USA > West Virginia > Barbour County > The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time > Part 7
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fort and remained before it nearly a month, but failed to take it, although they killed a number of soldiers.
In April, 1781, General Brodhead, with 150 regulars and 150 militia, crossed the Ohio at Wheeling and led an expedition against the Delawares at Coshocton. He killed or captured thirty Indians and destroyed a few towns. He suffered little loss. In 1782 occurred the massacre of the Mora- vian Indians in Ohio. They lived under the care of missionaries, and claimed to be at peace with all men. But articles of clothing were discov- ered among them which were recognized as belonging to white settlers who had been murdered in West Virginia. This confirmed the suspicion that the Moravian Indians, if they did not take part in raids against the settle- ments, had a good understanding with Indians who were engaged in raiding They were therefore put to death. The act was barbarous and inexcusable.
The third and last siege of Wheeling occurred in September 1782. The British planned an attack on Wheeling in July of that year, just after Crawford's defeat which had greatly encouraged the Indians. They had scarcely ended the torture of prisoners who had fallen into their hands, including Colonel Crawford, when they clamored to be led against the settlements. The British were only too willing to assist them; and in July a number of British soldiers and 300 Indians, under command of a white man named Caldwell, moved toward Wheeling. Simon and George Girty were in this force. Before the army had fairly set out, news came that General Clark was invading the Indian country. The army on the march to Wheeling halted. At the same time a rumor was spread that General Irvine was marching toward Canada from Pittsburg. Re-inforcements for Canada were asked for, and 1400 Indians assembled. Subsequently it was learned that the reports of invasions were unfounded, and the Indian army dispersed. Caldwell with George and Simon Girty and 300 Indians invaded Kentucky and attacked Bryant's station August 14, 1782. The British and Indians did not give up the proposed expedition against Wheeling, and Capt. Pratt with 40 British regulars and 238 Indians marched against the place and attacked it September 11. James Girty was with this expedition but had no command. Simon Girty was never present at any attack on Wheeling.
There were fewer than twenty men in Fort Henry at Wheeling when the Indians appeared. The commandant, Captain Boggs, had gone to warn the neighboring settlements of danger. The whole attacking force marched under the British flag. Just before the attack commenced, a boat, in charge of a man named Sullivan, arrived from Pittsburg, loaded with cannon balls for the garrison at Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Sullivan and his party seeing the danger, tied the boat and made their way to the fort and assisted in the defense. The besiegers demanded an immediate surren- der, which was not complied with. The attack was delayed till night. The experience gained by the Indians in the war had taught them that little is gained by a wild rush against the walls of a stockade. No doubt Captain Pratt advised them also what course to pursue. When night came they made their assault. More than twenty times did they pile hemp against the walls of the fort and attempt to set the structure on fire. But the hemp was damp and burned slowly. No harm was done. Colonel Zane's cabin stood near the stockade. His house had been burned at the siege in 1777; and when the Indians again appeared he resolved to defend his build- ing. He remained in the cabin with two or three others, among them a negro slave. That night an Indian crawled up with a chunk of fire to burn
FORT. HENRY SEPT 11-1782.
THE LAST BATTLE OF THE REVOLUTION, SEPTEMBER 11, 1782.
This picture is made (by special permission) from the remarkable historical painting by Joseph A. Faris. A force of British and Indians attacked Fort Henry (Wheeling, W. Va.) and was repulsed. The flag which was shot down by a rifleman during the attack was the last flag carried in battle by a British force on United States soil during the Revolution. .
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the house, but a shot from the negro's gun crippled him and he gave up his incendiary project. Attempts were made to break down the gates, but they did not succeed. A small cannon mounted on one of the bastions was occa- sionally discharged among the savages, much to their discomfiture. On one occasion when a number of Indians had gathered in a loft of one of the nearest cabins and were dancing and yelling in defiance of the garrison, the cannon was turned on them, and a solid shot cutting one of the joists, pre- cipitated the savages to the floor beneath and put a stop to their revelry.
The Indians captured the boat with the cannon balls, and decided to use them. They procured a hollow log, plugged one end, and wrapped it with chains stolen from a neighboring blacksmith shop. They loaded the piece with powder and ball, and fired it at the fort. Pieces of the wooden cannon flew in all directions, killing and maiming several Indians, but did not harm the fort. The savages were discouraged, and when a force of seventy men, under Captain Boggs, approached, the Indians fled. They did not, however, leave the country at once, but made an attack on Rice's fort, where they lost four warriors and accomplished nothing.
The siege of Fort Henry is remarkable from the fact that the flag under which the army marched to the attack, and which was shot down . during the fight, was the last British flag to float over an army in battle, during the Revolution, within the limits of the United States. West Vir- ginia was never again invaded by a large Indian force, but small parties continued to make incursions till 1795. The war with England closed by a treaty of peace in 1783. In July of that year DePeyster, Governor at Detroit, called the Indians together, told them that the war between Amer- ica and Great Britain was at an end, and dismissed them. After that date the Indians fought on their own account, although the British still held posts in the Northwest, under the excuse that the Americans had not com- plied with the terms of the treaty of peace. It was believed, and not with- out evidence, that the savages were still encouraged by the British, if not directly supplied with arms, to wage war against the frontiers. In the autumn of 1783 there was a large gathering of Indians at Sandusky, where they were harangued by Sir John Johnson, the British Superintendent of Indian affairs. Simon Girty was present and was using his influence for evil. Johnson urged the Indians to further resistance.
In February, 1783, while the English Parliament was discussing the American treaty, about to be ratified, Lord North, who opposed peace on the proposed terms, insisted that the Americans should be shut away from the Great Lakes; the forts in that vicinity should be held, and Can- ada should be extended to the Ohio River. He declared that the Indian allies of Great Britain ought to be cared for, and that their independence ought to be guaranteed by Great Britain. In the autumn of that year, 1783, when the order was given for the evacuation of New York by the British, Lord North, on the petition of merchants and fur traders of Canada, withheld the order for the evacua- tion of the posts about the lakes. On August 8 of that year Baron Steuben, who had been sent for that purpose by the Americans, demanded of Gover- nor Haldimand of Canada, that British forces be withdrawn from the posts in the Northwest. Governor Haldimand replied that he had received no instructions on that subject, and he would not surrender the posts. The British, in 1785, claimed that they continued to hold the posts in Ohio, Indiana and beyond because some of the states, and especially Virginia,
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had not yet opened their courts to British creditors for the collection of debts against Americans incurred before the war. Thus the British continued to occupy posts clearly within the United States, much to the irritation of the American people. The Indians were restless, and the belief was general, and was well founded, that the British were encouraging them to hostility. They became insolent, and invaded the settlements in West Virginia and Kentucky, and in 1790 the United States declared war upon them and took vigorous measures to bring them to terms. General Harmar invaded the country north of the Ohio at the head of a strong force in 1790. He suffered his army to be divided and defeated. The next year General St. Clair led an army into the Indian country, and met with one of the most disastrous defeats in the annals of Indian warfare. He lost nearly eight hundred men in one battle. General Wayne now took charge of the cam- paign in the Indian country. When he began to invade the northern part Ohio, the British about Lake Erie moved south and built a fort on the Maumee River, opposite Perrysville, Ohio. This was in the summer of 1794. The object in building the fort was clearly to encourage the Indians and to insult the Americans. On August 20, 1794, General Wayne found the Indians within two miles of the British fort, prepared for battle. He made an attack on the savages, routed them in a few minutes and drove them. They were crushed and there was no more fight in them for fifteen years.
General Wayne was a Revolutionary soldier, and had little love for the British. The sight of their fort on American soil filled him with impatience to attack it; but he did not wish to do so without a pretext. He hoped to provoke the garrison to attack him, to give him an excuse to destroy the fort. He therefore camped his army after the battle within half a mile of the fort. The commandant sent a message to him saying: "The comman- dant of the British fort is surprised to see an American army advanced so far into this country," and "why has the army had the assurance to camp under the very mouths of His Majesty's cannon?" General Wayne answered that the battle which had just taken place might well inform the British what the American army was doing in that country, and added: "Had the flying savages taken shelter under the walls of the fort, His Majesty's
cannon should not have protected them." Two days later General Wayne destroyed everything to within one hundred yards of the fort, and laid waste the Indian fields of corn, pumpkins and beans for miles around. The country was highly cultivated, there being thousands of acres in corn and vegetables. Finding that his efforts thus far had failed to provoke an attack by the garrison, General Wayne led his soldiers to within pistol shot of the walls, in hope of bringing a shot from his inveterate enemies. But the only reply General Wayne received was a flag of truce with another message, which stated that "the British commandant is much aggrieved at seeing His Majesty's colors insulted." Wayne then burned all the houses and destroyed all the property to the very walls of the fort. This cam- paign ended the depredation of the Indians in West Virginia.
CHAPTER VI,
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SUBDIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES.
West Virginia's boundaries coincide, in part, with the boundaries of five other States, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky. Some of these lines are associated with events of historical interest, and for a number of years were subjects of controversy, not always friendly. It is understood, of course, that all the boundary lines of the territory now em- braced in West Virginia, except the line between this State and Virginia, were agreed to and settled before West Virginia became a seperate State. That is, the lines between this State and Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ken- tucky and Ohio were all settled more than one hundred years ago. To speak briefly of each, the line separating West Virginia from Ohio may be taken first.
At the time the Articles of Confederation were under discussion in Congress, 1778, Virginia's territory extended westward to the Mississippi River. The government of the United States never recognized the Quebec Act, which was passed by the English Parliament before the Revolutionary War, and which extended the province of Quebec south to the Ohio River. Consequently, after the Declaration of Independence was signed, Virginia's claim to that territory was not disputed by the other colonies; but when the time came for agreeing to the Articles of Confederation which bound the states together in one common country, objection was raised to Vir- ginia's extensive territory, which was nearly as large as all the other states together. The fear was expressed that Virginia would become so power- ful and wealthy, on account of its extent, that it would possess and exer- cise an influence in the affairs of government too great for the well-being of the other states.
Maryland appears to have been the first state to take a decided stand that Virginia should cede its territory north and west of the Ohio to the general government. It was urged in justification of this course that the territory had been conquered from the British and the Indians by the blood and treasure of the whole country, and that it was right that the vacant lands should be appropriated to the use of the citizens of the whole country. Maryland took this stand June 22, 1778. Virginia refused to consent to the ceding of her western territory; and from that time till Feb- ruary 2, 1781, Maryland refused to agree to the Articles of Confederation. On November 2, 1778, New Jersey formally filed an objection to Virginia's large territory; but the New Jersey delegates finally signed the Articles of Confederation, expressing at the same time the conviction that justice would in time remove the inequality in territories as far as possible. On February 22, 1779, the delegates from Delaware signed, but also remon- strated, and presented resolutions setting forth that the United States Con-
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gress ought to have power to fix the western limits of any state claiming territory to the Mississippi or beyond. On May 21, 1779, the delegates from Maryland laid before Congress instructions received by them from the General Assembly of Maryland. The point aimed at in these instructions was that those states having almost boundless western territory had it in their power to sell lands at a very low price, thus filling their treasuries with money, thereby lessening taxation; and at the same time the cheap lands and the low taxes would draw away from adjoining states many of the best inhabitants. Congress was, therefore, asked to use its influence with those states having extensive territory, to the end that they would not place their lands on the market until the close of the Revolutionary War. Virginia was not mentioned by name, but it was well known that reference was made to that State. Congress passed, October 30, 1779, a resolution requesting Virginia not to open a land office till the close of the war. On March 7, 1780, the delegates from New York announced that State ready to give up its western territory; and this was formally done on March 1, 1781. New York having thus opened the way, other states followed the example and ceded to the United States their western territories or claims as follows: Virginia, March 1, 1784; Massachusetts, April 19, 1785; Connecticut, Sep- tember 14, 1786; South Carolina, August 9, 1787; North Carolina, February 25, 1790; Georgia, April 24, 1802.
Within less than two months after Virginia ceded her northwest terri- tory to the United States, Congress passed an ordinance for the govern- ment of the territory. The deed of cession was made by Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Lee, Samuel Hardy and James Monroe, delegates in Congress from Virginia. The boundary line between Virginia and the territory ceded to the general government was the northwest bank of the Ohio River at low water. The islands in the stream belonged to Virginia. When West Vir- ginia became a separate State, the boundary remained unchanged.
The line between West Virginia and Kentucky remains the same as that formerly separating Virginia from Kentucky. The General Assembly of Virginia, December 18, 1789, passed an act authorizing a convention to be held in the District of Kentucky to consider whether it was expedient to form that district into a separate State. The convention decided to form a State, and Kentucky was admitted into the Union in 1792. Commissioners were appointed to adjust the boundary line between Virginia and Kentucky, and agreed that the line separating the two states should remain the same as that formerly separating Virginia from the District of Kentucky. The line is as follows so far as West Virginia and Kentucky are contiguous: Beginning at the northwestern point of McDowell County, thence down Big Sandy River to its confluence with the Ohio.
The line dividing the northern limits of West Virginia from the south- ern limits of Pennsylvania was for many years a matter of dispute. Mary- land and Pennsylvania had nearly a century of bickering concerning the matter before Virginia took it up in earnest. It is not necessary at this time to give the details of the controversy. A few facts will suffice. Penn- sylvania and Maryland having contended for a long time over their common boundary line, two cminent astronomers, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon of England, were employed to mark a line five degrecs west from the Delaware River at a point where it is crossed by the parallel of north lati- tude 39 degrecs, 43 minutes, 26 seconds. They commenced work in the lat- ter part of 1763, and completed it in the latter part of 1767. This line,
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called Mason and Dixon's line, was accepted as the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the controversy was at an end. But beyond the west line of Maryland, where Virginia's and Pennsylvania's posessions came in contact. a dispute arose, almost leading to open hostili- ties between the people of the two states. Virginia wanted Pittsburg, and boldly and stubbornly set up a claim to territory, at least as far north as the fortieth degree of latitude. This would have given Virginia part of Fayette and Greene Counties, Pennsylvania. On the other hand, Penn- sylvania claimed the country south to the thirty-ninth degree, which would have extended its jurisdiction over the present territory of West Vir- ginia included in the counties of Monongalia, Preston, Marion, Taylor, parts of Tucker, Barbour, Upshur, Lewis, Harrison, Wetzel and Randolph. The territory in dispute was about four times as large as the State of Rhode Island. It was finally settled by a compromise. It was agreed that the Mason and Dixon's line be extended west five degrees from the Dela- ware River. The commissioners appointed to adjust the boundary were Dr. James Madison and Robert Andrews on the part of Virginia, and David Ritenhouse, John Ewing and George Bryan on the part of Pennsylvania. They met at Baltimore in 1779 and agreed upon a line. The next year the agreement was ratified, by Virginia in June and Pennsylvania in Septem- ber. A line was then run due north from the western end of Mason and Dixon's line, till it reached the Ohio River. This completed the boundary lines between Virginia and Pennsylvania; and West Virginia's territory is bounded by the same lines.
The fixing of the boundary between Virginia and Maryland was long a subject of controversy. It began in the early years of the colony, long before the Revolutionary War, and has continued, it may be said, till the present day, for occasionally the agitation is revived. West Virginia inheri- ted most of the subject of dispute when it set up a separate government. The controversy began so early in the history of the country, when the geography of what is now West Virginia was so imperfectly understood, that boundaries were stated in general terms, following certain rivers; and in after time these general terms were differently understood. Nearly two hun- dred years ago the Potomac River was designated as the dividing line between lands granted in Maryland and lands granted in Virginia; but at that time the upper tributaries of that river had never been explored, and as no one knew what was the main stream and what were tributary streams, Lord Fairfax had the stream explored, and the explorers decided that the main river had its source at a point where the Fairfax Stone was planted, the present corner of Tucker, Preston and Grant Counties, in West Virginia. It also was claimed as the southwest corner of Maryland. It has so remained to this day, but not without much controversy on the part of Maryland.
The claim was set up by Maryland, in 1830, that the stream known as the South Branch of the Potomac is the main Potomac River, and that all territory north of that stream and south of Pennsylvania, belonged to Maryland. A line drawn due north from the source of the South Branch to the Pennsylvania line was to be the western boundary of Maryland. Had that State succeeded in establishing its claim and extending its jurisdiction, the following territory would have been transferred to Maryland: Part of Highland County, Virginia; portions of Randelph, Tucker, Preston, Pen- dleton, Hardy, Grant, Hampshire and all of Mineral Counties, West Vir-
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ginia. The claim of Maryland was resisted, and Governor Floyd, of Vir- ginia, appointed Charles J. Faulkner, of Martinsburg, to investigate the whole matter, and ascertain, if possible, which was the main Potomac, and to consult all available early authorities on the subject. Mr. Faulkner filed his report November 6, 1832, and in this report he showed that the South Branch was not the main Potomac, and that the line as fixed by Lord Fair- fax's surveyors remained the true and proper boundary between Virginia and Maryland. The line due north from the Fairfax Stone to the Pennsyl- vania line remains the boundary in that quarter between West Virginia and Maryland, but the latter State is still disputing it.
When West Virginia separated from Virginia and took steps to set up a government for itself, it was at one time proposed to call the State Kanawha; and its eastern boundary was indicated so as to exclude some of the best counties now in the State. The counties to be excluded were Mercer, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pocahontas, Pendleton, Hardy, then including Grant; Hampshire, then including Mineral; Morgan, Berkeley and Jeffer- son. It was provided that any adjoining county of Virginia on the east might become a part of the State of West Virginia whenever a majority of the people of the county expressed a willingness to enter the new State. But, before the State was admitted the boundary line was changed and was fixed as it now is found.
As is well known, the territory which now forms West Virginia was a portion of Virginia from the first exploration of the country until separated from the State during the Civil War, in 1863. For a quarter of a century after the first settlement was planted in Virginia there were no counties; but as the country began to be explored, and when the original settlement at Jamestown grew, and others were made, it was deemed expedient to divide the State into counties, although the entire population at that time was scarcely enough for one respectable county. Accordingly, Virginia was divided into eight counties in 1634. The western limits were not clearly defined, except that Virginia claimed the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and it was no doubt intended that the counties on the west should embrace all her territory in that direction. The country beyond the Blue Ridge was unexplored, and only the vaguest ideas existed concerning it. There was a prevailing belief that beyond the Blue Ridge the country sloped to the Pacific, and that a river would be found with its source in the Blue Ridge and its mouth in that ocean.
The eastern portion of West Virginia, along the Potomac and its tribu- taries in 1735, was no longer an unbroken wilderness, but settlements existed in several places. In 1738 it was urged that there were people enough in the territory to warrant the formation of a new county. Accordingly, that portion of Orange west of the Blue Ridge was formed into two counties, Augusta and Frederick. Thus Orange County no longer embraced any portion of the territory now in this State. Frederick County embraced the lower, or northern part of the Shenandoah Valley, with Winchester as the county seat, and Augusta the Southern, or Upper Valley, with Staunton as
the seat of justice. Augusta then included almost all of West Virginia and extended to the Mississippi River, including Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. From its territory all the counties of West Virginia, except Jefferson, Berkeley and part of Morgan, have been formed, and its subdivision into counties will be the subject of this chapter. No part of West Virginia retains the name of Augusta, but the county still exists in
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