Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1856-10-31

Marriages and Deaths inscrted' gratis. FI1sis
= AL eommaq1eation onsS ltohinsure. uttcntion must
SiS g SsStH r Oy the authors name and post
- s -; {. - - -, -. -.
-.'ia1n '1s rom the wheeling 1al6IIigcucor. e
-sA'a-.97 ''SIMoN GTRTY. -.
The incidents connected with the cri ori-
gin and growth Of great communities are
always fruitful source Of interest aud in
struction. The prominent part, that ST.
mon Girty acted on the frontier settlement
of,Northwestern Virginia. and the inf1u-
ence he exercised on the colony at Whee-
ling, now emo mean city" suggests this
reference to his history and character. ....
In the year 1770, Wheeling was settled
by number. of men from the south
branch of the Potomac, who came here to
plant the standard Of civilization, and in
obedience to the FIRST command of God to
man, to "multiply and replenish the earth
and subdue it." Then there was an un-
broken wilderness. where now is the great
city of Western Virginia, with all the pro-
gress of the age and its fruitful sequence.
The House of Burgesses had resolved
to arrest and chastise the savage incur
sions on the Virginia frontier. Gov Dun.
more in connection with Gen. Lewis, took
command of the troops. When the troops
under Gov. Dunmore assembled at Pitts.
burg, Simon Girty enlisted in the service
and became one Of Dunmore's principal
guides and spies. He bore the orders to
Gen Lewis to cross the Ohio and join
Dunmore near the Indian towns. Gov.
Dunmore was a Scottish earl, educated
and nurtured in all the sentiments OF the
British court. Wien he arrived at Whee>
ling with his troops, he learned that the
Virginia colony had taken the first step in
the Revolution, aud the suspicion was ex-
cited that his subsequent conduct was go.
verned by the design to propitiate the In
event of a war between the Mother Cuun
try aud the Colonies. So strong were Tho
convictions Of Gen. Lewis. as to what wa
required Of him, as an officer. that he dis
0beyed the orders of. Gov. Dunmoro an
marched on to, encounter the Indians, AM
only halted when further resistance ceai
ed to be virtue. 1t was subsequent
disclosed that Conolly. the man that q
gagged his confidence during the DUNNO
war, devised plan to overcome the VI
ginia colony by the combined forces IT
the Tories, the Indians and the Brith
troops. But it was the good forLunepf
the colony to have the renowned revb-
tionary Gen. Lewis, toadefeat their An
and rout their forces. Though In
more's conduct was endorsed by the Sn-
vention at Richmond, Masch 25, rs,
before the close Of that year he was en>
dered so obnoxious to the people oHir-
ginia, as follower Of the King AM his
hostility to the interest and liberty oHir-
ginia, that he was expelled from theolo-
ny. Whether during the Dunmor! war
he excited feelings that alienated flrty
from the colony of Virginia, or infu' in
to his mind sentiments that maturi adj
versely to his fidelity to the colonyAistoc
rY and tradition are silent. and Sarlty |
forbids that should more than st$ the
facts, that he was in the confidently SER
vice Of Dunmore, that Dunmore cofpued
the subject ofthe King, and tha9d'rtty
became a renegade and conted@'e III
the same cause,
When the British governments 7 De
troit, sought to organize band 4 torres
in conjunction with the Indians. tpppoSe
with the cupidity of the one and e !ero>
civ OF the other, The frontier mePt Hlr,
uiniu-when not only NIL the priHlons oil
The first settlement were to be b ne' but
the trcnchcry OF the men that h ENJOY
cd the (ireside OF homes, the rFSt ana
beverage. the councils and thcperls oil
these piuucers-at this crisis on Shc iron
tier, and this period OF public pger' 81,
mon Girtv, who had been. ipy anu
guide for the Anglo> Americ IN pee, had
been the interpreter for the Uptu STATES
in all their treaties with the 81 NatIons.
during the year 1875 or the ely part OF
the year l777, deserted, entsd on the
future with the brand and pa port OF the
renegade and traitor. becamehe conleu
crate Of the Indians and the iIet ally OF
Governor Hamilton. He n only at
tached himself to the IndiauSn Snd British.
but James Girty, who at N time was
employed by the Commissions on a mes
sage to the Shawnee Indians, as induced
by him to desert and embark iith him in
the same cause. When thes combined
forces of the Indians and Htish were
about to be precipitated on Virginia
frontier, and the whole exten of country
from fort Pitt to Wheeling wathe threat
ened theater for the assault Wheeling,
although George Mason had said, was
rriae most commodious site 70 Ia military
,la..snd Fertilization on ie Virginia
nknueh FortHeEy had been
lhe lot is, which is
d. knox, Esq,
AFfnment, and
a, .At,o,,