It rained hard all day yesterday and now there’s terrible flooding in the southwest region of WV. Much of this area was sort of a “no man’s land” to the early Virginians. The only flat or traversable land is along the turbulent rivers and creeks… 🧵 In 1756, an allied force of 340 men from the Virginia Regiment, including a contingent of Cherokees (also included my 5th great grandfather) began an expedition to the Shawnee country (Ohio) after a period of massacres and attacks on the Virginia frontier.

Dementia Patient Arrested in Walmart as his Wife Shops | Lawyer Exposes Lies and Coverup
Link 👇

My recent finds (ok, “acquisitions”) have one thing in common: a connection to the 1774 Battle of Point Pleasant. I’m fairly sure I should now have the largest collection of Battle of PP artifacts ever assembled. Such as this powder horn… 🧵 Which belonged to Christopher Welch. It’s of large size, commonly seen on frontier-used Rev War and earlier period powder horns. Obviously you wanted to bring sufficient powder (ammo) when entering hostile territory for an extended period.

Here’s another original spike tomahawk, which I have a modern blacksmith made bench copy. The amazing thing about this original one is that it still has an extremely rare original haft. 🧵 Original 18th century spike tomahawk found in Central Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River by the late Keith Collins, who was a friend of mine who found some amazing things over the years.

Happy Veteran's Day. This gun came out of Rhode Island and was owned by a Civil War general who, though he was not a great general, still to this day has had an interesting and lasting impact on popular American culture.🧵 He was also a gun designer, though he didn't make this particular gun, since he wasn't born yet. This is an original 18th century New England flintlock fowler (smoothbore) stocked in cherry.

Remember the old house photo I found last weekend at an estate sale? I found the house. Here’s what it looks like now (literally this evening).… 🧵 Here’s what it looks like now. Not all that different…

DOG PROPERTY LAWS

1. If I like it, it’s mine. 🧵 2. If it’s in my mouth, it’s mine.

Here are some pics of the site of Donnally’s Fort from yesterday. West Virginia’s 2nd largest frontier battle between Indians and Virginians. There’s no state park, museum or interpretive signs. It’s just a farm down a winding one lane road in a little mountain valley.🧵 There is an early 20th century stone monument at the site. Later excavation revealed it’s actually built into the foundation of the log fort structure that stood here. It’s currently in pretty bad shape.

Today we went to Cass Scenic Railroad - WV's Time Capsule on rails. 🧵
Founded in 1901 for logging, Cass, WV isn't just a town; it's a living museum. #CassScenicRailroad #HistoryOnTracks The railroad was the brainchild of the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company. They needed a way to haul timber, and what's better than laying down some tracks? Thus, Cass was born out of necessity, a hub for lumberjacks and their families. #LoggingLegacy

People are flying their own helicopters in and actively rescuing people in NC and local government officials are threatening them with arrest. You don’t hate your government enough.



And now cops around the country are probably patiently awaiting my first fire department video...

Check out what I found in a thrift shop in Virginia today. If this is real, and I think it is, it’s one of the rarest things I’ve ever found… 🧵 During the Civil War, the South was poor and most southern soldiers didn’t have the usual kepi hat that you think of a CW soldier wearing.

I walked into a local antique shop this morning and saw this beat up antique musket sitting in this exact spot, on that table. I knew immediately this was something special, and nobody realized it. 🧵 It may appear like a Civil War era gun, but in reality, the carved initials on the stock were most likely carved by an American soldier during the Revolutionary War. I was told it recently came out of a local home in an estate sale.

You’ve seen the debate about the ballerina “trad” wife, who left her dance career to have a bunch of kids… I often get asked how a Florida boy ended up in rural WV. When I was in law school at UNC I met a girl… 🧵 She was a ballet teacher in rural West Virginia, where the local public HS had a classical ballet class. And she had a studio in the small town. All the little girls adored her.

Here's a conclusive sequence of events in the Sonya Massey shooting, verified with screenshots. 🧵

1:19:44 - First, Deputy Grayson asks Sonya for ID. "You're not in trouble, I just need your last name." 1:20:16 - As Sonya looks for her ID, Deputy Grayson notices a pot on the stove boiling and points it out to the other deputy.

GRAPHIC: Cop shoots Sonya Massey for holding a pot of steaming water, afterwards falsely claiming she “came at me with boiling water.” She had called them with reports of a possible prowler. They came inside and asked for her ID. She removed a pot of steaming water from the stove. Then the cops bizarrely acted afraid of the pot, shooting her in seconds.

Concerned about systemic inequality? Let’s talk about Kamala Harris and her career as a prosecutor that is almost never discussed by either side…🧵 Harris was a district attorney in San Fransisco from 2004 to 2011. She stood out there by being tough on crime in the form of prosecuting truant school children, sending letters to San Fransisco parents each year, threatening them with citations.

Today I received a memorandum order in a wrong house police raid case, dismissing one of our counts in the lawsuit. When I first saw the order, I read it to say that I was also ordered to show cause why I shouldn’t be sanctioned by the Court. Oh man….🧵 The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a family who came home to find on their surveillance cameras that cops had been in their house, including their kids bedrooms. Turns out they were looking for someone who didn’t live there.

Who knows what this is? What does this estate sale find have to do with tyranny and the creation of America?

I found this exact object pictured in a book, and even the book didn't get it right... 🧵 It's engraved with the seal of King George III on one side. So it's 18th century, and obviously British.

My wife wanted to go for a drive today. So I said hey, I know this giant crater on top of a mountain in Virginia we could go see… 🧵 It’s not really a crater or asteroid impact, but was actually once the bed of an ancient sea. It’s 8.5 miles long and 4 miles wide. It a dome-shaped geologic up-warp that exposed older Ordovician aged limestone.

It was my wife’s birthday, so I checked her into this insane asylum…🧵 Because for some crazy reason she wanted to tour the “Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum” in Weston, WV for her birthday. It was the site of 100s of lobotomies, gruesome murders, medical torture, a Civil War gold heist, and even a modern police misconduct scandal (yes!!).

This old jug was found hidden in the basement of Byrnside’s Fort. It was one of our coolest finds while restoring the place. Unbelievably, I was able to figure out exactly who made it, when it was made, and where it was made… 🧵 This is Byrnside’s Fort. For more information on it, check out my pinned tweet. This jug was found in the circa 1770 basement.