Historic Surveyors Cleared of Cannibalism

The legend that 18th-century surveyor John Savage – likely namesake of Mount Savage, Savage Mountain, Savage River, etc. – narrowly missed being killed and eaten by his cannibalistic companions originated with one of his contemporaries, the Virginia planter William Byrd II, known reverently in his time as “William Byrd of Westover.”

A prolific writer of fact and fancy intermixed, Byrd reads in the 21st century like the quintessential Southern slaveholding plantation owner, a matter-of-fact chronicler of all the cruelty, sadism, sexual predations and general cluelessness endemic to the species. His writings also ooze sarcasm for those he considered less worthy than himself – which was just about everybody.

Here is the relevant John Savage passage just as Byrd wrote it, complete with the then-standard “f” for “s.” Byrd describes the 1736 expedition that surveyed the upper reaches of the Potomac River – an expedition that Byrd and other officials had commissioned – then adds this outrageously backhanded compliment:

And here I think I ought to do Juftice not only to the uncommon Skill, but alfo to the Courage and Indefatiguable Induftry of Maj’ Mayo and two of the other Surveyors, employ’d in this long and difficult Tafk, Neither the unexpeƈted Diftance, nor the Danger of being doubly Starved by Hunger and exceffive Cold, could in the leaft discourage them from going thro’ with Their Work, tho’ at one time they were almost reduced to the hard neceffity of cutting up the moft ufelefs Perfon among them, Mr Savage, in order to Support and fave the lives of the reft. But Providence prevented that dreadfull Blow by an unexpeƈted Supply another way, and fo the Blind Surveyor efcapt.

To praise the surveyors’ skill, hard work and courage, then in the same sentence add that they were not quite cannibals, is breathtaking even 300 years later. The surveyors’ reactions at the time can only be imagined, especially that of the “most useless” Mr. Savage – who Byrd implies would have had to rely on the kindness of friends to convey the insult, being too blind even to read.

By the 20th century, the legend had added a poignant detail: that Savage volunteered to die so that his companions could feed off him and live.

This version, with a disclaimer, eventually made its way onto a historical marker across the Potomac in the town of Piedmont, in Mineral County, West Virginia: “A doubtful tradition has it that Savage was blind, felt himself expendable, and offered his body to be eaten by his starving companions.” (This lurid detail since has been removed from the marker, but the new version still got Savage’s name wrong, calling him Thomas, and misspelled “boundary” for good measure. It’s on West Virginia 46 at the intersection of West Hampshire Street and Childs Avenue.)

Mary Meehan, writing in 2005, could find no source for the claim that Savage offered his own flesh. It makes sense, however, that oral tradition would turn an obscure 18th-century horror story into a weirdly comforting, Christlike fable of heroic self-sacrifice.

Whether any local place names are named for John Savage at all is also a matter of dispute. Byrd makes no mention of them. True, the expedition resulted in the 1737 Mayo map, the first to name Savage River, and the inference is obvious, especially if we assume Mayo wanted to pay tribute to his colleague – in honor of his near-martyrdom, and/or in retaliation to Byrd’s sneer. In his impressive The Place Names of Maryland, Hamill Kenny says John Savage is “probably” the namesake of all these land features (p. 233).

But Meehan notes a couple of other traditions that the name “Savage” originated in colonial times as a reference to the local indigenous people – commemorating either the “savage” who killed a White man there, or the “savages” for whom the mountain was a stronghold.

If so, Savage Mountain and all the other Savage place names are ethnic slurs that have survived into the 21st century, like nearby Negro Mountain.

When questioned about it, locals therefore are quick to invoke the surveyor John Savage, complete with the story of self-sacrifice that is not quite in Byrd’s original account – which may have been greatly exaggerated in the first place.

After all, as Meehan wryly observed: “It’s doubtful that Savage was totally blind … unless colleagues did most of the work for him.”

Sources:

Byrd, William II. “The Proceedings of the Commissioners Appointed To Lay Out the Bounds of the Northern Neck, Lying Between the Rivers Potomack and Rappahanock. Anno 1736.” Pages 81-139 of History of the Dividing Line and Other Tracts. From the Papers of William Byrd, of Westover, in Virginia, Esquire. Vol. II. Journey to the Land of Eden, Etc. Richmond, Va., 1866. Downloaded 30 Oct. 2021 from the Internet Archive, https://archive.org.

Kenny, Hamill. The Place Names of Maryland: Their Origin and Meaning. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1984; 2nd printing, 1999.

“Mayo and Savage.” Post by “pnoman” on the thread “WV Historical Markers – Let’s Find All 700” at the Adventure Rider website. 4 Oct. 2015. Accessed 31 Oct. 2021. https://advrider.com/f/threads/wv-historical-markers-lets-find-all-700.407164/page-72

Meehan, Mary. “Mountain Names in Western Maryland.” Journal of the Alleghenies 41 (2005): 3-23.

Root, Mary M. “History Corner: Robert Brooke, Father and Son, Surveyors of Virginia.” Professional Surveyor 24.4 (April 2004). Accessed 31 Oct. 2021 via the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20070810212459/http://www.profsurv.com/archive.php?issue=87&article=1225

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