William Reveley 1800 - 1826 WILLIAM REVELEY was the oldest son of George and Judith Reveley, born in 1800 at White Marsh. There was an early mention of William in Jane Watkins' will of 1814 in Campbell Co, VA, witnessed by George Reveley, Wm. Reveley, and Robert Watkins. Mentions Caldwells and Aaron Watkins, friend Smith. Witnesses to will of Jane Watkins were James & Leroy Smith and Joel and Pleasant Rosser. In 1818, while a student at Washington College, William and three friends had a memorable experience at the Natural Bridge. The story appeared in Knickerbocker Magazine, July 12, 1838. William Alexander Caruthers's "Climbing the Natural Bridge." In 1818, while completing his first year at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), William Alexander Caruthers traveled to the Natural Bridge with three college friends, one of whom--James Piper--succeeded in making the first known ascent of the entire bridge. Caruthers first wrote a sketch of this feat in a journal kept by the custodian of the bridge, but when the story was deemed false by some and misrepresented by others, Caruthers saw fit to publish his version of the event and set the record straight. CLIMBING THE NATURAL BRIDGE; BY THE ONLY SURVIVING WITNESS OF THAT EXTRAORDINARY FEAT. Historical Collections of Virginia by Henry Howe Rockbridge County pages 459-460 I think it was in the summer of 1818, that James H. Piper, William Reveley, William Wallace, and myself, being then students of Washington College, Virginia, determined to make a jaunt to the Natural Bridge, fourteen miles off. Having obtained permission of the president, we proceeded on our way rejoicing. When we arrived at the bridge, nearly all of us commenced climbing up the precipitous sides in order to immortalize our names, as usual. We had not been long thus employed, before we were joined by Robert Penn of Amherst, then a pupil of the Rev. Samuel Houston's grammar-school, in the immediate neighborhood of the bridge. Mr. Piper, the hero of the occasion, commenced climbing on the opposite side of the creek from the one by which the pathway ascended the ravine. He began down on the banks of the brook so far, that we did not know where he had gone, and were only apprized of his whereabouts by his shouting above our heads. When we looked up, he was standing apparently right under the arch, I suppose a hundred feet from the bottom, and that on the smooth side, which is generally considered inaccessible without a ladder. He was standing far above the spot where General Washington is said to have inscribed his name when a youth. The ledge of the rock by which he ascended to this perilous height, does not appear from below to be three inches wide, and runs almost at right angles to the abutment of the bridge; of course its termination is far down the cliff on that side. Many of the written and traditional accounts state this to be the side of the bridge up which he climbed. I believe Miss Martineau so states; but it is altogether a mistake, as anyone may see by casting an eye up the precipice on that side. The story no doubt originated from this preliminary exploit. The ledge of rock on which he was standing appeared so narrow to us below, as to make us believe his position a very perilous one, and we earnestly entreated him to come down. He answered us with loud shouts of derision. At this stage of the business Mr. Penn and servant left us. He would not have done so, I suppose, had he known what was to follow; but up to this time not one of us had the slightest suspicion that Mr. Piper intended the daring exploit which he afterwards accomplished. He soon after descended from that side, crossed the brook, and commenced climbing on the side by which all visitors ascend the ravine. He first mounted the rocks on this side, as he had done on the other, far down the abutment; but not so far as on the opposite side. The projecting ledge may be distinctly seen by any visitor. It commences four or five feet from the pathway on the lower side, and winds round, gradually ascending, until it meets the cleft of rock over which the celebrated cedar stump hangs. Following this ledge to its termination, it brought him thirty or forty feet from the ground, and placed him between two deep fissures, one on each side of the gigantic column of rock on which the aforementioned cedar stump stands. This column stands out from the bridge, as separate and distinct as if placed there by nature on purpose for an observatory to the wonderful arch and ravine which it overlooks. A huge crack or fissure extends from its base to the summit; indeed, it is cracked on both sides, but much more perceptibly on one side than the other. Both of these fissures are thickly over-grown with bushes, and numerous roots project into them from trees growing on the precipice. It was between these that the aforementioned ledge conducted him. Here he stopped, pulled off his coat and shoes, and threw them down to me. And this, in my opinion, is a sufficient refutation of the story so often told, that he went up to inscribe his name, and ascended so high that he found it more difficult to return than to go forward. He could have returned easily from the point where he disencumbered himself; but the fact that he did thus prepare so early, and so near the ground, and after he had ascended more than double that height on the other side, is clear proof, that to inscribe his name was not, and to climb the bridge is, his object. He had already inscribed his name above Washington himself, more than fifty feet. Around the face of this huge column, and between the clefts, he now moved, backwards and forwards, still ascending, as he found convenient foothold. When he had ascended about one hundred and seventy feet from the earth, and had reached the point where the pillar overhangs the ravine, his heart seemed to fail him. He stopped and seemed to us to be balancing midway between heaven and earth. We were in dread suspense, expecting every moment to see him dashed in atoms at our feet. We had already exhausted our powers of entreaty in persuading him to return, but all to no purpose, Now it was perilous even to speak to him, and very difficult to carry on conversation at all, from the immense height to which he had ascended, and the noise made by the bubbling of the little brook as it tumbled in tiny cascades over its rocky bed at our feet. At length he seemed to discover that one of the clefts before mentioned retreated backward from the overhanging position of the pillar. Into this he sprang at once, and was soon out of sight and out of danger. There is not a word of truth in all that story about our hauling him up with ropes, and his fainting away as soon as he landed on the summit. Those acquainted with the localities will at once perceive its absurdity; for we were beneath the arch, and it is half a mile round to the top, and for the most part up a rugged mountain. Instead of fainting away, Mr. Piper proceeded down the hill to meet us and obtain his hat and shoes. We met about half way, and then he lay down for a few minutes to recover himself of his fatigue. -William Alexander Caruthers When George died William succeeded his father in the state legislature. William never married, and died young of typhoid in 1826. The Lynchburg Virginian, May 25, 1826. p. 3 col 3. William Reveley, Esq. died last Saturday. He was of Campbell County and one of the members - elect to the next legislature of Virginia.