Alexander Scott Withers

Alexander Scott Withers (12 October 1792, near Warrenton, Virginia – 23 January 1865, near Parkersburg, West Virginia) was a Virginia lawyer, planter, magistrate, teacher and delegate to the First Wheeling Convention (1861) establishing the state of West Virginia. He is celebrated as the author of Chronicles of Border Warfare (1831), a history of (and important primary source on) the early white settlement of western Virginia and consequent conflicts with American Indians.

Youth and education

Withers was a son of Enoch Keene Withers and Jennet Chinn Withers and was born at the family home, an estate known as "Green Meadows" about 6 miles from Warrenton, Fauquier County, Virginia. His mother was a second cousin of Sir Walter Scott. He was educated at home and in private schools, later attending Washington College and finally learning law at William and Mary, despite considerable shyness when confronted with the need for public speaking. His father died when he was 21 and he took over the management of the family plantation for a time. He married Melinda Fisher in 1815 in the Northern Neck of Virginia, and about 1827 moved his family to western Virginia, settling near Clarksburg. Subsequently, he moved to Lewis County and resided on a farm he called "Thirlestane" on the West Fork River between Weston and Jane Lew.

Authorship

Withers devoted much time to researching and writing his Chronicles of Border Warfare, or, A History of the Settlement by the Whites, of north-western Virginia: and of the Indian wars and massacres, in that section of the state; with reflections, anecdotes, &c. This 1831 account of “border wars” and local tradition in “the western country”, i.e., the northwestern portion of colonial Virginia (an area which today encompasses parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania), described events during the four decades between the French and Indian War (1754) and the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794). For background material, Withers drew upon the writings of a generally reliable antiquarian, Hugh Paul Taylor (c. 1790–1831) of Covington, Virginia. In addition, he incorporated material gathered by a local judge (Edwin S. Duncan), as well as visiting with venerable local pioneers (Noah Zane, John Hacker), which required several arduous trips on horseback. (In addition, there was a claim that the work was largely written by an early settler, William Powers [1765-1855], and the son of another early settler named William Hacker [1771–1826], and only prepared for publication by Withers. But this is according to a statement made by a grandson of Powers and has never been substantiated.)