John Peter Salling

John Peter Salling, (died 1755) born Johan Peter Saling and sometimes referred to as John Peter Salley, Sayling, Sallings, and Sallee, was a German explorer known for being among the first Europeans to visit parts of what is now Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. He was imprisoned by the French in New Orleans on charges of spying and escaped together with another prisoner, taking eight months to finally reach his home in Virginia. His detailed journal describing his journeys of exploration was lost twice, and each time Salling was able to reconstruct it from memory. Salling's journal was used as a source in the creation of early maps of Virginia and eastern North America.

Biography

Salling was born in the Palatinate region of the Holy Roman Empire to Niclaus Sallin and Salome Johanna, Huguenots from Kaiserslautern, Germany. Different sources give his year of birth as 1697, 1706 or 1719. Two sons (George Adam and John) were born later. Salling was required to sign an oath of allegiance to King George II, like other German immigrants. In 1735, 250 acres were registered in Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania under the name of Johann Peter Saling.

Salling's homestead in Augusta County, Virginia (spelled "John Petter Salley"), on the James River (lower edge of map). Depicted on a 1757 map of Virginia and Maryland. In 1740 he and his brother Adam built a log cabin on the banks of the James River at its confluence with the Maury River in Augusta County, Virginia. He later wrote in his journal: "In the year 1740, I came from Pennsylvania to the part of Orange County now called Augusta; and settled in a fork of James River close under the Blue Ridge Mountains of the West Side, where I now live." On 6 July 1741, he obtained a patent for 400 acres on the James River.

Salling may have been among the first Europeans to see the Natural Bridge. His journal begins: "On the 16th of March 1742, we set off from my house and went to Cedar Creek, about five miles where there is Natural Bridge over said Creek, reaching from the Hill on the one side to the Hill on the other. It is a solid Rock and is two hundred and three feet high, having a very Spacious arch, where the Water runs thro[ugh]." In December of that year, the militia engaged in combat with an Iroquois war party at the Battle of Galudoghson, not far from Salling's homestead. Captain McDowell was killed, but conflicting accounts of the battle suggest that both sides withdrew after suffering casualties.

Travel to West Virginia and Kentucky

In October 1737, John Howard was commissioned by Virginia Lieutenant-Governor Alexander Spotswood "to go upon discoveries on the Lakes & River of Mississippi." Howard was offered a 10,000-acre land grant to explore the wilderness beyond Virginia, and promised to divide his grant equally with anyone who chose to accompany him. and then imprisoned as spies.

In a report dated 30 July 1742, Bienville stated that the prisoners "had been sent on their perilous journey for the purpose of exploring the rivers flowing from Virginia into the Mississippi, and to reconnoiter the terrain looking to establishing a settlement, for the English pretend that their boundaries extend as far as the bank of the Mississippi...It is important that these rash men not return home to bear witness of what they have learned among us. I shall send them to the fort at Natchitoches, whence I will have them escorted to the mines of New Mexico." John Howard and his son Josiah do not appear in records after this, but John Poteet and Charles St. Clair returned to Augusta County and acquired land across the James River from Salling. Their names appear subsequently in various documents and work orders.

Later life and death

In 1746, Salling "qualified as Captain of Foot" in the Virginia Militia.

In July 1750, Salling was visited by the Reverend Robert Rose, who was traveling by canoe down the James River to Richmond. In May 1751, Salling was appointed surveyor and overseer for road work near his home. In November 1753, Salling and his son George were part of a work crew constructing a connecting road near his home, under the supervision of John Mathews.

Salling died between December 1754 and March 1755, leaving a will dated 25 December 1754 and proved on 19 March 1755.

Salling's discovery of coal in what was then western Virginia, along the banks of the Coal River, in present-day Boone County, West Virginia, is commemorated by a historical marker.