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The first people to live in the area that is now West
Virginia were Indians called the Mound-Builders of the
ancient Hopewell and Adena cultures.
The Mound-Builders disappeared around the year 1,000. They
may have moved somewhere else. They may have all died. Or
they may have mixed in with other Indians. Nobody knows for
sure. When the Mound-Builders left, the Woodland Indians
came to live in this area, the Cherokee, Delaware and
Shawnee Indian tribes. Many of the Native Americans had died
in tribal wars or disease during the late 1500s.
In the 1600s, Europeans started crossing the Appalachian
Mountains to explore the area. In 1606, England established
the Virginia Colony. This very large area of land included
what is now West Virginia. In 1669, King Charles II granted
land patents, including the eastern part of the present
state of West Virginia, to supporters of his family.
Alexander Spotswood from Virginia came in 1716 and claimed
the land for England. By 1719, Thomas, Lord Fairfax, had
consolidated claim to the entire 5,282,000 acres in his own
name.
The white settlement of present-day West Virginia probably
began with the first Germans in search of religious freedom
at Mecklenburg (present-day Shepherdstown) in 1727, despite
earlier claims that Morgan Morgan had been the first.
Winning a dispute over the state of Virginia in 1746,
Fairfax was officially granted all the land to the North
Branch of the Potomac by the King of England. Fairfax had
the land surveyed and leased to European immigrants in a
manner similar to the European feudal system. He also sold
much of it to land speculators.
Over the next two decades, England granted other large
tracts of property to various land companies, attempting to
copy Fairfax's success, but the Native Americans, French,
and scattered settlers complicated their efforts.
Dispute over land in the Ohio Valley in the 1740s led to
armed conflict in 1754. Treaties between the British,
French, and Native Americans in the 1740s failed to clear
title to the property in question. The French had laid claim
to the territory on the basis of explorations of Robert
Cavelier, the Sieur de La Salle and Celeron de Bienville.
The British claims were based also on early explorations, as
well as the original charter of the colony of Virginia,
which claimed all the territory extending to the Mississippi
River. Treaties with the Iroquois in 1722 and 1744, and with
the Delaware and Shawnee tribes in 1752, gave England a more
legal claim. However, under terms of the Native American
concept of the land, many tribes other than the Iroquois,
Delaware, and Shawnee claimed rights to the territory.
Forced into a confrontational stance with Great Britian, the
Native Americans allied with the French, who primarily
wanted the territory for trading purposes rather than for
settlement, which Native Americans perceived as a threat to
their way of life. As a result, much of the French and
Indian War (or Seven Years War), from 1756 and 1763, took
place in the Appalachian region.
Early defeats in the French and Indian War led Virginia
Governor Dinwiddie to construct forts in present West
Virginia as defensive positions from attack. These forts
became a boundary that approximate the eastern border of
West Virginia. Native American warriors attacked Fort Evans
in present-day Berkeley County in 1756, and Forts Seybert
and Upper Tract in present-day Pendleton County in 1758, as
well as sites throughout the Monongahela, New River, and
Greenbrier valleys. In November 1758, the British captured
Fort Duquesne (renamed Fort Pitt) at the mouth of the Ohio
River at present-day Pittsburgh, securing the Ohio Valley.
The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the French and Indian War,
giving England title to virtually all territory east of the
Mississippi River. The 1768, peace treaties forced Cherokee
and Iroquois out of West Virginia. Colonists rushed to
settle the land between the Alleghenies and the Ohio River.
The Alleghenies Mountains separated the western and eastern
counties of Virginia, which soon became very different in
social and economic structure.
With the French eliminated, the Native Americans were left
alone in their fight against colonial agression. In the
summer of 1763, the Delaware and Shawnee tribes decided to
attack settlements west of the Allegheny Mountains. Under
the Ottawa chief Pontiac, Native American warriors captured
most of the trans-Allegheny forts, with the exception of
Fort Pitt. On August 6, 1763, British forces, under Colonel
Henry Bouquet destroyed Delaware and Shawnee forces at Bushy
Run in present-day western Pennsylvania, paving the way for
colonial settlement. However, England's King George III's
Proclamation of 1763 prohibited settlement west of the
Allegheny Mountains in an attempt to avoid contact with
Native Americans.
In 1768, the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes released their
claims to the territory between the Ohio River and the
Allegheny Mountains. This nullified the Proclamation of
1763, producing a rapid increase in settlement. Land
speculators again became concerned with their legal rights
to the land on which white settlers were squatters. One of
the speculators was none other than George Washington, who
acquired 45,000 acres of present-day Mason, Putnam, and
Kanawha counties.
With the incursion of colonial surveyors into the
trans-Allegheny region, Shawnee forces once again attempted
to defend their property. Colonists attempted pre-emptive
attacks which further infuriated the Native Americans. In
1773, land speculator Michael Cresap led a group of
volunteers from Fort Fincastle (later renamed Fort Henry) at
present-day Wheeling, murdering several Shawnee at Captina
Creek. Among many other atrocities, on April 30, 1774,
colonists murdered the family of Mingo chieftain
Tah-gah-jute, who had been baptized under the English name
of Logan. Although Logan had previously lived peacefully
with whites, he killed at least 13 settlers that summer in
revenge, justifying his actions in a famous letter.
Virginia Governor John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, decided to
end the conflict in the Ohio Valley by force. Dummore
created two armies, one marching from the North, consisting
of 1,700 men led by himself and the other marching from the
South, comprised of 800 troops led by western Virginia
resident and land speculator Captain Andrew Lewis. Shawnee
chieftain Keigh-tugh-qua, or Cornstalk, elected to strike
the southern regiment before they united with Dunmore's
forces. On October 10, 1774, Cornstalk's approximately 1,200
men attacked Lewis' forces at the confluence of the Kanawha
and Ohio Rivers, present-day Point Pleasant. After the
battle, which resulted in significant losses on both sides
and a Shawnee retreat to protect their settlements in the
Scioto Valley, Lord Dummore met with members of the
Delaware, Shawnee, and Mingo tribes. As a condition of the
subsequent Treaty of Camp Charlotte, the Native American
tribes relinquished all property and hunting claims on land
south of the Ohio River.
The Battle of Point Pleasant eliminated Native Americans as
a force on the frontier for the first three years of the
American Revolutionary War, clearing the way for peaceful
settlement of the region. It was the second colonial step in
eliminating the elements restricting settlement and
successful land speculation, as the Treaty of Paris had
removed the French eleven years before. The Revolutionary
War would eventually remove British claims from the
Appalachian region, leaving the area in the hands of large
non-resident land holders such as George Washington, Robert
Morris, and DeWitt Clinton.
After the defeat of the French and their Native American
allies, England and American colonists finally clashed over
the ownership of what became the United States. Despite
years of conflict with the British, by 1777, many Native
American tribes had joined in the fight against the
colonists. The great Indian chief Cornstalk was taken
hostage at Fort Randolph at present-day Point Pleasant while
trying to warn settlers that the Shawnee had decided to
fight on behalf of the British. In retaliation for the
murder of a colleague, soldiers at the fort murdered
Cornstalk and his son. In 1777 and 1778, British and Native
American forces attacked outposts held by colonials,
including Fort Henry (present-day Wheeling), Fort Randolph,
and Fort Donnally (west of present-day Lewisburg). In 1778,
George Rogers Clark, accompanied by troops from the
Monongahela and Shenandoah valleys, temporarily broke the
British-Indian alliance with victories in the Illinois
territory at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes. Colonials
rejected an attempt by Wyandots and some Shawnee to
negotiate a peace in 1779. One of the most violent
skirmishes in present-day West Virginia took place when
Wyandot and Delaware warriors laid siege to Fort Henry in
1782, nearly a year after the surrender of the main British
army at Yorktown. American aims were consolidated with
General Anthony Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers in
present-day northwestern Ohio, effectively removing any
remaining Indian claims in the Ohio Valley. A number of
prominent Revolutionary War officers came from present-day
West Virginia, including Horatio Gates, Charles Lee, Adam
Stephen, Hugh Stephenson, and William Darke.
Besides determining self-rule of the country, the American
Revolution negated all claims upon land in western Virginia
by the third and final group, the British. The Revolution
opened up settlement of territory west of the Allegheny
Mountains, but at the same time, cleared a route to a
frontier beyond the Ohio River, which was often more
appealing than that territory guarded by the mountains.
Those unwilling or unable to purchase property from land
companies claimed homesteads on the frontier through
squatter's rights. Although avoiding considerable expense,
the settlers faced problems on the frontier, such as
conflict with Native Americans and disease. Furthermore, the
government and land speculators in eastern Virginia,
disregarding the "squatter's rights," surveyed and
distributed the land.
Early settlers pushed west of the Alleghenies and settled
first along the major river valleys, including the
Greenbrier, Monongahela, Cheat, Tygart, Kanawha, and Ohio.
It was not until the 1780s, that a substantial number of
people had moved west of the mountains, but after that
settlement proceeded at a rapid rate. In 1790, there were
56,000 people in present-day West Virginia. By 1810, there
were 105,000, and on the eve of the Civil War, 377,000.
In 1794, President Washington personally led federal troops
into western Pennsylvania. Washington's actions united
settlers on the western frontier, including present-day West
Virginia, against the power of a strong central government.
Over the next seventy years, western Virginians continued to
struggle against their state government which they felt did
not truly represent their interests
By 1860, great contention had grown between west and east
counties in Virginia. Huge disputes developed over issues
such as slavery, taxation, education, and equal
representation within their government. In 1861, Virginia
seceded from the Union and the Civil War began. When
Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, the residents of
the western counties, few of whom owned slaves, decided to
stay with the Union. "Mountaineers always freemen" is the
state's motto. They voted to break away from Virginia and
form their own government. West Virginia became the 35th
state on June 20, 1863.
During the late 1800s, railroads expanded throughout the
state. With new advanced technology, lumber and coal
production increased dramatically. New industries such as
chemical, glass, and steel moved into the state to use the
huge amounts of natural gas produced there.
Much of West Virginia's population worked in coal mines
during the early 1900s. The work was dangerous and accidents
killed hundreds of miners. In 1902, the United Mine Workers
labor union organized several miners and demanded safer
working conditions, shorter work hours, and better wages.
Deadly fights often broke out between mine owners and union
members, which ended for a short time under military law. In
1933, the National Recovery Administration was established.
It protected union members and helped to bring about the
needed changes within the mines. Despite these reforms, many
workers left West Virginia from the 1940s to the 1970s in
search of better economic opportunities.
A trend of increased retirement to West Virginia in the
1980s resulted in renewed population growth for the state.
The wealth of natural resources attracted retirees to West
Virginia, which is the state highest in elevation east of
the Mississippi and is part of the Appalachian Mountain
system. Forest forms approximately three-fourths of the
state, while farms cover many of the ridges and fertile
valley bottoms. West Virginia boasts thirty-three state
parks, and is considered one of the best spots in the world
for white water rafting, which constitutes an important part
of the state's growing tourist industry. |
