Shared by Billy Heck, as Guest Blogger.

At Martin’s Station in Powell’s Valley
April 23rd, 1775 

Dear and worthy friend,

I pray this letter finds you well and of good spirit. I beg of you to forgive my absence of correspondence, however, please understand the exhausting nature of my situation. I embrace the thought of someday visiting with you and your good wife. How delightful that moment shall be. I often think of our youth, our grand adventures, and how we rambled about. I miss the glorious time we spent in Charlottesville as young men without care. I will forever cherish those wonderful memories. I have but a moment to take quill to hand for this place demands my complete attention. Since I last wrote, much has happened of great importance. We have planted corn and beans and laid bramble fences for protection. The absence of greens has taken its toll and we yearn for the taste of an early harvest. The men have constructed a fine blacksmiths shop and have begun to forge small goods. Iron is scarce at this place and highly prized by all. The walls are now braced between and defensible at every turn. We have raised a fine fort. 

The valley has now left the drabness of winter and grows greener with each sunrise. I have not encountered a soil so rich as that upon which I stand at this very instant. Our meals are daily and consist of deer, bear, and buffalo, with bear fat and corn boiled to a mush being the favorite among the company. Brother Brice has taken to the stream and supplied all with a generous amount of fish. That gnawing hunger know in winter is now absent, for the abundance of beast and berries is unending.

This place demands constant effort with little rest or retreat. The forest is dark and stale and provides little refreshment in the humid months. The circumstance of which we find ourselves has rendered our clothing beyond repair. We have abandoned all decent appearance as we are now reduced to moccasins and tattered linen to celebrate the Sabbath. However, this is but a meager price to pay for the beauty and abundance in which we are enveloped. 

On the 12th instant, a party from Culpeper came in search of property. Mr. Jones, a pleasant man with a stern countenance and of good manners who was intent upon finding Captain Boone’s Kentucky settlement, led them. After learning their wagon could not make the narrow path onward, great sorrow befell a German family whose only recourse was to continue afoot. With considerable hesitation, they abandoned all worldly possessions except food and clothing for their six children. Being poorly, and with new child, they pleaded to purchase a cow and calf from Mr. Hoard in which he accepted a crude musket stocked with walnut.

A party of twelve men arrived two days past. They were hunters from the Yadkin Valley who were returning with skins. They informed me that British emissaries were delivering muskets and silver to Carolina loyalist in the King's name. Colonel Preston has employed me to meet with Colonel Armstrong and gather information on the circumstance. I pray common sense and life outweigh the King’s bribes.

I know not what shall become of those souls living at this place, nor do I know what shall become of Virginia, however I assure you that tyranny will fall to the crack of our rifles. When we next meet, we shall embrace victorious in liberty.

I remain your most humble and obedient servant
Captain Joseph Martin   

Martin's Station represented the hope of expansion for the new country.

Capt. Joseph Martin, made his way westward to explore the new frontier of America. He and the fort he helped build served as a beacon of hope for other frontiersmen traveling west. He would send letters back home, in eastern Virginia, to keep them up on the lives and happenings along the frontier. He spoke of the hardships as well as the breathtaking beauty of the area. 

Life on the frontier was not always easy.