have traded frequently at Bulltown and that Peter Stroud accompanied Adam Stroud to Hackers Creek and Bulltown.

The Strouds Settle Western Virginia

The first written record of our Stroud Family in America is found in the work; "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745- 1800" by Lyman Chalkley. In 1749 Adam Stroud appears on a list of inhabitants of the South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River to the Court of Augusta to have a road built to market and court. 12 years later, on May 26", 1761, the "Chronicles" records Adam Stroud purchased 275 acres on the South Branch of the Potomac River in what is now Pendleton County from Peter Horse for £20.

In 1761 what is now Pendleton County (at that time still part of Augusta County), in what is now West Virginia, was on the edge of the Western Frontier. At this time the French and Indian War is just ending in the American Colonies. Adam Stroud is said to have served as a scout in the French and Indian War in the work; "By the Banks of the Holly: Notes and Letters from the Desk of Bernard Mollohan." This is the only source for Adams potential service in the French and Indian War and cannot be used as a primary source to prove his service as a scout, though it may explain why it is Adam Stroud was able to purchase 275 acres of land immediately after the end of the war. 

We know from an Augusta County petition that Adam Stroud was living on the South Branch of the Potomac River in Augusta County in 1749, 5 years before the outbreak of war and appears in Hampshire County, created from part of Augusta county in 1753, in the Colonial Census of 1755, one year after the outbreak of the war. Adam Stroud appears to have lived on the South Branch of the Potomac throughout the French and Indian War. The South Branch of the Potomac River was the site of several battles during the French and Indian War, including the Battle of the Trough in 1756. The Battle of the Trough was a skirmish between Native Americans and Anglo-American settlers in the South Branch valley, which is now northern Hardy County, West Virginia. In 1756, George Washington directed the construction of a fortification at Fort Pleasant, which is located about a mile and a half away from the Battle of the Trough. 

Though the war with France had ended, the backcountry of Virginia remained a wild frontier still inhabited by hostile Indian tribes. Pendleton County was just East of the Proclamation Line of 1763. On October 7", 1763, a Royal Proclamation prohibited al settlement west of a line drawn down the length of the Appalachian Mountains. Many settlers would begin moving west of this line following new treaties between the Natives and Colonists in 1768.

On March 22nd, 1769, Chalkley's "Chronicles" records the naturalization of Adam Stroud. His being naturalized is evidence that he was, in fact, not born in America. There is no record of Peter Stroud having ever been naturalized. 

Just eight days after being naturalized, the "Chronicles" records the sale of Adam Stroud's 275 acres to Bastian Hover for £24 on March 30th, 1769. This record also mentions a "Mary Stroud" in association with Adam Stroud. This is the one and only place Mary is mentioned in any sources, both primary and secondary, relating to Adam Stroud. It is not clear exactly who Mary was. If she was an earlier wife of Adam Stroud, they do not appear to have had any children. It is possible that Mary was the name of Adam and Peters mother, and that her name was attached to the property title. This is only speculation.

By 1769 Peter Stroud had married and had 7 children. Adam Stroud seems to have been single and childless when the brothers set out across the old Proclamation Line and into Kanawah County, Virginia, where Adam and Peter Stroud were the first white settlers. As noted by land claims in Chalkley's "Chronicles" they settled just east of the Indian Territory on neighboring plots on the Gauley River at the junction with what is now known as Stroud's Creek, just west of present-day Camden on the Gauley. Each brother built for himself a cabin on his plot and carved out a living on the frontier for 4 years until June of 1772.

“A Borderman of Northwestern Virginia” artwork is from the work “The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia” by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter.