The Rumsey Memorial Plaque in St Margaret’s Church

Soon after incorporating to build a monument to James Rumsey in Shepherdstown, the Rumseyan Society inquired about also putting up a memorial in St Margaret’s Church, where Rumsey had been buried, near Westminster Abbey in London. On Oct 1, 1906, the Secretary, State Senator William Campbell, got a reply from Rev. H. Hensley Henson:

Dear Sir
I am now in a position to send you a definite answer to the questions relating to the proposed erection of a tablet to the memory of JAMES RUMSEY.
I shall be prepared to give consent to the erection of a suitable tablet on the walls of S. MARGARETS WESTMINSTER on the following conditions.
I) The said Tablet must not exceed in size 30 inches in length and 20 in width.
II) Its form and material must be approved by me before erection.
III) The inscription must contain no disputable proposition, and must be submitted to me and approved before being placed on the tablet
IV) A fee of fifty guineas must be paid.
The payment of a substantial fee guarantees that the desire to erect a table is genuine and general.

Henson noted that a tablet in Westminster Abbey itself would cost 200 guineas. Campbell’s reply for the Society was polite:

The fee you suggest seems, as you admit, to be a large one, and it is uncertain that we can avail ourselves of your offer, but at the next meeting of the Society the matter will receive consideration, and it is possible that we may take definite action one way or the other.

But the polite language could not disguise the sticker shock. Two months later Campbell was informed by the Norfolk & Southern that it would no longer simply donate the land for the Monument: that to satisfy the Trustees it wanted $125 to release it. Campbell wrote to the Society, “if they charge us this much it will put the proposed park out of reach”. At the 1906 rate of about $5.00 to the pound, the fee for the tablet would have been $250, or twice what Norfolk & Southern wanted for the entire Monument site. The Society turned its attention to funding their local Rumsey memorial.

However, a St. Margaret’s plaque continued to be discussed. On Dec. 3 , 1953 the Junior Rumseyan Society was organized by teacher Rachel Snyder among her eighth-grade class. Two World Wars must have increased the demand for memorial tablets. The fee had grown considerably from $250; the class worked for one year to raise the money to have the plaque made and placed. James Rumsey’s memory alone also no longer met the “genuine and general desire” for a tablet. A memorial to Elizabeth Herrick, niece of cavalier poet Robert Herrick, had disappeared in the 18th c., along with the famous poem Robert Herrick had written for it. The Junior Rumseyans were asked to fund a replacement for that, along with their memorial to Rumsey. Robert Herrick and his niece got top billing. But at least the statement that Rumsey’s steamboat had been “demonstrated privately to George Washington in 1784” escaped being considered a “disputable proposition”.

On May 18, 1955, in front of an assembled crowd of about a hundred British and Americans (including Rachel Snyder) a small American flag was pulled aside by Admiral Sir Guy H.E. Russell to reveal the memorial tablet.

One student who was part of Snyder’s fund-raising was G. Jay Hurley. He would leave town and have adventures, but always carried the thought of Rumsey in his head until he returned to start O’Hurley’s General Store. Thirty years after being a Junior Rumseyan, in 1983 he launched the effort to build a working reproduction of Rumsey’s steamboat, now on display at the Museum.

-Nicholas Blanton

A special exhibit, Longrifles by the Sheetz family and Other Gunsmiths from Jefferson and Berkeley Counties, will open at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum on Saturday, April 19. The exhibit, co-sponsored by Historic Shepherdstown and the Kentucky Rifle Foundation, will feature 15 rifles made between 1740 and 1840, including 10 signed Sheetz rifles.

It will be preceded by a free Speaker Series talk History of Kentucky Rifles from the 18th to 20th century on Wednesday, April 16, at which master gunsmith Brian LaMaster will speak about Kentucky Rifles in general and Kentucky Rifle Foundation board member Tim Hodges will speak specifically about the rifles in the exhibit. The talk will be given at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center on the Shepherd College campus. The talk is free and open to the public.

The Kentucky Rifle Foundation is the educational arm of the Kentucky Rifle Association. The KRA is an organization dedicated to those people interested in collecting and preserving the art and history of antique Kentucky Rifles, pistols, horns, and accoutrements. Both LaMaster and Hodges are past presidents of the KRA.

This will be the largest display of rifles in the Historic Shepherdstown Museum in its more than 40-year history. The exhibit is the first event for Shepherdstown’s 250th Anniversary Celebration of the Bee Line March, which occurred in the summer of 1775.

The exhibit will feature rifles by several members of the Sheetz family, including a restocked Philip Sheetz, and rifles by Jacob Sheetz, Martin Sheetz, and William Miller Sheetz, all of Shepherdstown. It will also include a rifle by Frederick Sheetz, the son of Henry Sheetz, who worked in Hampshire County. There will also be rifles by Martin Rizer of Martinsburg, and Daniel Marker, who worked in Martinsburg and in towns in Maryland.

Brothers Philip and Henry Sheetz were working in Mecklenburg (now Shepherdstown) as early as 1768. By 1776, they had a contract to supply 24 guns per month to the state of Virginia for use by the militia during the Revolutionary War. Demand for military guns declined after the Revolution, and civilian arms like the Kentucky rifle became the focus. The Sheetz family remained active in Shepherdstown, and they also spread throughout the area. Henry eventually moved to Hampshire County.

While most of the rifles in the exhibit are being loaned to Historic Shepherdstown Museum by members of the Kentucky Rifle Association, the museum owns two William Miller Sheetz rifles, and an Entler fowler, which will also be on display.

One of the museum’s William Miller Sheetz rifles was commissioned by Rezin Davis Shepherd, grandson of Shepherdstown’s founder Thomas Shepherd, for his grandson Peter C. Brooks. The rifle is signed W M Sheetz Shepherds Town VA No 85” in script on the top flat of the 44-inch rifled barrel. A rectangular silver plate (added later) inlaid behind the cheekpiece is inscribed “Peter C Brooks From his Grandfather Shepherd”.

To commemorate the Bee Line March, the museum will also have on display a mannequin dressed as a Virginia militiaman, and a large map of the marchers’ route. The marcher’s outfit and the map are both based on entries in the diary of Henry Bedinger, who along with his brother George Michael Bedinger both participated in the Bee Line March. Henry served as 4^th Sargeant and George Michael served as 4^th Corporal for the company. Their brother Daniel also eventually served during the Revolution. The mannequin represents Adam Sheetz, a member of the Sheetz family, who also completed the march.

On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress asked Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to send companies of militiamen to Massachusetts to help General George Washington blockade Boston. Under the command of Captain Hugh Stephenson, one company left Shepherdstown, Virginia, on foot on July 17, 1775, and arrived in Cambridge on August 11, completing the nearly 600-mile journey in 26 days.

The Bee Line March committee is sponsoring several events this summer. A complete schedule can be found at Bee Line March 250th Anniversary

An article published in the April 2025 KRA Bulletin of the Kentucky Rifle Association tells the story of the exhibit – KRA partners with Historic Shepherdstown

The Exhibition Guide for the exhibit is available at Guide for Longrifle Exhibition – Historic Shepherdstown and Kentucky Rifle Foundation – page 1 and Guide for Longrifle Exhibition – Historic Shepherdstown and Kentucky Rifle Foundation – page 2

 

 

 

The town of Shepherdstown will begin a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Bee Line March during the third week of April with the opening of a special exhibit of Revolutionary War-era rifles at the Historic Shepherdstown Museum.

The Bee Line March was a trek made in the summer of 1775 by a company of riflemen from Shepherdstown to join General George Washington at his siege of Boston. The Shepherdstown company was one of 10 such companies raised in the colonies that summer in response to a call for volunteers from the Continental Congress. The raising of these companies is generally recognized as the beginning of the United States Army. The Shepherdstown company is of particular significance because it covered the 600 miles to Massachusetts in just 25 days. This was an extraordinary feat for the time, and it was quickly dubbed the “Bee Line March.”

The Historic Shepherdstown Museum exhibit will open on April 19. It will feature choice examples of flintlock rifles made by the famous Sheetz gunsmithing family and other 18th- and early 19th-century gunsmiths of the region, along with gunsmithing tools and related items. It is being assembled in cooperation with the Kentucky Rifle Foundation, one of the nation’s leading organizations dedicated to the collection and preservation of American flintlock long rifles.

The Historic Shepherdstown Museum exhibit will be open every weekend from April 26 through October 19, on Saturdays from 11 am to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m., and by appointment. A $5 donation will be requested for admission; members of the military and children will be admitted free.

The exhibit’s opening will be preceded by a talk the evening of Wednesday, April 16, about the rifles that will be displayed and gunsmithing of the period in general. Sponsored by Historic Shepherdstown, the talk will be held at 7 pm In the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education on the Shepherd University Campus. The presenters will be master gunsmith Brian LaMaster, of High View, WV, and Kentucky rifle expert Tim Hodges, of Winchester, VA. Admission will be free.

The Bee Line March anniversary celebration will continue through the summer with a series of events and activities, all free, including the following:

• May 14 talk about the Bee Line March, by Jefferson County historian Doug Perks. The talk will be sponsored by Historic Shepherdstown and held at 7 pm in the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education.
• June 7 dedication by the Daughters of the American Revolution of a Patriots Marker at Morgan’s Grove Park at 11 am.
• June 14 a daylong Bee Line March celebration at Morgan’s Grove Park. Event and activities will begin at 10 am and include drills and weapons demonstrations by members of the Sons of the American Revolution; 18th Century children’s games; music by the West Virginia University Mountaineer Fifes and Drums; displays by Jefferson County Historical Society, Historic Shepherdstown, Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, and similar groups; and a 2 pm commemorative ceremony. Food trucks will offer barbeque for purchase. The Shepherdstown Community Club will have a tent selling special Bee Line March beer brewed by the Bavarian Inn Resort and Brewing Company.
• June 22 recital and lecture on military music of the Revolutionary War period, by Music of the Regiment, an ensemble of musicians and researchers dedicated to the study and performance of 18th and 19th century military music. Sponsored by Friends of Music, the performance will be held at 3 pm at Shepherdstown’s Trinity Episcopal Church.
• July 19 a daylong encampment of Revolutionary War reenactors at Morgan’s Grove Park. Events and activities will begin at 10 am and include talks in the park pavilion to frame the living history context; 18th Century children’s games; fife and drum demonstrations by the Old Line Fife and Drum Corps from Frederick, MD; drill and flintlock use demonstrations; and demonstrations of Revolutionary War camp life activities. Food trucks will offer barbeque for purchase.

The anniversary celebration is being made possible by contributions from the Jefferson County Historical Society, the Rotary Club of Shepherdstown, Historic Shepherdstown, the Friends of Music, the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission, the Jefferson County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Shepherdstown Community Club, the Adam Stephen Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

(Photograph of Martin Sheetz rifle courtesy of Tim Hodges of the Kentucky Rifle Association)