History of Wheeling City and Ohio Co. WV - Chapters VI-VIII



CHAPTER VI. CONFLICTING TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND VIRGINIA 
BASIS OF CLAIMS--RIVAL LAND OFFICES--DR. JOHN CONNOLLY APPOINTED VICE-
GOVERNOR OF THE DISTRICT OF WEST AUGUSTA--PROCLAMATION OF LORD DUNMORE--
ARBITRARY ACTS OF THE VICE-GOVERNOR--MEMORIALS TO CONGRESS AND TO THE 
HOUSE OF DELEGATES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA--EFFORTS TO SETTLE 
THE DISPUTES--MEETING OF COMMISSIONERS FROM VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA--
THEIR SETTLEMENT OF THE DIFFICULTIES RATIFIED. 

We return now to the consideration of a question which agitated for some 
years the feelings of the early inhabitants both of the western border of 
Virginia and of the southwestern section of Pennsylvania, and in which 
passion and anger at intervals threatened to break out into open 
hostilities. 

The following account of this controversy, written by the editor of this 
book, was furnished by him to the "History of the Upper Ohio Valley," from 
which it is taken: 

The boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, defining the 
jurisdiction of these two colonies, had for several years prior to 1774 
been a subject of controversy. At the close of Dunmore's campaign, the 
excitement of the inhabitants of Westmoreland (a county which had been 
established in the year 1773 by the legislature of the first named colony) 
and those of Augusta county, Virginia, began to assume a threatening 
character, occasioned by the state of Pennsylvania including in the new 
county all of the territory in dispute between the colonies. The origin of 
this difficulty is traceable mainly to the indefinite provisions of their 
charters and the loose manner in which they were worded, thus involving 
their respective boundaries in uncertainty and doubt. In 1773 Lord 
Dunmore, the colonial governor of Virginia, attempted to enforce the 
jurisdiction over the territory around the headwaters of the Ohio, 
claiming it as being within the boundaries of Augusta county, Virginia. 
Virginia claimed title under the charter of James I, granted in the year 
1606, while Pennsylvania claimed title under the charter issued by Charles 
II, in 1681. 

The ideas of geography, so far as the Western Continent was concerned, in 
those early days, were rather crude and indefinite. The controversy 
between Lord Dunmore and Governor Penn in regard to the disputed territory 
waxed very warm, and in the year 1774 had reached a high state of 
excitement. Two separate authorities claimed jurisdiction over it; and the 
inhabitants of the territory in dispute recognized the one or the other as 
it suited their individual tastes and inclinations. Warrants conveying 
titles to the same lands were issued under the authority of both colonies, 
the result of which was to encourage quarrels and disputes and arouse the 
most embittered feelings among the settlers. 

In the year 1774 Governor Dunmore opened offices for the sale of lands in 
what are now the counties of Fayette, Washington, Allegheny and Greene, in 
the state of Pennsylvania, which were issued at the rate of two shillings 
and six pence as fees. The price paid per acre was 10 shillings, but even 
this sum was not, in many instances, demanded. 

The price per 100 acres charged by the Pennsylvania land office was 
greatly in excess of that charged by the Virginia offices, amounting to 
about $25. Hence, the inducement to purchase from the Virginia offices in 
preference to the Pennsylvania office had a prevailing influence with the 
settlers. 

In the year 1774 Dunmore determined to take advantage of the unsettled 
condition of affairs on the western border, and accordingly appointed Dr. 
John Connolly as vice-governor and commandant of the district of West 
Augusta, a rash and unscrupulous man, who with a force of Virginia 
militia, seized Fort Pitt and held it as the property of Virginia, and 
changed its name to Fort Dunmore. The nearest court at the time was at 
Staunton, Virginia. The distance from the western border to that town 
being so great and the condition of the country being so unsettled, led to 
the establishment at Fort Pitt of a court, of which Connolly was one of 
the justices. Upon the return of Lord Dunmore, from his campaign against 
the Indians, to Fort Pitt, he issued a proclamation with a view of 
quelling the disturbances prevailing in the disputed territory and warning 
the inhabitants not to obstruct the administration of His Majesty's 
government as he had reason to apprehend. The document we here subjoin: 

"Whereas, I have reason to apprehend that the government of Pennsylvania, 
in prosecution of the claims to Pittsburgh and its dependencies, will 
endeavor to obstruct His Majesty's government thereof, under my 
administration, by illegal and unwarrantable commitment of the offices I 
have appointed for that purpose, and that settlement is in some danger of 
annoyance from the Indians also, and it being necessary to support the 
dignity of His Majesty's government and protect his subjects in the quiet 
and peaceable enjoyment of their rights, I have therefore thought proper, 
by and with the consent and advice of His Majesty's council; by this 
proclamation in His Majesty's name to order and require the officers of 
militia in that district to embody a sufficient number of men to repel any 
insult whatsoever, and all His Majesty's liege subjects within this colony 
are hereby strictly required to be aiding and assisting therein, or they 
shall answer the contrary at their peril; and I further enjoin and require 
the several inhabitants of the territories aforesaid to pay such officers 
as are or shall be appointed to collect the same within this dominion 
until His Majesty's pleasure therein shall be known." 

This proclamation indicates to some extent the feeling prevailing in the 
Upper Ohio Valley at that day. The prevailing state of affairs was the 
more to be deprecated from the circumstances surrounding the political 
situation of the colonies at this period, which were making the necessary 
preparations at the time to meet the approaching storm of war, which 
threatened in a few months at the furthest to develop into actual conflict 
between the mother country and the colonies. The conservative and 
patriotic citizens of each colony exerted their influence in endeavoring 
to quell the passions and excitements of the hours, but in vain. The 
passions of the masses appear to have become more inflamed and their 
excitement to have increased. Deeming it the best mode to arrive at a 
solution of the difficulty, it was proposed finally to petition Congress 
to establish a new state, in which was to be included the disputed 
territory. Hence as petition to this effect was presented to Congress 
proposing the fourteenth state. In this petition was set forth the 
conflicting claims of the two states, and also justly complaining of the 
laying of land warrants on land claimed by others, which had been issued 
by Dunmore's officers. The unfortunate state of affairs existing at the 
time will be more evident from a circular letter, addressed to the 
discontented inhabitants and appealing to their patriotism, to desist from 
extreme measures, and to exercise a spirit of mutual forbearance. This 
letter was issued by the delegates from the two states in Congress, and 
bears the date of Philadelphia, July 25, 1775, and is as follows: 

To the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Virginia on the west side of Laurel 
Hill: 

"Friends and Countrymen: It gives us much concern to find that 
disturbances have arisen and still continue among you, concerning the 
boundaries of our colonies. In the character in which we now address you, 
it is unnecessary to inquire into the origin of those unhappy disputes, 
and it would be improper for us to express our approbation or censure on 
either side; but as representatives of two of the colonies, united among 
many others for the defense of the liberties of America, we think it our 
duty to remove as far as lies in our power every obstacle that may prevent 
her sons from co-operating as vigorously as they would wish to do toward 
the attainment of this great and important end. Influenced solely by this 
motive, our joint and earnest request to you is, that all animosities, 
which have heretofore subsisted among you, as inhabitants of district 
colonies, may now give place to generous and concurring efforts for the 
preservation of everything that can make our common country dear to us. 

"We are fully persuaded that you, as well as we, wish to see your 
differences terminate in this happy issue. For this desirable purpose we 
recommend it to you, that all bodies of armed men, kept up under either 
province, be dismissed; that all those on either side who are in 
confinement, or under bail for taking part in the contest, be discharged; 
and that until the dispute be decided, every person be permitted to retain 
his possessions unmolested. By observing these directions the public 
tranquility will be secured without injury to the titles on either side; 
the period, we flatter ourselves, will soon arrive when this unfortunate 
dispute, which has produced much mischief and, as far as we can learn, no 
good, will be peaceably and constitutionally determined. 

We are your friends and countrymen: 
John Dickinson
George Ross
P. Henry
Richard Henry Lee
B. Franklin
Benj. Harrison
James Wilson
Th. Jefferson
Chas. Humphreys 
Philadelphia, July 25, 1775 

Such was not only the state of affairs at the time the foregoing document 
bears date, but such they continued to be in 1776, at the time of the 
declaration of our independence. Neither the kindling of the flames of the 
Revolution, nor the conciliatory and kind letters of the delegates in 
Congress from the two colonies, nor the patriotic and earnest appeals of 
individuals, had the effect of wholly quenching the spirit of bitterness 
and prejudice which had been enkindled and which continued to smolder and 
at intervals to burst forth in fearful intensity and power. It was 
believed at the time and this belief, in part at least, appeared to have 
been confirmed by subsequent events, that it was the policy of Lord 
Dunmore to fan the flames of discord and to keep alive the jealousies 
existing between the discontented of the two colonies as the issue between 
mother country and the colonies was rapidly assuming shape, and the hour 
for decisive action was near at hand. Hence, if he could succeed in 
embroiling the inhabitants of this region in internecine quarrels and at 
the same time to turn loose upon them the savages as allies of the mother 
country, his sagacity assured him that to that extent at least he would 
paralyze the energies of the colonists and compromise their cause. As has 
been supposed, with a view of accomplishing this purpose, he had appointed 
Dr. John Connolly as an instrument, who could be depended upon. As 
heretofore stated, Connolly took possession of Fort Pitt, and proceeded to 
repair and build it, and changed its name. This man Connolly was a native 
of Lancaster county, in the state of Pennsylvania, and was a Tory of the 
deepest dye. He was an unprincipled schemer and withal extremely 
ambitious. He devoted himself earnestly to the work which he had in hand 
and ingeniously kept alive the broils and trouble existing between the 
inhabitants of the two colonies. Some of the means employed by him 
consisted in the arrest and imprisonment of unoffending magistrates for no 
other reason than that they held commissions from the governor of 
Pennsylvania and were acting under the authority of these commissions. 
These persons he would send to Virginia for trial on treasonable charges. 
The property of individuals deemed by him to be personally obnoxious, he 
unhesitatingly confiscated or destroyed. Private houses were entered and 
carefully searched for letters or documents with the purpose of finding 
evidence which might compromise them or in some manner involve them as 
being criminally guilty of offenses. He also insolently abused those 
individuals who did not think, speak or act as he did, as enemies. The 
more surely to attach himself and to secure his services, Dunmore made him 
a grant of 2,000 acres of land at the Falls of the Ohio, where the city of 
Louisville now stands. He occupies in local history the same unenviable 
notoriety which Arnold does in national history. Both were traitors to 
their country - both were the victims of licentious wickedness and 
unbridled ambition - both were unprincipled and treacherous - both sold 
themselves and would, if they could have accomplished it, have sold their 
country for British gold, as they in fact attempted to do, but failed in 
the effort, and both merited the gibbet. To complete their likeness, both 
were placed on half pay on the British establishment as a further reward 
for their treason to their country. 

A few years since, the writer discovered among the papers of the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society, a document which has never been published 
heretofore and which was found among the papers of Hon. Jasper Yeates, 
which had, just before the writer's discovery, been turned over to that 
society. The writer was subsequently informed that the original was lost 
and could not be found. If this is so, this copy taken by me at the time 
is, so far as we are aware, the only one in existence. Judge Yeates was a 
distinguished jurist of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. In the year 1776 
he was sent by the Continental Congress to Fort Pitt to act as 
commissioner of Indian affairs. In 1774 he had been a member of the 
committee of correspondence of Lancaster county. He was one of the judges 
of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from the year 1801 to the year 1817, 
and was also a member of the convention which ratified the Constitution of 
the United States. He also published reports of cases decided by the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was a man of fine abilities, scholarly 
and refined, and exercised a guiding and directing influence in shaping 
the future greatness and growing destiny, as well as in forming and 
shaping of history, of his native state. A man of enterprise and great 
public spirit, he has left behind him as a proud heritage the noble record 
of a well-spent, exceptional and honorable life. 

The document above referred to sets forth the differences and complaints 
of the inhabitants in the disputed territory, and their request to be 
established as a separate state. The length of the document, which is in 
the form of a petition, does not detract from its value and importance. 
Jacob, in his "Life of Captain Cresap," has a brief reference to this 
page, but declined to publish it on account of its length. But as it fits 
into the boundary question and is a part of its history, no apology is 
needed for its publication. It is as follows, verbatim et literatim: 

To the Honorable the President and Delegates of the thirteen united 
American Colonies in General Congress assembled: 

The Memorial of the Inhabitants of the Country, West of the Alleghany 
Mountains represents: 

That - Whereas the Provinces of Pennsylvania & Virginia set up Claims to 
this large and extensive Country, which for a considerable comitants & 
pernicious & destructive Effects of discordant & contending Jurisdictions, 
innumerable Frauds, Impositions, Violences, Depredations, Feuds, 
Animosities, Divisions, Litigations, Disorders & even with the Effusion of 
human Blood, to the utter Subversion of all Laws human & divine of 
Justice, Order, Regularity & in a great Measure even of Liberty itself & 
must unless a timely speedy Stop be put to them in all Probability 
terminate in a Civil War, which how far it may effect the Union of the 
Colonies & the General Cause of America, we lean to your prudent, 
impartial & Serious Consideration. 

And Whereas (exclusive of & as an Addition & further aggregation to the 
many accumulated Injuries & Miseries and complicated & insupportable 
Grievances & Oppressions, we already labor under, in Consequences of the 
aforesaid Claims & the Controversies, etc. thereby occasioned the 
fallacies, Violences, and fraudulent Impositions of Land Jobbers, Officers 
& Partisans of both Land Officers & others under the Sanction of the 
Jurisdiction of their respective Provinces, the Earl of Dunmore's 
Warrants, Officer's & Soldier's Rights & an Infinity of other Pretexts, in 
which they have of late proceeded so far, as in express Contradiction to 
the Declaration of the Continental Commissioners made on the ninth day of 
October 1775 at the Treaty of Fort Pitt made encroachments on the Indian 
Territorial Rights by improving laying Warrants & Officers Claims & 
Surveying some of the Islands in the Ohio and Tomahawking (or as they term 
it) imposing in a Variety of Places on the Western side of the said River, 
to the great, imminent & Manifest Danger of the involving if the Country 
in a bloody, ruinous & destructive War with the Indians, a people 
extremely watchful, tenacious & jealous of their Rights, Privileges & 
Liberties, and already it is to be doubted, too much inclined to a Rupture 
and Commencement of Hostilities from the Persuasions & Influences of 
British Emissaries, Agents & Officers & the little attention unfortunately 
hitherto paid to them by the American Confederacy in Conciliating their 
affections, Confidence and Friendship:) there are a number of private or 
other Claims to Lands within the Limits of this Country, equally 
embarrassing & perplexing: George Croghan Esquire, in various Tracts, 
Claims Land by Purchase from the Six Nations in 1748 & confirmed to him at 
the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 to the Amount by Computation of 200,000 
Acres on which are settled already 150 or 200 Families: Major William 
Trent in Behalf of himself & the Traders who suffered by the Indian 
Depredations in 1763 another large Tract containing at least 4,000,000 of 
Acres by Donation & Cession of the six Nations aforesaid at the aforesaid 
Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 & on which 1,500 or 2,000 Families are 
already Settled: and there was on the 4th day of January 1770 a Certain 
Contract & Purchase made by the Honorable Thomas Walpole & Associates 
(including the Ohio Company & the Officers & Soldiers in the Service of 
the Colony of Virginia Claiming under the Engagements of that Colony in 
the year 1754) under the name of the Grand Ohio or Vandalia Company with & 
of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury on Behalf of Crown for an 
Extensive Tract of Country within the Purchase & Cession from the 
aforesaid Six Nations & their Confederates at the said Treaty of Fort 
Stanwix aforesaid made & by his Majesty's Special Command & Direction 
notified to the Indians of the Western Tribes of the aforesaid Confederacy 
on the 3rd day of April 1773, by Alexander McKee, Esq. Deputy Agent of the 
Western Department for Indian Affairs on the claims of Scioto, who by 
their Answer of the 6th of the Same Month expressed their Approbation 
thereof, & Satisfaction & Acquiescence therein, at the same time justly 
observing that for the Peace of the Country it was as necessary for 
Prudent People to govern White Settlers as for the Indians to take Care of 
their foolish young men. This is a country of at least 240 Miles in Length 
from the Kittanning to opposite the mouth of Scioto 70 or 80 in Breadth 
from the Alleghany Mountains to the Ohio, rich, fertile & healthy even 
beyond a credibility & peopled by at least 25,000 Families since the year 
1768 (a population we believe scarce to be paralleled in the Annals of any 
Country. Miserably distressed & harassed & rendered a scene of the most 
consumate Anarchy & Confusion by the Ambition of some & Averice of others, 
and its wretched Inhabitants (who through almost insuperable Difficulties, 
Hardships, Fatigues & Dangers at the most imminent Risque of their lives, 
their little all & every thing that was dear & Valuable to them, were 
endeavoring to secure an Asylum & a safe Retreat from threatening Penury 
for their tender & numerous Families with which they had removed from the 
lower Provinces & settled themselves in different Parts of the afore said 
Lands & Claims. Agreeable to the usual Mode of Colonization & Ancient 
equitable & long established Custom & usage of the Colonies, the Rights of 
Pre-Emption whenever those Lands could be rightfully & legally conveyed & 
disposed of after surmounting every other obstacles to their hopes, their 
wishes, their Expectations now unhappily find themselves in a worse & more 
deplorable situation than whilst living on the poor barren rented Lands in 
their various respective Provinces below; through Party Rage, the 
Multiplicity of Proprietory Claims & Claimants & the Precariousness & 
Uncertainty of every kinds of Property from the fore cited causes, the 
want of regular Administration of Justice & of a due & proper Execution & 
Exertion of a system of Laws & Regulations & Mode of Polity & Government 
adapted to their peculiar Necessities, local Circumstances & Situation & 
its Inhabitants, who through neighter Politicians, Courtiers nor orators, 
are at least a rational & Social People, inured to hardships & Fatigues & 
by Experience taught to despise Dangers & Difficulties, & having 
immigrated from almost every Province of America, brought up under & 
accustomed to vareous different & in many respects discordant and even 
contradictory Systems of Laws & Government & since their being here from 
the want of Laws & order irritated & exasperated by ills & urged & 
compelled by oppressions & sufferings, & having imbided the highest & most 
extensive ideas of Liberty, as the only pure efficient Source of happiness 
& Prosperity will with difficulty submit to the being annexed to or 
Subjugated by (Terms Synonomous to them) any one of those Provinces, much 
less the being partitioned or parcelled out among them, or be prevailed on 
to Entail a State of Vassalage & Dependence on their Posterity or suffer 
themselves who might be the happiest & perhaps not the least useful Part 
of the American Confederacy as forming a secure extensive & Effectual 
Frontier & Barrier against the Incursions, Ravages, Depredations of the 
Western savages to be enslaved by any set of Proprietary or other 
claimants or arbitrarily deprived & robbed of those Land & that country to 
which by the Laws of Nature & of Nations they are entitled as first 
occupants & for the Possessions of which they have resigned their all & 
exposed themselves & Families to Inconveniences, Dangers & Difficulties 
which language itself wants word to express & describe, whilst the Rest of 
their Countrymen sottened by Ease, enervated by Affluence & Luxurious 
Plenty & accustomed to Fatigues, Hardships, Difficulties or Dangers are 
bravely Contending for & Exerting themselves on Behalf of a 
Constitutional, National, rational & Social Liberty: 

We the Subscribers Inhabitants of the Country as aforesaid therefore by 
Lean- hereby plenarily, amply & specially delegated, interested, authorize 
& impowered to act & to do for us on this occasion as our Representatives, 
Solicitors, Agents & Attornies Humbly to represent to you, as the 
Guardians, Trustees & Curates, Conservators & Defences of all that is dear 
to us or valuable to Americans, that in our opinions no Country or People 
can be either rich, flourishing, happy or free (the only laudable 
rightful, useful, warrantable & rational Ends of Government) to enjoy the 
Sweets of Liberty, the Love & Desire of which is radically impressed or 
Self Existent with & animates & actuates every brave, generous, humane, 
and honest soul, and for which every American Breast at this time pants & 
glows with an unusual Flow of Warmth & Expectation & with redoubled Zeal 
and Ardor whilst annexed to or dependent on any Province whose Seat of 
Government is those of Pennsylvania or Virginia four or five hundred miles 
distant and Separated by vast, extensive & almost impassable Tract of 
Mountains by Nature itself formed & pointed out as a boundary between this 
Country & those below it, that Justice might be both Tedious & Expensive, 
the Execution of the Laws dilatory & perhaps mercenary, if not arbitrary ; 
Redress of Grievances precarious and Slow and the Country so Situated 
without participating of any of the Advantages, Suffer all the 
Inconveniences of such a Government & be continually exposed, as we 
already too well know by Dear bought & fatal experience, to the Violence, 
Frauds, Depredations, Exactions, Oppressions of interested, ambitious, 
designing, insolent, avaricious, rapacious, & mercenary Men and Officers. 

And pray that the Said Company be constituted declared & acnowledged a 
separate, distinct, and Independent Province & Government by the Title and 
under the Nature of - "the Providence & Government of Westsylvania" be 
empowered & enabled to form such Laws & Regulations & such a System of 
Polity & Government as is best adapted & most agreeable to the peculiar 
Necessities, local Circumstances & Situation thereof & its inhabitants 
invested with every other Power, Right, Privilege & Immunity, vested, or 
to be vested in the other American Colonies, be considered as a Sister 
Colony & the fourteenth Province of the American Confederacy: that its 
Boundaries Beginning at the Eastern Branch of the Ohio opposite the mouth 
of the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Scioto & running thence in a direct 
Line to the top of the Alleghany Mountains, thence with the tops of said 
Mountain to the Northern Limits of the Purchase made from the Indians in 
1768, at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix aforesaid, thence with the said Limits 
to the Allegheny or Ohio River, and thence down the said River as 
purchased from the Indians at the aforesaid Treaty of Fort Stanwix to the 
Beginning. 

And that for the more effectual Prevention of all future & Further Frauds 
and Impositions being practiced upon us, thereby all Property or other 
Claims or Grants heretofore, by, or to whomsoever made of Lands within the 
aforesaid Limits of the said Province be discountenanced & Suspended to 
all Intent & Purposes, until approved of & Confirmed by the Legislature 
Body of the said Province with & under the Approbation & Sanction of the 
General Congress, or Grand Continental Council of State of the United 
American Colonies. 

And your Memorialities, as by all the Ties of Duty, Interest & Honor bound 
as Americans, Brethren & Associates, embarked with you in the Same Arduous 
and glorious Cause of Liberty & Independency shall ever Pray that your 
Councils & Endeavors for the Common Good, may be continually attended, 
blessed & crowned with a never ceasing & uninterrupted Series of Success, 
Happiness & Prosperity. 

This document, so verbose and quaint in style, has the following 
indorsement: "Memorial to Congress for erecting the government of 
Westsylvania 1776". In less than a century after this document was penned 
the greater portion of the territory is proposed to establish "as the 
fourteenth province of the American Confederacy," was admitted into the 
Union as a separate and distinct state under the name of West Virginia. 

The proposals contained in the foregoing memorial for the accommodation of 
the disputes between the counties of Westmoreland, in Pennsylvania, and 
West Augusta, in Virginia, it would appear, did not represent the 
unanimous sentiment of the inhabitants of West Augusta, and hence a 
committee of this latter district, as representatives of the conservative 
portion of its inhabitants, in the fall of 1776 drafted the following 
address and memorial to the house of delegates of the general assembly of 
Virginia, with the purpose of inducing that body to take such steps as in 
its wisdom might be deemed best to arrest the contemplated object which 
that paper had in view. We give it literally and in the form in which it 
was originally drafted: 

To the Honorable, The Speaker of the lower House of Assembly of the 
Commonwealth of Virginia:

Most humbly sheweth
That you Memorialists conceiving themselves in some sort the Guardians of 
the rights of the people in this Frontier County find themselves under the 
indispensable necessity of representing to your Honorable House Some 
matters which they have lately learned. 

A number of designing Persons influenced by motives of Interest & Ambition 
about the beginning of July last have set on foot a Memorial to the 
Honorable Continental Congress, praying that a Tract of Country Beginning 
{here are inserted the boundaries and discriptions as given in the 
memorial we have heretofore recited} might be constituted declared & 
acknowledged a district and independent government by the Title of the 
Government of Westsylvania; and in prosecution of this, their favorite 
Scheme, the persons aforesaid have dispersed Advertisements throughout the 
Country recommending it to the Inhabitants of the different Districts to 
meet at their respective Places of appointment, to give voice whether they 
would join in a Petition to Congress for their Interposition in settling 
the unhappy Disputes which have prevailed in these parts, or whether they 
should not immediately colonize themselves by their own authority & send 
their Delegates to Congress to represent them as the fourteenth Link, in 
the American Chain, the Copies of which said Memorial & Advertisement we 
now do ourselves the Honour of transmitting to you for the Consideration 
of your House, your Memorialists humbly beg leave to observe, that in 
Consequence of the Scheme aforesaid and the Measures taken to effect it, 
this Frontier Country is divided & distracted by jarring views and 
Contradictory Opinions concerning public Operations: - the Rigour & Energy 
of Government & of its inhabitants instead of consulting the safety of the 
whole as their only security & Happiness assiduously attach themselves to 
their own private Views & Interests, regardless of the Obligations of 
Gratitude for the many great Sums expended by the State of Virginia for 
their Defence &Protection. Your Memorialists cannot but consider the 
present Scheme of a new Government as infallibly productive of the same 
Mischiefs & Disorders which have lately been experienced by the 
Inhabitants of this Government from the unsettled Limits of the State of 
Virginia & Pennsylvania which all good men most sincerely wish to be 
happily accommodated. 

Your Memorialists therefore humbly pray that your Hon'ble House will take 
Such Steps in the premises and make such necessary Regulations, to Insure 
Union to the Inhabitants in these Time of Public Calamity & obviate the 
Unhappiness & Difficulties attendant on this wild scheme of a new 
Government, as the wisdom of your Hon'ble House may suggest to you. 

And your Memorialists as in duty bound will ever pray, etc. 

From a letter of Mr. Yeates, written by him from Pittsburg, under date of 
July 30, 1776, we learn that the memorial to Congress had been laid aside 
by its originators and abandoned, and in lieu thereof an advertisement had 
been published and circulated among the inhabitants of the disputed 
territory (as is mentioned in the memorial address to the speaker of the 
house of delegates of Virginia), suggesting "The dividing of the people of 
the proposed new government into districts and desiring them to choose 
convention men who are forthwith to meet and appoint delegates to 
represent them in Congress" "How shockingly," he explains in his letter, 
"are the people here divided! And to what ridiculous lengths are not most 
of them hastening?" He proceeds to say - "I cannot procure you the 
convention boundaries mentioned in my letter, but thus far I am well 
informed that the temporary line to be established reaches to the 
Bullock - seven miles from hence - the wrong way." Various suggestions 
were made from time to time for the settlement of the existing 
difficulties between the inhabitants of the disputed territory; but none 
of them proved to be acceptable and the question remained an open one. 
Among others the following entitled - "A proposal for accommodating the 
disputes between the counties of West Augusta and Westmoreland until the 
boundary between them can be settled," was submitted and its acceptance 
urged: 

"First, That the laws as far as respects the jurisdiction of the county of 
West Augusta, be exercised on the south side of the Youghiogheny River, 
and said river be considered as the boundary between the two counties in 
respect to the jurisdiction of their respective courts only. 

"Second. That the people, claiming under the county of Westmoreland, may 
continue to be represented at their capital as usual and have liberty to 
choose their representatives and all other officers of government, only 
their sheriffs, magistrates and constables shall not act in their office 
on the south side of said river: provided, always, that nothing herein 
contained shall tend to invalidate any judgment in the courts held 
heretofore for Westmoreland, but when a boundary is run they may execute 
such judgments on their side of the said boundary, anything herein to the 
contrary notwithstanding. 

"Third. That the inhabitants on the south side of the Youghiogheny and 
east of the Monongahela River as far as the Great Line, shall not pay 
taxes to either government until said boundary is settled, and all persons 
associated in the militia are to serve under the government they 
associated under. If the proposals shall meet the approbation of the 
public, the people of West Augusta shall meet at Mr. Martin Kemp's on the 
second Tuesday in November next, and those claiming under Westmoreland at 
Mr. Edward Cook's the same day, to choose six men to be their trustees to 
negotiate and confirm the above proposals," and bore date of October 18, 
1776. 

Thus it will be perceived that there was not wanting any effort on the 
part of the conservative inhabitants to settle their vexatious disputes, 
and to adjust in an amicable manner the questions at issue among them. The 
great drama of the Revolution had opened, and it was important that all 
sections of the country should be united and present a firm and unbroken 
front. The inhabitants of the disputed territory were not slow to realize 
this necessity, and they tacitly and very naturally subordinated their 
local issues to the more important, greater and more pressing issue of 
national independence, never, however, losing sight of the former, to 
which they clung with stubborn tenacity, but never allowing their 
sectional prejudices and feelings to interfere with their duty to the 
whole country. 

Thus while all attempts at adjustment among themselves for the time being 
proved to be abortive, yet with commendable zeal and forbearing grace they 
were untied in a common desire and common effort to throw off the yoke of 
foreign power and influence in the inspiring prospect of securing national 
autonomy and independence. 

The inhabitants of these Western wilds were a loyal and devoted people, 
else would they not have insisted so strenuously and persevered with such 
persistence for what they deemed to be their rights and privileges in that 
portion of the country in which they were more directly and individually 
interested. Their loyalty and devotion they thus demonstrated was not 
bounded by an insignificant section of the country as compared in 
territorial extent with the whole, but the common interests of the whole 
prompted them to give their labors and services to the promotion of the 
general weal and the advancement of the common welfare. Inured to 
privations and hardships from their earliest years, these sturdy pioneers 
were not deterred by the fear of danger, nor thwarted in their purpose by 
the appearance of difficulties. Their lives and pursuits had bred in them 
sternness of purpose and decision of character, while at the same time 
there was implanted in their bosoms the principles of a noble generosity 
and an open-hearted and frank hospitality. Hence they suffered not their 
individual interests and personal preferences to weigh in the scales 
against the great boon of national freedom, which the colonies were with a 
chivalrous determination to bend all their energies toward the 
accomplishment of so desirable an end. 

The importance of this question of territorial rights may be estimated 
from the fact that notwithstanding the stirring events of the times, and 
the consequent agitations and excitement of the period, the Virginia 
legislature felt it incumbent to take some decided action, inviting a 
settlement of the question by the establishment of a boundary line of 
delegates of Virginia, passed a resolution which was agreed to by the 
senate on the day following the passage of it by the house, appointing 
commissioners to settle the disputed boundary line between the two 
colonies. In June following the general assembly passed a resolution 
declaring "that three commissioners ought to be appointed to adjust the 
boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania whose proceedings were to be 
ratified or disagreed to by the general assembly." In accordance with this 
resolution, James Madison, Robert Andrews and Thomas Lewis were appointed 
commissioners on behalf of the state of Virginia. Pennsylvania, also 
having taken legislative action, appointed as commissioners on her part, 
George Bryan, John Ewing, and David Rittenhouse. 

The first meeting of the commissioners was held in the city of Baltimore 
on the 27th day of August, 1779. Thomas Lewis, one of the commissions from 
Virginia, was not present at this meeting. Upon assembling, the 
commissioners present from Virginia proposed that the commissioners from 
Pennsylvania should state their claim in writing so that the same might be 
specific and definite in its demands, to which proposition the latter 
acceded. Accordingly, the Pennsylvania commissioners lost no time in 
submitting the same, as on the day following they addressed a letter to 
the Virginia commissioners setting forth in extenso the nature of their 
claim, the grounds upon which they based it, and the conclusions to which 
they had arrived. Their views were not acceptable to the Virginia 
commissioners, and they replied to the Pennsylvania commissioners to that 
effect. This was followed by several propositions, and counter 
propositions from each side, none of which were favorably received, and 
hence were severally rejected. The indications for a time were that no 
arrangement acceptable to either could be arrived at, as the claims of 
neither seemed to be reconcilable. The individuals composing these 
respective commissioners were sincere as well as earnest in their desire 
to arrive at a fair and reasonable conclusion of the matter, which had 
been submitted to them, in a satisfactory manner, but each side was just 
as anxious as the other, at the same time, to protect the interest of the 
respective states represented by them. After some time had been consumed 
unsuccessfully in their efforts to arrive at an adjustment of their 
conflicting views and opinions, the Virginia commissioners finally offered 
as a compromise the following: 

"To continue Mason and Dixon's line due west five degrees of longitude, to 
be computed from the river Delaware, for your southern boundary, and will 
agree that a meridian drawn from the western extremity of this line to 
your northern limit shall be the western boundary of Pennsylvania." Hence, 
on the 31st day of August, 1779, this proposition, on the part of the 
Virginia commissioners, was accepted on the part of those representing 
Pennsylvania, and an agreement to that effect was duly entered into by the 
commissioners of the two states. On the 23rd of June, 1780, the agreement 
thus entered into was ratified and confirmed by the general assembly of 
Virginia. "On condition that the private property and rights of all 
persons acquired under, founded on, or recognized by, the laws of either 
country, previous to the date thereof, be saved and confirmed to them, 
although they should be found to fall within the other; and that in 
decision of disputes thereupon, preference shall be given to the elder or 
prior right, whichever of the said states the same shall have been 
acquired under, such persons paying to that state, within whose boundary 
their lands shall be included, the same purchase or consideration money 
which would have been due from them to the state under which they claimed 
the right; and when any such purchase or consideration money hath, since 
the Declaration of American Independence, been received by either state 
for lands which, according to the before recited agreement, shall fall 
within the territory of the other, the same shall be reciprocally refunded 
and repaid. And that the inhabitants of the disputed territory, now ceded 
to the state of Pennsylvania, shall not, before the first day of December, 
in the present year, be subject to the payment of any tax, not at any time 
to the payment of arrears or taxes, or impositions heretofore laid, by 
either state." At the same time the governor was empowered with the advice 
of the council to appoint two commissioners on behalf of Virginia, in 
conjunction with commissions to be appointed by the commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, to extend Mason and Dixon's line five degrees of longitude 
from the Delaware River and from the western termination of the same to 
run and mark a meridian line to the Ohio River, which was as far as it 
could be run at the time without fear of giving offense to the Indians. On 
the 22nd of September, 1780, the general assembly of Pennsylvania also 
ratified and confirmed an agreement entered into between the commissioners 
of the two states, at the date heretofore mentioned, and empowered the 
president and council of the state to appoint two commissions to act in 
conjunction with the commissioners to be appointed on the part of the 
state of Virginia. Thus, this disturbing element which had caused such 
intense strife and bitterness between the two states was forever 
eliminated from all future controversies, should such unfortunately ever 
arise between them. 



CHAPTER VII. MASON AND DIXON'S LINE

Mason and Dixon's line was based upon an agreement entered into on the 4th 
of July, 1760, between Lord Baltimore, of the province of Maryland, and 
Thomas Richard Penn, of the province of Pennsylvania, and the three lower 
counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on the Delaware, - on account of 
the very long litigations and the contests which had subsisted between 
these provinces form the year 1683. These parties mutually agreed, among 
other things, to appoint a sufficient number of discreet and proper 
persons, not more than seven on each side, to be their respective 
commissioners, with full power to the said seven persons or any three or 
more of them, for the actual running, marking and laying out of the said 
part of the circle (as mentioned in the charter of Charles II to William 
Penn), and the said before-mentioned lines. The commissioners were to fix 
upon their time of commencing said line not later than the following 
October, and proceed with all fairness, candor and dispatch; marking said 
line with stones and posts on both sides, and complete the same before the 
25th of December, 1763, so that no disputes may hereafter arise concerning 
the same. James Hamilton (governor), Richard Peters, Rev. Dr. John Ewing, 
William Allen (chief justice), William Coleman, Thomas Willing and 
Benjamin Chew were appointed commissioner on the part of the Penns. 
Horatio Sharpe (governor), J. Ridout, John Leeds, John Barclay, George 
Stewart, Dan of St. Thomas Janiefer and J. Beale Boardley, on behalf of 
Lord Baltimore. The board of commissioners met at New Castle, in November, 
1760, and each province selected its own surveyors. The Pennsylvania 
surveyors were John Lukens and Archibald McClain. Those of Maryland were 
John F.A. Priggs and Jonathan Hall. The commissioners and surveyors agreed 
that the peninsular lines from Henlopen to the Chesapeake, made under a 
decree of Lord Hardwicke in 1750, were correct, hence they fixed the court 
house at New Castle as the center of the circle, and the surveyors 
proceeded on this data to measure and mark the lines. James Veach, Esq., 
in his history of Mason and Dixon's line, says: "Three years were 
diligently devoted to finding the bearings of the western line of 
Delaware, so as to make it a tangent to the circle, at the end of a twelve-
mile radius. The instruments and appliances employed seem to have been 
those commonly used by surveyors. The proprietors residing in or near 
London grew weary of this slow progress, which, perhaps, the set down to 
the incompetency of the artists. To this groundless suspicion we owe the 
supersedure and the introduction of the new Mason and Dixon, who have 
immortalized their memory in the name of the principal line which had yet 
to be run." In August, 1763, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, of London, 
England, were selected by Lord Baltimore and the Penns to complete their 
lines, as per agreement made on the 4th of July, 1760, and says Mr. Veach, 
"With instruction and the most approved instruments, among them a four-
foot zenith sector, they go to work at once, erect an observatory on Cedar 
Street, Philadelphia, to facilitate the ascertainment of its latitude, 
which building they used by January, 1764, and it has been pronounced the 
first building erected in America for astronomical observations. They then 
go to New Castle, adopt the radius as measured by their predecessors, and, 
after numerous tracings of the tangent line, adopt also this tangent 
point, from which they say they could not make the tangent line pass one 
inch to the eastward or westward. They therefore, cause that line and 
point to be marked, and adjourn to Philadelphia to find the southern limit 
of Cedar or South Street This they could make to be 39 degrees, 56 
minutes, 29 seconds, while the latitude of the state has been marked as 39 
degrees, 56 minutes, 29 seconds. They then proceed to extend that latitude 
sufficiently far to the west to be due north of the tangent point, thence 
they measure down south 15 miles to the latitude of the great due west 
line, and run its parallel for a short distance, then they go to the 
tangent point and run due north to that latitude, and at the point of 
intersection, in a deep ravine, near a spring, they cause to be planted 
the corner-stone at which begins the celebrated Mason and Dixon's line." 
The graphic description of Mr. Veach continues: "Having ascertained the 
latitude of this line to be 39 degrees, 43 minutes, 32 seconds (although 
more accurate observations make it 39 degrees, 43 minutes, 26.8 seconds, 
consequently it is a little over 19 miles south 40 degrees as now located) 
they, under instructions, run it parallel to the Susquehanna, 23 miles; 
and having verified the latitude there, they return to the tangent point, 
from which they run the north line to the 15 mile corner and that part of 
the circle which it cuts off to the West, and which by agreement was to go 
to New Castle county. This little bow or arc is about a mile and a half 
long and its middle width is 116 feet. From the upper end where the three 
states join, to the 15 mile point, where the great Mason and Dixon's line 
begins, is a little over three and a half miles, and from the 15 mile 
corner due west to the circle is a little over three-quarters of a mile. 
This was the only part of the circle which Mason and Dixon run, Lord 
Baltimore having no concern in the residue; Penn, however, had it run and 
marked with 'four good notches' by Isaac Taylor and Thomas Pierson in 1700 
and 1701. Where it cuts the circle is the corner of three dominions, an 
important point, and therefore they cause it to be well ascertained and 
well marked. This brings them to the end of 1764." They resumed their 
labors in June, 1765. If to extend this parallel did not require so great 
skill as did the nice adjustments of the other lines and instructions, it 
summoned its performers to greater endurance. A tented army penetrates the 
forest, but their purposes are peaceful and they more merrily. Besides the 
surveyors and their assistants, there are chain-bearers, rodmen, axemen, 
commissioners, cooks and baggage carriers, with numerous servants and 
laborers. By the 27th of October they came to the north (Core or 
Kittatiny) mountain, 95 miles from the Susquahanna, and where the 
temporary line of the 1739 terminated. After taking Captain Shelby with 
them to its summit, to show them the course of the Potomac and point out 
the Alleghany Mountains, the surveyors returned to the settlements to pass 
the winter and to get their appointments renewed. Early in 1768 they are 
again at their posts, and by the 4th of June they are on the top of the 
Little Alleghany Mountain, the first west of Wilk Creek. They have now 
carried the line 160 miles from the beginning. The Indians, into whose 
ungranted territory they had deeply penetrated, grew restive and 
threatening. They forbid any further advance, and they had to be obeyed. 
The agents of the proprietors now find that there are other lords of the 
soil whose favor must be propitiated. The Six Indian Nations were the 
lords paramount of the territory yet to be traversed. To obtain their 
consent to the consummation of the line, the governors of Pennsylvania and 
Maryland, in the winter of 1766-67, at an expense of more than L500, 
procured, under the agency of Sir William Johnston, a convocation of the 
tribes of that powerful confederacy. The application was successful, and 
early in June, 1767, an escort of 14 warriors, with an interpreter and 
chief deputed by the Iroquois council, met the surveyors and their camp at 
the summit of the Great Alleghany to escort them down into the valley of 
the Ohio. Safety thus being secured, the extension of the line was pushed 
on vigorously in the summer of 1767. Soon the host of red and white men, 
led by the London surveyors, came to the western limit of Maryland, "the 
meridian of the first fountain of the Potomac," and why they did not stop 
there is a mystery, for there their functions terminated. But they passed 
it by unheeded, because unknown, resolved to reach the utmost limit of 
Penn's five degrees of longitude from the Delaware, for so were they 
instructed. By the 24th they came to the crossing of Braddock's road. The 
escort now became restless. The Mohawk chief and his nephew leave. The 
Shawnees and Delawares, tenants of the hunting grounds, grow terrific. On 
the 27th of September, when camped on the Monongahela River, 233 miles 
from the Delaware River, 26 of the laborers deserted and but 15 axemen 
were left. Being so near the goal, the surveyors (for none of the 
commissioners were with them) evinced their courage by coolly sending back 
to Fort Cumberland for aid, and in the meantime they pushed on. At length 
they came to where the line crosses the Warrior branch of the old Catawba 
warpath, at the second crossing of the Dunkard Creek, a little west of 
Mount Morris, Greene county, and there the Indian escort say to them that 
"they were instructed by their chiefs in council not to let the line be 
run westward of that path." Their commands were peremptory, and then for 
15 years Mason and Dixon's line is stayed. Mason and Dixon, with their 
pack-horse train and attendants, returned to the East without molestation, 
and reported to the commissioners, who approved their conduct, and on the 
27th of December, 1767, granted to them an honorable discharge and agreed 
to pay them an additional price for a map or plan of their work. 



CHAPTER VIII. SETTLEMENT OF THE CITY OF WHEELING
THE EARLY PIONEERS OF THIS REGION--FORT FINCASTLE--EBENEZER, JONATHAN AND 
SILAS ZANE, THE FIRST WHITE SETTLERS ON PRESENT SITE OF WHEELING--THEIR 
TOMAHAWK CLAIMS MARKED OUT--MRS. EBENEZER ZANE--ARRIVAL OF OTHER SETTLERS--
FRIENDSHIPS WITH INDIANS--TRANQUILITY OF THE REGION INTERRUPTED--MASSACRE 
OF INDIANS AT YELLOW CREEK--DUNMORE'S WAR--FORTIFICATION OF THE SETTLEMENT 
AT MOUTH OF WHEELING CREEK--DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT. 

The great Clock of Time has sounded the knell of a departed century in 
measured cadences while the swing to and fro of its mighty pendulum, 
constant as ever, passes not to remark its flight, and we are only made 
aware of its passage by the indications of the mighty hand which marks 
upon its dial-plate the record of yearly revolution. A new century draws 
upon us, filled with problems of its possibilities and expectations, and 
we dwell upon its expectations with the assurance that the future contains 
in store much more than is contained in the record of the past, that which 
will make for our prosperity. The vanishing form of the last century is 
growing less as it disappears in the distance, hastening to take its place 
beside its fellows in the fast receding and dim galleries of the past. 

The farewell to the old century and the greeting of the new are so 
simultaneous in point of time that the "good bye" to the one and the 
welcome to the other seemed to mingle just as in the sweetest strains of 
music there is always mingled a monotone of sadness. 

As we bid the old century farewell, let us in the very briefest manner 
recall some of its memories which pertain to us as a village, town and 
city. 

We are wont to dwell with deep and earnest interest upon the heroic deeds 
of valor and prowess, which history records as having been enacted by the 
mailed warrior upon the battlefield, or the gallant knight in the 
tourney's lists, and there is a fascinating power which surrounds the 
names of Richard Coeur de Lion, Peter the Hermit, Henry of Navarre and 
Saladin, as well as others whose names stand out prominently in equal 
conspicuity with those we have mentioned. But these men and their compeers 
were urged to the accomplishment of their purposes by the inspiriting 
reflection that the gaze of an admiring world rested upon them, which 
animated them with the hope of glory and inspired them with the promptings 
of ambition. 

But the pioneer of this Western world accomplished feats and performed 
deeds which, though uninspired by the hope of glory or promptings of 
military ambition, are inferior in lustre to none which have been traced 
by the pens of history. 

The lonely struggles and unselfish sacrifices of these modern heroes laid 
deep and lasting the permanent foundations of a mighty empire in these 
wilds which they cemented with their blood and hallowed by their deeds. 

Alone and unaided, the pioneer penetrated the intricate mazes of a 
labyrinthine forest his keen sight and acute hearing alone being his 
safest and surest guides. At night he would make his couch upon the green 
sward beneath the overhanging branches of some friendly forest tree, his 
sole companion his trusty rifle, and the stars looking down upon him from 
their azure heights as his solitary sentinels. Far removed, not only from 
all the comforts and conveniences of civilization, but severed also by 
wide-extended and far-stretching wilderness from the sympathy and 
companionship of his fellows, his life was one if struggle and trials - of 
constant surprises and hair-breadth escapes. 

From the very surroundings of his life, much that would have commanded the 
admiration of the multitude, and have awakened the wonder and interest of 
his fellow men, perished with its birth, never to be resurrected; and I 
take it that the unwritten and the lost abounded as much in the heroic and 
sublime as the little we have been able to rescue from the waters of 
oblivion. 

Surrounded as they were by perils, and exposed to most trying privations, 
they were never disheartened under the most discouraging circumstances, 
but with an unflagging spirit, a stern resolve and a reckless courage, 
they pressed forward in the face of difficulties and with a persistent 
perseverance overcame all obstacles. The jealousy and vindictiveness of 
the savage was not only aroused but intensified by this stubborn 
determination which characterized the white man, manifested among other 
ways by the new clearings made by the keen edge of his ringing axe, by the 
notched and girdled trees and by the surveying parties who with pole and 
chain would suddenly arrest the attention of the roving red man in the 
secret haunts of the forest. 

These and similar things excited upon their part on implacable hatred 
toward the white man which found vent in the acts of cruel barbarity and 
revengeful conduct. As a consequence, an anger as bitter and hostile was 
enkindled in the heart of the pioneer. It needed, therefore, but a sight 
of each other, and they rushed to the fatal conflict and the death 
grapple. 

It was during such times, amid such scenes, and surrounded by such 
influences as these that there appeared upon the stage such worthy and 
prominent characters as the Shepherds, the Bradys, the Boggs, the 
McCollochs, the Wetzels and the Zanes - classic names in the early 
settlement of West Virginia, and who planted the germ which has since 
grown and expanded into the present city of Wheeling. 

In the year 1770 Colonel Ebenezer Zane, the son of William Zane, then 
residing on the south branch of the Potomac, found his way to the banks of 
the Ohio. He was a young man fond of adventure, bold and athletic, and at 
the period which we refer was about twenty-two years of age. It was in the 
month of September in the year last named that his enraptured gaze was 
fascinated by all the richness of life and luxuriance of vegetation which 
marked the spot where now the busy hum of the city's industry has banished 
forever the silence and solitude of the forest. So pleased was he with the 
spot that he at once and without delay took up his "tomahawk right", which 
was effected by notching and girdling certain trees and carving his name 
on one or more of the same. Sometimes these tomahawk claims included a 
thousand aces and the claims thus made were always respected by the 
backwoodsmen, so much so that they were frequently the subject of purchase 
and sale among them. Young Zane did not linger long in his new found El 
Dorado, but hastened to return and make the necessary preparations for a 
final settlement in his new home. 

He returned in the spring of 1770, and with his brother Silas and John 
Caldwell made a clearing just above and at the mouth of Wheeling Creek. 
About this time they were joined by the McCollochs, Wetzels, Biggs and 
Shepherds, with a few others whose names we have been unable to ascertain. 
These we have mentioned were the original settlers of the present city of 
Wheeling and formed the nucleus of the community which subsequently formed 
its population. 

The Fort was erected in the spring of 1774 on a plan submitted by Colonel 
Angus McDonald and was erected under the supervision of Gen. George Rogers 
Clark by the land jobbers, settlers and surveyors and was called at first 
Fort Fincastle in honor of Lord Dunmore, then the royal governor of 
Virginia, whose title was Viscount Fincastle. In 1776 the name was changed 
to Fort Henry in honor of Patrick Henry, the first colonial governor of 
Virginia at the time of the Revolution. 

It stood on the brow of a bluff which in late years has been greatly 
reduced by grading, just above the present corner of Eleventh and Main 
streets, and on the west side of the latter street next to and overlooking 
the river. A few years after the establishment of Fort Henry two 
blockhouses were erected at the mouth of Wheeling Creek, one on either 
side of the same. The first mention we find of this fort is in the 
proceedings of the Virginia convention is a report made by a committee of 
that body on the 25th day of July, 1775, recommending "that two companies 
of 100 men each, besides officers, ought with all convenient speed be 
stationed at Fort Pitt, one other company of 100 men at Point Pleasant, 25 
men at Fort Fincastle at the mouth of Wheeling Creek and that 100 men be 
stationed at proper posts in the county of Fincastle for the protection of 
the inhabitants on the South-western frontiers, exclusive of the lower 
parts of the country." 

In the year 1776 the convention ordered the garrison at Fort Henry to be 
increased to 50 men, but neither of these orders, so far as we have been 
able to discover, were ever complied with. 

The fact is, except the forts located at Redstone, Pittsburg and Point 
Pleasant, which last named was erected in the summer of the year in which 
the fort at Wheeling was built, there were no other regularly garrisoned 
forts on the frontier. The defense of the fort at Wheeling, with one or 
two exceptions, was left to the settlers who under Providence always 
proved competent for the emergency in the faithful discharge of their 
responsibility. The ground occupied by the fort in subsequent years was 
known as "Zane's Reserve." 

After the defeat of the Indians by Colonel Boquet in the year 1764 and the 
prevalence of the peace which ensued, the inhabitants living east of the 
mountains in the colony of Virginia began to turn their attentions to the 
western borders of the colony and more particularly to that portion of the 
colony bordering on the waters of the Ohio and Monongahela as offering 
superior inducements for such as were seeking new locations. 

The planting of the germ of a community which subsequently developed into 
a town and then into a city known as Wheeling is mainly due to three 
brothers, viz: Ebenezer, Jonathan and Silas Zane, with a few others who 
were their companions, whose names have unfortunately not been preserved. 

On the late fall of the year 1769 the three brothers, together with Isaac 
Williams, two persons of the name of Robinson, and probably one or two 
others, all of whom were characterized by a like adventurous spirit and 
bold daring, set out from their homes on the south branch of the Potomac 
with the intention of settling and locating on some of the more western 
and fertile domains of the colony concerning which they had heard crude 
and indefinite reports through conversations in their neighborhood, 
obtained from chance parties who occasionally passed through their 
settlement, which aroused their curiosity to see and explore for 
themselves. Therefore the Zanes and their companions commenced their 
perilous journey which was to lead them over mountains and streams and 
through trackless forest in search of the new El Dorado which their 
imaginations clothed with all the charms of romantic interest. An early 
winter setting in, their progress was impeded by heavy snowfalls, which in 
the mountains had accumulated to such a depth as to almost retard their 
further progress, which was painfully slow and tedious. This, together 
with the bitterly cold weather which had set in, caused the members of the 
party to suffer severely from exposure and the hardships which they had to 
undergo. 

One of the members of the expedition, Robinson - one of the brothers of 
that name, - was reduced to such extremity by reason of the violence of 
the weather and the scarcity of provisions (it being difficult for the 
reasons given to secure game) that with a view of preserving his life, as 
well as to recruit their own exhausted frames, they reluctantly determined 
to retrace their steps and return for the time being to their respective 
homes, which they succeeded in effecting, but too late for the health of 
poor Robinson, who shortly after their return succumbed to an exhausted 
nature owing to exposure and the want of necessary sustenance. 

Far from being discouraged by reason of the experiences they had passed 
through in the preceding winter, in the spring of the following year 
Ebenezer Zane, accompanied by his two younger brothers, Jonathan and 
Silas, resolved to renew the effort which in the end proved more 
successful than did the venture of the preceding year, which had proven so 
disastrous to at least one of the party. 

Taking the old trail followed by the settlers and traders as well as by 
the Indians, they arrived in course of time at Redstone Fort (where 
Brownsville, Pennsylvania, is located). This fort had originally been 
erected as a storehouse by Captain Trent in the year 1754 for the supplies 
and munitions of the Ohio Company. 

In the latter part of 1759 Colonel James Burd had been sent out with 200 
men, by order of Colonel Boquet, then commanding the King's troops at 
Carlisle, to open and complete the road, which had been opened by 
Braddock, to the Monongahela River, at or near the mouth of Redstone, and 
there to erect a fort. The great object of Colonel Burd's expedition was 
to facilitate communications with this important fort from Maryland and 
Virginia by using the river. It was named Fort Burd, but in common, or 
even official, designation this title could never supplant the name of 
Redstone Fort. 

After remaining here for a time, which was spent by them in prospecting in 
the country adjacent and discovering that it did not wholly fulfill their 
expectations, the Zanes resolved to prosecute their investigations still 
further. 

Influenced by the encouraging reports brought in by the friendly Indians 
and traders who visited at the fort of a beautiful country bordering the 
waters of the Ohio River, the virgin soil of which had never been upturned 
by the ploughshare, and the solitude of whose wilderness recesses had 
never been disturbed by the sound of the woodman's axe, the pioneer spirit 
of these young men in the recklessness of its adventurous activity would 
not permit them to rest until they had penetrated its untrodden aisles, 
and with their own eyes verified the glowing reports they had heard of its 
wonderful possibilities and promises. 

Hence in the early part of the fall of this year they turned their backs 
on Redstone Fort and entered the mazes of the forest which spread out 
before them in lengthened distance and pushed forward in the 
accomplishment of the end which they had in view. They had prepared 
themselves with such provisions as they could conveniently carry, but 
which were necessarily limited in quantity. They were, therefore, 
compelled to depend more particularly on their guns and the dogs by which 
they were accompanied, for a more extended and varied supply, for in those 
days the deer, bear, wild turkey and smaller games abounded in great 
profusion. 

At this time Ebenezer was about 22 years of age, Jonathan about 20 and 
Silas about 18 or 19. After the lapse of some days, worn with constant 
travel and fatigue they had undergone (they journeyed on foot), they 
reached the waters of Wheeling creek, where they had a consultation 
between themselves and decided to follow the waters of that stream with a 
view of ascertaining where it debouched, feeling confident that it must 
flow into a larger one and probably, as they hoped, into the Ohio River, 
whose shores they were particularly anxious to reach. 

After a brief respite they resumed the course of their journey, which they 
continued until reaching a point from which the creek made a detour to the 
south. They climbed the adjacent hill, whose bold front opposed them, with 
the intention of saving time and distance, wisely reasoning that from its 
summit they could obtain a more extended view. 

Arriving at the summit, the view which presents itself to the gaze of the 
young woodsmen was simply grand and overpowering. For a time there were 
mute with astonishment as they looked upon the lovely panorama which 
nature unfolded to their enraptured vision. Here they unanimously agreed 
to look no further for a location, as this was to them the Ultima Thule of 
their hopes and wishes, and here they located their claims. 

Before doing so it is said they descended to the shore of the river and, 
making a raft, visited the opposite shore, which at first they deemed to 
be a portion of the mainland of the Ohio side of the river, but in this 
they were soon undeceived. A brief exploration revealed to them their 
mistake and they found they were on an island which like an emerald rested 
upon the bosom of the waters. Having completed their exploration, they 
returned in the same manner in which they had crossed. 

Upon returning to the main shore they marked out their claims in the usual 
manner of the early settlers. Ebenezer's included all that portion of the 
present city extending from what is now known as Tenth Street to the 
waters of Wheeling Creek on the south and bounded by the river on the west 
and the crown of the hill on the east. Jonathan's claim included the 
territory north of Tenth street, extending up the river northwardly as far 
as Jonathan's ravine (which took its name from its proprietor), while 
Silas made his claim at the "Forks of Wheeling", including a portion of 
what has since been known as the Cruger, or sometimes it is called the 
Shepherd, estate. For some reason he appears never to have followed up his 
claim, which appears to have been covered by the warrant issued to Joseph 
Tomlinson, assignee of Edward Miles. 

After erecting a rude cabin and fully satisfying themselves of the 
advantages of the different spots chosen by them, they laid their plans 
and made their arrangements for the future, when they should return to 
remain permanently. 

There is a tradition in the Zane family (for entertaining which, however, 
we have failed to find any reasonable ground) that it was decided that one 
of their number should remain to look after the improvements which had 
been made and to see that the tomahawk rights they had made were not 
interfered with by other white men who might wander into the region. 

It fell to the lot of Silas, the youngest brother, to exercise this 
supervision while the two - Ebenezer and Jonathan - returned to Redstone 
Fort. In this, it is said, he readily acquiesced, receiving the assurance 
of his brothers that they would return in the course of a few weeks and 
bring the family of Ebenezer, consisting of his wife and young son, and 
such implements, utensils and provisions as were necessary for the 
successful inauguration of the new settlement. Leaving with Silas a 
necessary quantity of ammunition and sharing with him their provisions, 
retaining only a bare sufficiency for their sustenance on their return 
journey, the brothers parted company. 

At the time of which we write the peace between the whites and the Indians 
was one rather in name than in fact, for each was apprehensive of the 
other and neither was disposed to place confidence in the professions of 
the other. 

Under this condition of affairs it was no pleasant duty which devolved 
upon Silas, the more so from the fact that this was one of the points 
where the Indian trail crossed the river, and over which roving bands of 
Indians, intent on hunting, plundering and rapine, where accustomed to 
pass. It, therefore, required great caution and the exercise of constant 
skill and ingenuity upon his part to elude them. These considerations 
influenced him to remove his place of shelter for another which was not so 
exposed, and, abandoning his cabin, he removed to a more secure one up the 
creek to its forks, some five miles distant. 

In the course of a few weeks Ebenezer, with his family and brother 
Jonathan, together with his household outfit and agricultural implements, 
left Redstone, embarking in pirogues, on which enclosures had been erected 
to protect the occupants from the night air and the inclemency of the 
weather, and which were constructed of rough lumber, and commenced their 
uneventful journey to Wheeling. 

On their arrival at this place they at once proceeded to the place of 
rendezvous which had been agreed upon between the brothers prior to their 
separation, which was opposite the mouth of Coal run, an insignificant 
stream, about half a mile above the mouth of the creek. 

Upon inspecting the vicinity and thoroughly examining the adjacent country 
without discovering any signs of Silas, their fears were awakened that he 
might have fallen a victim to the savages, for there were signs which 
assured them that Indians had not long since been in the neighborhood, as 
was indicated by the dying embers of a recent fire and the imprint of 
footsteps on the bank of the creek. They, therefore, determined to follow 
up the creek for a few miles in the hope, if he still survived, of 
discovering his hiding place. Acting upon this resolution, they set out 
upon their search; arriving at the "forks" they unexpectedly came upon 
him. Great was the joy of the brothers greeting the lost one, as they 
supposed. Silas recounted to them the toils and privations which he had 
suffered and the adventures he had encountered during the interval of 
their absence, and how, apprehensive of the wandering bands of savages, he 
had selected, as being more secure than the cabin, his present retreat, 
which was in the decayed trunk of a sycamore tree which had been leveled 
by the storms and which stood upon the bank of the creek, and which in 
falling had its roots partly submerged in the waters. He had scooped out a 
hole in its roots sufficiently large to admit the body of a man, into 
which he crawled for safety. He reached and left his hiding place on 
occasion by wading through the waters so that all evidences of his trail 
might be obliterated. 

Owing to the enforced confinement be had become greatly reduced in flesh, 
as he was afraid to shoot game lest the report of his rifle should attract 
the notice of the red men, and hence his subsistence for many days had 
been on roots, berries and fish such as the stream afforded. Together they 
returned down the creek, where the two brothers had left the family of 
Ebenezer, and found them in the same condition in which they had been left 
when they set upon their search for their missing brother, anxiously 
awaiting their return on account of their protracted absence. 

It was a trying experience for a young and refined woman like Mrs. Zane to 
be called upon to pass through - to sever the ties of home and kindred - 
to forego all social pleasures and advantages and be deprived of most of 
the comforts and conveniences of settled life and to plunge into the 
depths of the wilderness, the abode of savages and wild beasts. It was no 
wonder, therefore, that on landing in these rough scenes and wild 
surroundings that her heart should at first revolt and that her tears 
should flow as she contemplated the situation, as she contrasted the 
present with the past. But it was of short duration, for with brave 
resolution she quelled all vain regrets and, quenching her tears, she 
determined unflinchingly to do her duty and discharged faithfully the new 
responsibilities imposed upon her in her new position. And that resolve of 
hers was never broken, and when she died she left behind her a memory 
which her children regarded as their proudest heritage. 

This lady was said to have been the first convert to Methodism in Ohio 
County, which was introduced here in the year 1780 by Rev. Wilson Lee, a 
member of the Baltimore conference, who was then stationed on Redstone 
circuit, with headquarters at Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Her consistent walk 
and godly conversation was proverbial and her zeal kept pace with her 
piety. In the days of which we write it was deemed no hardship to travel 
long distances for the purpose of enjoying and participating in the 
ordinances of religion and these meetings were attended by the old and 
young, and not the least important and enjoyable portion of them was the 
service of praise, in which all were accustomed to unite, as they had no 
paid choirs in those days. 

On one occasion at one of these meetings held at West Liberty, there was 
no one present able to start the tune. There were any number present who 
could carry it after it was raised. In the midst of the dilemma appeared 
Elizabeth Zane, who upon being informed of the difficulty which beset 
them, stated that although she was acquainted with the tune yet she was 
unable to start it, but she proposed to whistle it, while such as could 
sing were to catch it up and carry it along. The proposition was accepted 
as the best that could be done under the circumstances and it was caught 
up by the chorus of voices who successfully accomplished the undertaking, 
making the echoes of the forest ring with sweetest notes of melody. 

To return to the order of events as they transpired after the brothers had 
succeeded in discovering Silas. They returned to the cabin which had been 
erected for the shelter of Silas during their absence, and making it as 
comfortable as possible under the circumstances, proceeded to make a 
considerable clearing. In a few months others of a like daring and 
adventurous spirit with the original settlers attracted to the place, 
bringing with them their families and possessions. 

Among those who arrived and joined the nucleus of the original settlement 
were the founders of many of the families whose descendants are at this 
day among the worthy and influential citizens of this county and city, 
such as the Caldwells, McMechens, Woods, Bonnetts, Wetzels and others. 
Thus the little community gradually increased in numbers and strength, and 
for a time in the main flourished. Incursions were occasionally made by 
the savages, but nothing more serious occurred for some time than the 
running away of horses and cattle, and some petty thefts by them in the 
absence of the men in hunting or their necessary absence from the 
settlement on calls of business. It was the policy of the settlers, and in 
general it was successful, to cultivate friendly relations with the 
Indians and thereby to imbue them with a spirit of confidence. And in some 
instances their efforts were not put forth in vain, for attachments were 
formed between certain individuals and their red allies which continued 
unbroken through all the vicissitudes of their subsequent lives. A notable 
instance of this kind was manifested in the case of Jonathan Zane, who had 
erected a log house for a dwelling, which was situated on the east side of 
Main Street and near the corner of Eighth street, nearly opposite to the 
present residence of William S. Goshorn, Esq. Jonathan and likewise 
Ebenezer had a large acquaintance among the Wyandot and Delaware tribes of 
Indians, with whom they frequently hunted, fished and traveled, and the 
brothers would frequently entertain at their homes members of these 
respective tribes, who freely came and went when they chose; one in 
particular, a member of the Delaware tribe, - a noble specimen of a savage 
warrior - was greatly attached to Jonathan, between whom and himself there 
existed a strong intimacy. Captain John, the name of the savage, was next 
to White Eyes, regarded as the greatest warrior of the tribe. He was a man 
possessed of an herculean frame, lithe and active, with strongly defined 
features, the most prominent of which was his large Roman nose. One day 
just as the sun was setting, Captain John stalked into the kitchen where 
Mrs. Zane was engaged in preparing the evening meal, and sat himself down 
in stolid silence, refusing to utter a word when spoken to, and acting in 
a manner entirely unusual for him. Mrs. Zane, with a large butcher knife 
in her hand, proceeded to slice some venison for her Indian visitant, 
which upon being offered to him he refused by a sign. Her husband then 
handed him a pipe to smoke, which he put away from him. This last refusal 
at once excited the suspicions of Jonathan, who, by means of signs, 
communicated his apprehensions to his wife, and signalled her to secret 
the knife under her apron or beneath her garments, keeping his eye 
earnestly fixed upon his guest. His loaded rifle hung upon a pair of 
buck's horns immediately above the mantel, and Jonathan maintained a 
position in juxtaposition to it, so that at any hostile movement of the 
savage he might be in a situation to secure it. After all means had been 
exhausted to ascertain from him a reason for his strange conduct, after 
the lapse of a short time he voluntarily broke his silence in substance as 
follows: "Mr. Zane, I have eaten salt in your house, and laid beside you 
at night in the forest, and I could not see you and your family killed in 
cold blood without making an effort to save you." This was all he said at 
the time, but it was sufficient to convey to the quick sense of the 
backwoodsman a feeling of insecurity and the assurance that danger was not 
distant. It seems that a number of Indians had set out from their village 
in the Tuscarawas country with the intention of taking the lives of the 
family and committing plunder, but Captain John, who had started with 
them, had not proceeded far before he made some excuse for leaving the 
main body, and hastened on ahead, while the Indians loitered on their way, 
thus affording him an opportunity of reaching the settlement in advance of 
them a sufficient time to communicate the intelligence and thus warn them 
to make due preparation to save themselves. After having thus unburdened 
himself, he ate a few hurried mouthfuls of the venison, which had been 
provided for him, took up the pipe and gave two or three hasty whiffs, and 
then suddenly throwing up his arms exclaimed in tones of earnest command: 
"Run to the Fort." Without stopping or standing upon the order of their 
going, but gathering up some few necessary articles at hand as they made 
their exit from the house, the family took its flight. And they left not a 
moment too soon, for they had not accomplished more than half the distance 
between the house and the Fort, when on looking back they saw the lurid 
flames with fiery tongues darting upward in the fast gathering darkness of 
the falling night. The morning light disclosed the dying embers and the 
desolate hearthstone of what twenty-four hours before was a happy 
homestead, - the dwelling place of a happy family. 

In the beginning of the year 1774, the tranquility which had prevailed 
during the interval between the years 1765 and 1774, by virtue of the 
treaty heretofore mentioned between Colonel Boquet and the savages, was 
now interrupted. Prior to the year 1774, a goodly number were induced to 
seek homes in these Western wilds where lands were so easily acquired, 
many of which, indeed almost all of which, were held by no other title 
than "tomahawk rights." The right of such to vote for delegates to the 
convention of 1775 was recognized by the Twelfth section of the ordinance 
passed by the Virginia convention in July, 1773. The ordinance was 
entitled: "An Ordinance for regulating the election of Delegates, and also 
for ascertaining their allowances, and for regulating the election of 
Committeemen in the Several Counties and Corporations with this Colony and 
for other purposes herein mentioned." 

In the section mentioned it was provided that the inhabitants of the 
county of Fincastle, and the district of West Augusta, "notwithstanding 
they had not obtained patents for their lands, yet where for one year 
preceding a free white man at the time of such elections shall have been 
in possession of 25 acres of land, with a house and plantation in said 
county or district, claiming an estate for life at least, in the said land 
in his own right, or in the right of his wife, shall have a vote or be 
capable of being chosen at such election respectively, although no legal 
title in the land shall have been conceded to such possessor, &c." 

A number of "land jobbers" so styled appeared in the settlement and took 
up large quantities of land, amounting in the aggregate to many hundreds 
of acres. This led the early settlers to appropriate all available land 
with a view to its ultimate increase in value. 

With this in view Colonel Zane, in company with a few others, had gone 
down the river as far as the mouth of the Big Sandy for the purpose of 
selecting and taking up additional lands. While thus engaged, news reached 
them that hostile acts were being committed by the Indians against the 
settlers in the way of thieving, robbing and plundering them. This induced 
the immediate return of Colonel Zane and his party to the settlement 
before the accomplishment of their purpose. Upon their return, they were 
beset with exaggerated stories, doubtless born of their fears, concerning 
the hostile attitude of the Indians. Many expressed their belief that the 
savages would soon gather in force and treacherously fall upon and 
slaughter them. Some advised that they should anticipate them, and gather 
a force and at once destroy all within reach by attacking their towns, 
thinking it probable that such sudden and unexpected action upon the part 
of the whites would strike terror to the foes and preclude them from their 
purpose. But others again, and among them Colonel Zane, counselled 
moderation and prudence and against hasty action, and wisely sought to 
restrain the more thoughtless from precipitate measures. 

In the midst of the agitation, information was received that two Indians 
and some traders were on the river a short distance above the settlements. 
Capt. Daniel Greathouse proposed to intercept the party and destroy them. 
To this Colonel Zane objected as it would be the perpetration of a most 
glaring wrong, as well as an act of injustice and inhumanity, and argued 
that the result would be baneful in the extreme and would lead to a rising 
of the savages along the entire frontier and produce a brutal and 
merciless Indian war. 

His advice, his counsel and his arguments all proved abortive and made no 
impression on Greathouse. In opposition to the efforts made to restrain 
him from his sanguinary purpose, Greathouse and his followers accomplished 
their design. On their return from their expedition, their replies to the 
inquires made of them as to what disposition they had made of the Indians 
were evasive and unsatisfactory, but subsequently upon examining their 
canoe it was found to be splotched with the stains of blood and riddled 
with bullets. 

The wise and discreet among the settlers had no hesitation in condemning 
the act as a wanton outrage, and manifested their disapproval by their 
outspoken expressions as well as by their subsequent acts and conduct 
toward the perpetrators. No doubt these manifestations upon the part of 
the innocent settlers, instead of mollifying the tempers and dispositions 
of those who had taken part in this affair, served only to exasperate 
them, for upon the evening of the same day this same party, having been 
made aware of the fact that a party of Indians were encamped at the mouth 
of Captina Creek on the Ohio side of the river, 16 miles below Wheeling, 
at once, on receiving the intelligence, started down the river to the 
place designated, and early on the following morning fell upon and killed 
several of them. In this affair one of Greathouse's party was severely 
wounded. This attack on the Indians was made on the 28th day of April. 
There has been some confusion of dates as to the time of this occurrence, 
some fixing it in April and others in the latter part of May, but the 
weight of evidence seems to preponderate in favor of the date given above. 
The confusion of dates, however, does not affect the fact and is more a 
matter of idle curiosity than one of substance. There is nothing in which 
the memory is more treacherous than in the matter of dates. About the time 
of the occurrence of this attack at Captina, or shortly after, transpired 
the massacre at the mouth of Yellow Creek, a stream emptying into the Ohio 
River on the Ohio side about 42 miles above Wheeling. 

At this period there existed along the whole line of the frontier a 
nervous feeling of apprehension and dread of a subtle and indefinable 
character, which though felt could not fully be explained. The settlers 
felt that they were standing upon the edge of a crater, which was liable 
at any moment to burst forth in volcanic eruption, spreading death and 
desolation around. 

Such was the state of the public pulse when the treacherous and murderous 
assault and destruction of human life took place at Yellow Creek, which 
was one of the most inexcusable, as well as one of the most unjustifiable 
acts ever perpetrated by those engaged in it and the reflex influence of 
which the whites suffered severely. It appears that in the latter part of 
April, in the year 1774, a large body of Indians was encamped just above 
the mouth of Yellow Creek, on both sides of that stream. A person of the 
name of Daniel Baker, who had been in the habit of selling "fire water" to 
the Indians, resided on the Virginia side of the river. Under the pretext 
of protecting Baker and his family, one Daniel Greathouse, in command of 
some thirty odd men, went to his relief. Upon arriving in the vicinity of 
Baker's house, he placed his men in ambush, and crossing the river under 
the pretense of friendship, visited the Indian encampment with a view of 
ascertaining their strength and position, and to determine whether with 
his command he could successfully attack them. He was received on the part 
of the savages in the same spirit in which he professed to come, and spent 
some time in mingling with the savages and watching their movements. 
Returning to his command he reported that by reason of the number and 
position of the Indians and the weakness of his command, they could not 
openly attack them and proposed to effect by stratagem what he could not 
accomplish otherwise. 

It was therefore arranged between Baker and himself, that the former 
should furnish such Indians as might cross the river as much "fire water" 
as they could drink and thereby get as many of them drunk as possible. In 
this Baker acquiesced, and in a little while several Indians came over and 
were plied with drink until they became hopelessly intoxicated, in which 
condition they were attacked by Greathouse and a few of his party, and put 
to death. It is a redeeming trait in the character of the large majority 
of those who engaged in this expedition that they refused to lend 
themselves to the accomplishment of the base artifice which had been 
adopted by their commander. Not more than six or eight out of the whole 
number were actors in the foul conspiracy and the remainder stoutly 
protested against it. The massacre occurred on the 30th of April, 1774. 
The firing attracted the attention of the Indians who were in camp, and 
accordingly they sent over two or three of their number in a canoe to 
ascertain the cause of the alarm, but these latter had no sooner placed 
foot upon the shore than they were ruthlessly and mercilessly shot down. 
Thereupon another and larger canoe was promptly manned with a number of 
armed Indians, who essayed to reach the shore, but were prevented from so 
doing by a well directed fire which proved to be so effective as greatly 
to cripple them and they were compelled to return. Shots were then 
exchanged across the river between the parties, but these did but little 
if any execution, the distance being too great. Among those killed were 
the brother and sister of the famous Logan, the Cayuga chief, who, with 
himself, were the only remaining members of the family. Prior to this 
time, Logan had been a firm friend and an unflinching alley of the whites, 
but this disastrous event aroused all the frenzy of the savage within his 
breast and his implacable hatred of the whites thereafter became as bitter 
as his devotion to them had been unswerving. Accordingly in July, 1774, he 
retaliated in a measure by an attack upon a band of settlers on the 
Monongahela, which proved to be successful. Prior to this attack by Logan 
it had been ordered by the authorities of Virginia that a force should be 
raised in the district of West Augusta with the purpose of making an 
inroad into the Indian country, with a view of calling off the straggling 
bands of predatory Indians who had now begun to infest the neighborhood of 
the frontier settlements. Accordingly in June, 1774, Col. Angus McDonald, 
to whom had been confided the raising of a necessary force, appeared with 
a force of 400 men at Wheeling, whence he took up his line of march and 
penetrated for some distance into the Indian country, being accompanied by 
Jonathan Zane and two others as guides through the difficulties of the 
intervening wilderness. They were successful in a measure, that is to say 
in delaying the movements of the savages against the frontier and in 
securing certain chiefs as hostages. But their provisions fell short and 
the difficulty of supplying this desideratum compelled their return, 
without effecting anything more important than the occupying of one of 
their towns, which had been deserted by the savages. The hostages, which 
had been secured, on the return of the troops to Wheeling were sent on to 
Williamsburg, where they were retained until the treaty of Dunmore secured 
peace in the following fall, when they were released. 

Shortly after these events occurred was inaugurated the war known as 
Dunmore's war, and which was concluded by the defeat of the Indians at 
Point Pleasant by Gen. Andrew Lewis on the 10th day of October, 1774. 
General Lewis and Lord Dunmore had arranged that the former was to raise a 
force of volunteers and by draft from the southeastern portion of the 
colony, and the latter was to raise a similar force for the same purpose 
from the northern and western portion of the colony. The force of General 
Lewis was appointed to rendezvous at Camp Union in the Greenbrier country, 
while the forces of Lord Dunmore were to rendezvous at Fort Pitt, and 
thence descend the river until they reached the mouth of the Great 
Kanawha, where Point Pleasant is located, where the two forces were to 
unite, and from which point they were to proceed against and attack the 
Indian towns on the Ohio side. 

Upon the arrival of General Lewis at the place designated, finding that 
Lord Dunmore had not arrived, he felt chagrined and manifested surprise at 
the non-arrival of Dunmore, and hence determined to send scouts to Fort 
Pitt to ascertain the cause of his delay. Before the scouts had started on 
their mission, a communication was received from his Lordship, changing 
the whole plan of the campaign which had been arranged between him and 
General Lewis, without giving any reasons or explanations for so doing, 
which communication informed General Lewis that he intended to cross the 
river and proceed at once in the direction of the Shawnee towns, and at 
the same time ordered him to move with his force and form a junction with 
his force at the point designated by him near the enemy. 

General Lewis had arrived with his army about the same date that Lord 
Dunmore with his arrived at Wheeling, to-wit, the 1st of October, 1774. On 
receiving the dispatch from Lord Dunmore, General Lewis immediately set 
about making the necessary arrangements to obey the orders which were 
disapproved of by a number of his men. But early on the morning of the10th 
of October and before the necessary preparations for crossing the river 
had been completed, an attack was made upon his forces by a large body of 
Indians, who had quietly secreted themselves behind the logs and fallen 
timber which abounded in this vicinity. The suddenness and severity of the 
attack which followed was unparalleled, and victory for a time hung evenly 
in the balance. But at length the pluck and superior discipline of the 
whites turned the balance in their favor and the Indians were badly 
worsted, but at the cost of many brave and useful lives. 

Among those who fell was Colonel Charles Lewis, a brother of Gen. Andrew 
Lewis, a person greatly beloved by his troops, and endeared to all who had 
the privilege of his companionship and acquaintance. In honor of his 
memory, the legislature of his native state, Virginia, named the county of 
Lewis, now in West Virginia, after him. 

The conflict between the white and Indians commenced at sunrise and 
continued with fluctuating fortunes between the belligerents until sunset. 
The Indians were commanded by Cornstalk Sachem of the Shawnees and who was 
also the head of the Northern Confederacy, one of the most influential and 
intelligent chiefs of his race. 

After the battle, General Lewis crossed the river with the remainder of 
his force and pressed forward to form a junction with Dunmore, but before 
he had proceeded far into the enemy's country he was met by an express 
from Dunmore to return at once to the mouth of the Great Kanawha. But 
disregarding the order, he persisted in his advance until he overtook 
Dunmore, who informed him that he was negotiating a peace which would 
avoid the necessity of a further advance, at the same time reiterating the 
order for his return. This order was received by his followers with loud 
murmurings and expressions of discontent, and they reluctantly obeyed and 
turned their backs upon the enemy. 

These occurrences transpired at a time when the jealousies between the 
mother country and the colonies were daily growing more and more 
embittered and men's minds were being wrought to a high state of 
exasperation. The destruction of the tea in Boston harbor had occurred in 
the preceding month of March. The Boston Port bill, the primary cause of 
conflict between the mother country and the colonies, had been received by 
the House of Burgesses of Virginia, in May, and they had issued a 
recommendation that the 1st day of June following, the date when the bill 
was to become operative, be observed "as a day of fasting, humiliation and 
prayer imploring the Divine interposition to avert the heavy calamity, 
which threatened destruction to their civil rights, and the evils of a 
civil war." 

It was on account of this action of the House of Burgesses that Gov. 
Dunmore prorogued the General Assembly. On his way down the river from 
Fort Pitt, Dunmore stopped his army at Wheeling, and while stopping there 
he received dispatches from the British government, but what the tenor of 
these were we are unable to state, but it is certain that the plan of 
campaign outlined between him and General Lewis was changed upon their 
receipt, without waiting to advise Lewis of the fact. It would not, 
however, be a violent conjecture, under all the circumstances, and in view 
of his dissolution of the Assembly, and the sudden change made by him in 
the plan of campaign while at Wheeling, to conclude that his government 
had instructed him to take steps to secure, if possible by treaty, the 
Indians as allies of Great Britain in the apprehended conflict which began 
to loom up in the near future. At all events it is certain, that under 
questionable circumstances he entered into a treaty with the savages. 

While Logan, the great Mingo chief, assented to this treaty, he 
indignantly refused to be present at its consummation, but sent inclosed 
in a belt of wampum his famous speech with which every schoolboy is 
familiar, and which was first given to the public by Thomas Jefferson. 
Shortly after its publication by him, attempts were made to cast doubts 
upon it as being the production of a savage, and by some it was declared 
to have been the coinage of Mr. Jefferson's brain, which he emphatically 
denied in the appendix to his "Notes on Virginia." The most prominent 
among these was the able, eloquent and distinguished Luther Martin, a son-
in-law of Colonel Cresap, who pronounced it a sheer fabrication. A long 
and bitter controversy ensued which was participated in, not alone by the 
immediate persons interested therein, but by others not directly 
interested. Jefferson, however, came off victor, as is now generally 
admitted, he having produced evidence of a documentary character which if 
it did not silence cavillers, it did his opponents. 

But to return from the digression which we have made, but one which we 
deemed necessary as being indirectly connected with our subject, we will 
now resume the thread of our narrative. That the Dunmore war was 
precipitated by the massacres in the vicinity of Wheeling by Cresap, 
Greathouse and others we think there can be no doubt and that such was the 
opinion of contemporaries we have evidence. The following letter of 
Colonel Zane to Hon. John Brown, senator in Congress from the state of 
Kentucky, and bearing date Wheeling, February 4,1800, we think is 
convincing. It reads as follows: 

"I was myself with many others in the practice of making improvements on 
lands upon the Ohio, for the purpose of acquiring rights to the same. 
Being on the Ohio, at the mouth of Sandy Creek, in company with many 
others, news circulated that the Indians had robbed some of the land 
jobbers. This news induced the people generally to ascend the Ohio. I was 
among the number. On our arrival at Wheeling, better informed that there 
were two Indians with some traders near and above Wheeling, a proposition 
was made by the then Capt. Michael Cresap to waylay and kill the Indians 
upon the river. This measure I opposed with much violence, alleging that 
the killing of those Indians might involve the country in a war. But the 
opposite party prevailed and proceeded up the Ohio with Captain Cresap at 
their head. In a short time the party returned, and also the traders in a 
canoe, but there were no Indians in the company. I enquired what had 
become of the Indians and was informed by the traders and Cresap's party 
that they had fallen overboard. I examined some bullet holes in the canoe. 
This fully convinced me that the party had killed the two Indians and then 
thrown them into the river. 

"On the afternoon of the day this action happened a report prevailed that 
there was a camp or party of Indians on the Ohio below and near Wheeling. 
In consequence of the information, Captain Cresap, with his party, joined 
by a number of recruits, proceeded immediately down the Ohio for the 
purpose, as was then generally understood, of destroying the Indians above 
mentioned. On the succeeding day Captain Cresap and his party returned to 
Wheeling, and it was generally reported by the party that they had killed 
a number of Indians. Of the truth of this report I had no doubt, as one of 
Cresap's party was badly wounded and the party had a fresh scalp and a 
quantity of property which they called Indian plunder. At the time of the 
last mentioned transaction it was generally reported that the party of 
Indians down the Ohio were Logan and his family, but I have reason to 
believe that this report was unfounded. 

"Within a few days after the transaction above mentioned a party of 
Indians were killed at Yellow Creek. But I must do the memory of Captain 
Cresap the justice to say that I do not believe he was present at the 
killing of the Indians at Yellow Creek. But there is not the least doubt 
in my mind that the massacre at Yellow Creek was brought on by the two 
transactions first stated. All the transactions which I have related 
happened in the latter end of April, 1774, and there can scarcely be a 
doubt that they were the cause of the war which immediately followed, 
commonly called Dunmore's war. 

"I am with much respect, yours, etc.,
Ebenezer Zane." 

At the time of the transactions referred to in the foregoing letter the 
only regular forts on the frontier were those which were located at 
Redstone and Pittsburg. There were a few private forts and block houses 
scattered here and there, but these were insecure and indifferent in their 
importance, not being calculated to withstand a prolonged contest or 
siege. When it became evident that a general Indian war would speedily be 
inaugurated measures were taken to advise the settlers of the impending 
danger, and Dr. John Connolly, the "Royal Captain Commandant of West 
Augusta," who was at the time on a visit to Fort Pitt, sent information to 
the settlement at [Wheeling?] and instructed them as a necessary 
precaution to cover the country with scouts until the inhabitants could 
fortify themselves. In accordance with these instructions, scouts and 
rangers were sent out in all directions and the erection of a means of 
defense, consisting of a stockade, was at the same time commenced by 
settlers, who labored with indefatigable energy in the accomplishment of 
their undertaking, so that on the arrival of Lord Dunmore in the following 
October he found a well constructed work of defence, which, though hastily 
erected, was well adapted for its purpose, as the sequel will show. 

It was built under the supervision of Col. Angus McDonald, as we have 
heretofore mentioned, in the construction of which he was assisted in its 
arrangement and adaptation by Col. Ebenezer Zane and John Caldwell, Esq., 
the work, as stated having been performed by the settlers. Upon its 
completion it was named "Fort Fincastle", in honor of the Earl of Dunmore, 
this being his second title, his full titles being "John, Earl of Dunmore, 
Viscount Fincastle, Baron Murray, of Blair, of Moulin and of Tillimet," 
and being at the time the royal governor of the colony. Prior to the 
establishment of the fort the settlement was called "Zanesburg." The name 
of Dunmore was not retained for any great length of time, but was changed 
to "Fort Henry" in the year 1776, in honor of Patrick Henry, the first 
patriotic governor of Virginia. The first mention we find made of this 
fort is in the proceedings of the Virginia convention of 1775 in a report 
made by a committee of that body. 

It is a fact that with the exception of the forts located at Redstone, 
Pittsburg and Point Pleasant, which last named was erected in the summer 
of the same year in which the fort at Wheeling was erected, there were no 
other regularly garrisoned forts on the frontier. The defence of the fort 
at Wheeling was left entirely to the intrepidity of the settlers, who, 
under Providence, always proved competent in the faithful and successful 
discharge of that responsibility. 


DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT 

The fort was in shape a parallelogram, with wooden towers or bastions at 
each corner, which projected over the lower story and which were pierced 
with port holes for the use of rifles and muskets. In case of attack the 
fighting was carried on from these bastions almost entirely. Between these 
bastions was stretched a strong and closely connected line of oak and 
hickory pickets, surrounding the entire enclosure, within which were 
located a magazine for powder, barracks and cabins for sheltering those 
who sought refuge within the stockade. On the roof of the barracks was 
mounted a swivel gun captured during the French and Indian War by the 
British. There was also a well of water within the stockade. On the west 
side of the fort outside of it on the side of the bluff was a never 
failing spring of clear, cool and limpid water, which was accessible 
providing there was no opposition from the river. The main entrance was on 
the eastern side, which was closed by a strong wooden gate. The ground in 
the vicinity was cleared, fenced and cultivated, extending to the base of 
the hill on the east, about an eighth of a mile distant. From the bluff on 
the south side of the fort extended the bottoms to the bank of Wheeling 
Creek. This expanse of ground was a level stretch of land and was used for 
a cornfield. As late as the year 1810 it was occupied by no buildings of 
consequence. 

To the southeast of the fort and distant from it about 70 yards stood the 
residence of Col. Ebenezer Zane, located on a level with the Fort, built 
of rough hewn logs and which at the threatened attack on the fort by the 
Indians in the year 1781, was burnt by them. The owner subsequently 
rebuilt the same, and it was occupied and held by him with a force of five 
men at the siege of the fort in the year 1782. When rebuilt by him he 
expressed it as his avowed purpose that in the event of an attack of the 
savages he would defend it to the last extremity. Attached to it was a 
magazine where ammunition was stored for emergencies. His cabin was built 
of the staunchest materials, and somewhat in the style of a block house, 
and was provided with loop holes from which the inmates could fire upon an 
enemy without exposing themselves. His successful defence at the last 
siege contributed much to the relief of the fort and its inmates, it 
having proved itself to be an impregnable outpost. There were a cluster of 
cabins around the fort, the homes of the settlers, a store house, and a 
smith shop. 

As already indicated, Governor Dunmore had dissolved the legislature of 
the colony in the spring of the year 1774 for reasons then stated. The 
differences between the mother country and the colonies continued to 
multiply and the breach between them became wider and wider. All hopes of 
a compromise or a satisfactory understanding between them grew less 
probable. In the year 1775 the quarrel had become so pronounced that the 
royal governor became alarmed for his own safety and that of his family. 
He abandoned the capitol, and shipped his wife and children to England, 
and himself took refuge on a British man-of-war, then lying in the waters 
of the colony, upon which he took up his residence and from which he 
fulminated his edicts and issued his proclamations, all of which proved to 
be futile and harmless. 

In the meantime a convention of authorized delegates was called together, 
who met in Richmond on the 20th day of March, 1775, which enacted such 
legislation and exercised such executive control of affairs as the public 
safety and protection demanded. 

One of the first things which appears among its proceedings was the 
reception of a request in writing from a number of the inhabitants of West 
Augusta, asking for the admission of John Nevill and John Harvie, Esqs., 
as delegates to represent that district, whereupon it was resolved that 
the request be granted, and that they be admitted to seats in the 
convention, and take part in the proceedings of the same.