https://sites.radford.edu/~jtso/GeologyofVirginia/VirginiasRivers/Drainage-1.html
American Civil War- importance of Richmond Virginia as capital for the south confederate Forces
Taken from journal of John Fontaine, Virginia 1713-Knight of the Golden Horseshoe
. John Fontaine, son of Rev. James Fontaine (Huguenot), and brother of the Rev. Peter Fontaine and of the Rev. James Fontaine, clergymen of the Church of England in Virginia, was an ensign in the British army. He came to Virginia in 1713, for the purpose of exploring the country and choosing lands for the settlement of the family when they should come over. He made the acquaintance of Governor Spotswood at Williamsburg, and under his auspices visited the new settlement at Gei’manna, and accompanied Spotswood to his Indian school at Christanna, on the Meherrin River, and also on his expedition over the great mountains.The recent publication of this journal rescues the facts from traditionary perversions and restores them to their true historical proportions. From him (an eye-witness) we learn that Governor Spotswood came from Williamsburg by way of Chelsea (King William) and Robert Beverly’s (Middlesex), where the Governor left his chaise, and bringing Beverly along, came on horseback to Germanna, where, on the 26th August, 1716, they were met by other gentlemen, four Meherrin Indians, and two small companies of rangers. The names of the gentlemen of the party, deduced in part from the camps which were called after them, were : Governor Spotswood, John Fontaine, Robt. Beverly, the historian ; Col. Robertson, Dr. Robinson, Taylor Todd, Mason, Captains Clonder, and Smith, and Brooke, the ancestor of the late Judge Brooke. Campbell says : —” The whole company was about fifty persons. They had a large number of riding and pack-horses, an abundant supply of provisions, and an extraordinary variety of liquors.” There have been divers opinions about the route which this gay company of young bloods pursued, and the gap at which they passed the mountains. The starting point (Germanna) is fixed, and the ter- minus, we think, by the light of Fontaine’s Journal,,is just as certain. We have seen that Beverly (of the party) says ” he was with Governor Spotswood at the head-springs of the York and Rappahannock Elvers.” We shall presently see that Fontaine says ” we passed from the head-waters of the Rappahannock to the head-waters of the James in a few hours.” Now as Swift Run Gap is the only “pass” which the headwaters of York, James, and Rappahannock rivers approximate, and as Swift Run, a branch of the James, flows down the eastern gorge of the gap from a spring whose present site, description, and relations to another spring flowing down the western declivity correspond with Fontaine’s account of them, we are shut up to the conclusion that Swift Run Gap is the historical pass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_Golden_Horseshoe_Expedition
Swift Run Gap is a long-used and historic crossing in the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 1716, Royal Governor Alexander Spotswood of the Virginia Colony, with 62 other men and 74 horses, led a real estate speculation expedition up the Rapidan River valley during westward exploration of the interior of Virginia. The party reached the top of the Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap on September 5, 1716. Upon descending into a portion of the Shenandoah Valley on the east side of Massanutten Mountain, they reached a point near the current town of Elkton, where they celebrated their arrival on the banks of the Shenandoah River with multiple volleys and special toasts of brandy and claret to the King and the Governor, naming a peak for each.[2][3]
After the journey, Spotswood gave each member of the expedition a pin made of gold and shaped like a horseshoe on which he had inscribed the words in Latin “Sic jurat transcendere montes”, which translates in English to “Thus he swears to cross the mountains.” The members of Governor Spotswood’s expedition soon became popularly known as the “Knights of the Golden Horseshoe.” A historical plaque and pyramid-shaped stone mark their historic crossing of 1716.[4]
The Swift Run Gap Turnpike, a privately owned toll road, was first completed through Swift Run Gap in the early 19th century. In the 1840s, plans for the Louisa Railroad (renamed the Virginia Central Railroad in 1850) originally anticipated crossing the Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap to reach Harrisonburg, but projected construction costs after surveying were prohibitive.[5] This was primarily due to the steepness of the terrain on the eastern slope. Addressing the dilemma, Claudius Crozet, the legendary Chief Engineer of the Virginia Board of Public Works, determined that a system of tunnels at Rockfish Gap, about 30 miles (48 km) to the south, would be more feasible. Despite later technological advances, no railroad crossing was ever attempted at Swift Run Gap.
Today the two-lane U.S. Route 33 at the lower elevations follows a small creek named Swift Run west from Stanardsville, but then about halfway up, requires multiple horseshoe curves on the steep grades of the eastern slope, as it ascends an increasingly winding pathway to reach Swift Run Gap.
Major General Francis H. Smith was the first Superintendent, 1839–1889, and first part-time Commandant (VMI commandants were part-time until 1907) of the new Virginia Military Institute VM