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Alexander Spotswood became acting royal governor of Virginia in 1710, by which time pressure on the colony to expand had become more acute than ever. In 1716, Governor Spotswood, with about 50 other men and 74 horses, led a real estate speculation expedition up the Rappahannock River valley during westward exploration of the interior of Virginia. The journalist of this expedition was a Huguenot, Lieut. John Fontaine, who served as an officer in the British Army.
The party included fourteen rangers and four Meherrin Indians, and departed Germanna on August 29, coming within sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains on August 31. They continued upriver past today's Stanardsville, reaching the head of the Rappahannock on September 2. Fontaine recorded in his journal for September 5 that axemen had to clear the way along the path of what he called the "James River", but which was in fact a creek along the eastern slope named Swift Run, surrounded on all sides by steep mountain terrain. Swift Run is part of the James River drainage system. The expedition had followed the Rappahannock drainage system up to this point.
There they crossed the top ridge of the Blue Ridge mountains at Swift Run Gap (elevation 2,365 feet).
On September 6, 1716, they rode down into the Shenandoah Valley on the east side of Massanutten Mountain and reached the Shenandoah River, which they called the "Euphrates" near the current town of Elkton. There, they fired multiple volleys and drank special toasts of wine, brandy, and claret to the King and to Governor Spotswood, naming the two peaks after them.[1] The taller summit they called "Mount George", and the lesser, "Mount Spotswood". On the banks of the river they buried a bottle, inside which they had put a paper whereby Spotswood claimed the place in the name of George I. On September 7, the party returned home, reaching Germanna on September 10. After the journey, Spotswood gave each officer of the expedition a stickpin made of gold and shaped like a horseshoe on which he had inscribed the words in Latin "Sic juvat transcendere montes", which translates into English as "Thus, it is pleasant to cross the mountains." [2] The horseshoes were encrusted with small stones and were small enough to be worn from a watch chain.[3] The members of Governor Spotswood's expedition soon became popularly known as the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe."