Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-18


of whom was burned at the stake by thu
Delaware Indians in what isnOw Crawtori
Township, Wyandot County Ohio, June IL
1852.
An encampment was made and tn,
work of surveying at once began.
large sugar tree and sycamore at the moutt
of the Kanawha and Immediately on thu
upper point, f" was marked as the place o.
beginning. From this point line wa'
run to the mouth of Three Mile Creek; on
the north side of the Kanawha, and thence
q zigzag line to point on the Ohio, one
mile below Letort Falls; then line with
the menanderings of the Ohio to the place
of beginning. This survey contained 81 )
302 acres or so square miles and was sub,
divided among the patentees as follows
First tract of 9,S76 acres, including the
present site of the town of Point Pleasant,
for Andrew Lewis; then a tract containing
{, 900 acres for George Muse; then tract
Of 5, 900 acres for Peter Hogg; then tract
of 8, 900 acres for Andrew Stephens; then
another tract of 8, 900 acres for Peter Hogg
then another of 5,026 acres for George
Muse, then a tract Of 3,40O acres for
Andrew Waggener; then tract OF 5000
acres for John Poulson; then tract of g.
900 acres for John West. Operations were
then transferred to the lower side OF the
Kanawha, and tract of Is, $50 acres were
for Hugh Mercer and lastly a
tract containing 10, 800 acres on the south
side of the Kanawha for George Washing,
ton. These lands were all granted to the
several patentees, for services In the
French and Indian War, every one Of
whom it is believed were with ;Braddock
at the battle of MOnongahela.
In the spring of 1773, James McCown,
Hancock Taylor, Samuel Adams and
James, George and Robert McAfee,-all
afterward prominent in the history of Ken
lucky, joined the party of Colonel Thomas
Ballitt, who, for services in the French
and Indian War, had received patent for
the lands upon which Charleston, the
Capital of the State now stands, and all
proceeded to Point Pleasant, and thence
to Kentucky. In the year III Simon
Kenton and two companions-leager and
Strader reared the first cabin in the Great
Kanawha Valley on the bank of Elk river
about two miles from the present city OF
Charleston. Here in the spring of l773,
they were attacked by the Indians. Ieager
was killed and Kenton and Strader, both
fled down the Kanawha and
found rest in a hunters camp at point
Pleasant. (Traus Allegheny Pioneers
page 60.
On the first of October IVA General
Lewis arms |, 100 strong, under the guild
ance of Coptain William Arbuckle, reached
Point Pleasant and on the 10th of the same
month waged the most tiercely contested
battle ever fought with the Indians in
Virginia, if not on the continent. Indeed
it's desperate character has no parallel IN
the annals of forest warfare. That evening
as the sun sank behind the low hills OF the
western wilderness, one hundred and forty
Nirginians were born by more
fortunate comrades into into the encamp-
ment. A hundred detailed men at once
reared the walls of Fort Randolph, and
from that bloody October day, TO the present
time an English speaking people hare d're't
at Point Pleasant
Captain Arbuckle was placed in Command
of the fort, and in this capacity he was
serving in FEBRUARY IFS, when visited by
Gen. George Rogers Clarke then on his
way to Kentucky, to lead the expedition
against the British posts of kaskaskia and
Vincennes. Captain Arbuckle left Lieu
tenat Mckee in command and accompanied
Gen. Clarke in his western campaign.
Buffers History OF Kentuky cage 4Sl.
Now it is true as the World stated that
the General Assembly December 70, 1892,
passed an act establishing ferry from the
lands of Thomas Lewis, across the Ohio to
lands in the Northwest Territory. The
same Act, provided for the establishment
of ferry across the mouth OF the kanawha
from the lands OF Thomas Lewis to the
lands of Robert Henderson, opposite; the
rates Tor Il man being cents. Sheppard S
Statues at Large page l5sD.
December 10, 1894 the General Assembly
enacted That two hundred acres OF land.
the property of Thomas Lewis, at mouth
of the Kanawha river, i'll the said county
of Kanawha, as they are already laid OFF
into lots and streets, shall be established
d town by the name of Point Pleasant, and
Lenard Cooper, John Van Ribber, Isaac
Tyler, William 0wnes, William Allyn,
John Reynolds, Allen Prior, George
Clendenin and William Morris gentlemen,
appointed trustees thereof. shepherd S
Statues Vol. l, page 32l.) Thus was be-
gun the legal eXistance OF Point Pleasant
one gear md Sir days before that Of Wheel
ing.
Now what are the facts? Simply these:
That before the founding of Marietta and
while the owl booted amid the branches
of the lofty teees, the howl otthe wolf and
the scream of the panther reSounded
through the forest and while the fox dug
his hole unscaredn on the site where that
city now stands, daring pioneers among
whom were Daniel Boone, John Van Rib
Der, Matthias Van Ribber, John Reynolds,
Isaac Tyler, Michael See, Robert ST. Clair,
Benjamin Eulen and LOman Gibbs were
dwelling in their cabin homes around the
walls Of old Fort Randolph at Point
Pleasant. From beneath the mistletOe
dressed bOughs of the old Sentinel Tree
which stood near by weary sentry had
watched for the coming of the savage foe,
fourteen years before single white man
had found q home at Marietta.
Fort Henry at Wheeling and Fort Ran
dOlph ut Point Pleasant were both reared
the same year,-l774. Both withstOOd the
storm OfSavage warfare until the warwhoop
of the barbarian was no longer heard on
the banks of the Ohio. Tl,en those who
had found refuge within these walls went
forth to cOnqueSt-not with the rifle-but
with the axe to conquer the wilderness,
that they might transmit rich inheritance
10 their pOsterity.
Now what do the records show? This;
that Point Pleasant is fourteen years older
than Marietta; t,rclre years older than
Charleston, the Capital of West Virginia;
fifteen years older than Cincinnati, SereHtee,'
years older than GallipOlis and tTenty-t,cC
years older than Chillicothe. It's serentcen
years older than, Harrisburg, the Oldest
town in Kentucky in which State the first
log cabin was erected the same year that
Fort Randolph was built at Point Pleas
ant. VIRGIL. \. LEWIS.