The siege of Fort Henry was an attack on American militiamen during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
near the Virginia outpost known as
Fort Henry by a multi tribal alliance in September 1777. The fort, named for Virginia Governor
, was at first defended by only a small number of militia, as rumors of the Indigenous American attack had moved faster than the Indigenous Americans, and a number of militia companies had left the fort. The American settlers were successful in repulsing the Indigenous American attack.
Background
In the summer of 1777, rumors began circulating throughout frontier areas of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
and
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
that Indigenous Americans living in the
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country (Ohio Territory, Ohio Valley) was a name used for a loosely defined region of colonial North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and south of Lake Erie.
Control of the territory and the region's fur trade was disputed i ...
were planning attacks on frontier settlements on and around the
Ohio River
The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
.
Fort Henry, which had been constructed in 1774 to protect the settlers in the area around what is now
Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...
, was one of the rumored targets.
In early August, General
Edward Hand
Edward Hand (December 31, 1744 – September 3, 1802) was an Irish-born American military officer and politician who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Rising to the rank of Major General, Hand served as Adjuta ...
, the region's commander at
Fort Pitt, warned Lieutenant Colonel David Shepherd and all of the local militia captains of the threat, ordering 11 militia companies to gather at Fort Henry. At least 6 companies arrived totalling over 350 men.
Minor skirmishes took place on August 2 and 4 resulting in two wounded
enslaved men and one Indigenous American killed.
For a time thereafter, militia companies stayed at Fort Henry, improving its defenses and patrolling for Indigenous Americans. However, the absence of any major threat led many of those companies to leave and return to their homes. By the end of August, only Captain
Joseph Ogle's 25 man company from
Buffalo Creek and the fort's local milita under Captain
Samuel Mason
Samuel Ross Mason (November 8, 1739 – 1803), was an American Revolutionary War veteran, Virginia militia captain, justice of the peace, frontier leader, and later, a figure associated with river piracy and highway robbery. He is best known a ...
remained.
[Puryear (2009) p. 232]
Prelude
The battle is reported in some sources to have taken place on September 1, and in others on September 21. On the night of the battle, a multi tribal alliance of 200 - 300 Natives (predominantly
Wyandot
Wyandot may refer to:
Native American ethnography
* Wyandot people, who have been called Wyandotte, Huron, Wendat and Quendat
* Wyandot language, an Iroquoian language
* Wyandot Nation of Kansas, an unrecognized tribe and nonprofit organization ...
and
Mingo
The Mingo people are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans, primarily Seneca and Cayuga, who migrated west from New York to the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century, and their descendants. Some Susquehannock survivors also joined them, a ...
, although there were also some
Shawnee
The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
and
Lenape
The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada.
The Lenape's historica ...
) under the leadership of the Wyandot Chief
Dunquat,
and Lenape Chief
Buckongahelas
Buckongahelas ( – May 1805) together with Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, achieved the greatest victory won by Native Americans, killing 600. He was a regionally and nationally renowned Lenape chief, councilor and warrior. He was acti ...
approached the fort in great stealth and secrecy.
Local men later joined from Fort Shepherd (in Elm Grove) and Fort Holliday to defend the fort. The total number of defenders on the first day varies by accounts from 42 to just under 100 militia. This is likely because accounts of the battle were recorded after the war and the local militiamen arrived sporadically alongside civilians taking refuge.
[History of the Pan-Handle, being historical collections of the counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall and Hancock, West Virginia. West Virginia, 1879, by J. H. Newton, G. G. Nichols, and A. G. Sprankle. Pages 134-135.]
Battle and aftermath
When four men left the fort early that morning, The Indigenous Americans attacked them, killing one. The other three escaped, including two who returned to the fort to raise the alarm.
On hearing of the attack, Captain Mason led out marched out to search for the Indigenous Americans. However, the Indigenous Americans anticipated a
sortie
A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warf ...
from the fort and had set up an ambush. One of Mason's men,
Thomas Glen
Thomas Glen (1796 – April 28, 1887) was a Scottish-born merchant and politician in Newfoundland. He represented Ferryland in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1842 to 1848 and from 1855 to 1874.
He was born in Greenock, ...
''(sic)'', spotted an Indigenous American and shot him, prompting the Indigenous Americans to open fire. Seeing that they were very nearly surrounded, Mason and his men retreated, with Mason suffering severe enough injuries that he was forced to hide by the path rather than go to the fort. When Ogle led some men out to assist, his party was also attacked, and he was forced to take cover. Despite taking casualties, he and Mason were eventually able to retreat to the fort.
[Puryear (2009), p. 234]
Shortly after the siege began, calls for help went out to militias throughout the region. Captain Van Swearingen was the first to respond with fourteen men from Cross Creek, about 20 miles north, and was able to enter the fort without issue. The second to respond was Major Samuel McColloch, who led a force of 40 men from
Fort Van Meter along
Short Creek to assist the besieged Fort Henry. As his men approached the fort, they were ambushed by Indigenous American forces. While covering his men's safe retreat into the fort, McCollock found himself cut off.
Upon his horse McColloch fled up Wheeling Hill, and there he found himself surrounded on three sides by Native forces, and on the other by a steep 300 ft (91 m) drop. Instead of being captured or killed, he chose to charge his horse over the edge of the cliff managing to save both himself and his horse without injury, and becoming a local folk hero for the story which has become known as
McColloch's Leap.
The Indigenous Americans remained overnight outside the fort, dancing and demonstrating, but never attacked it directly.
They left the morning after McColloch's reinforcements arrived, having suffered nine wounded and one killed, while the Americans lost 23 people (14 or 15 of whom were militia men and 8 or 9 were local civilians), along with five wounded.
[Puryear (2009), p. 234] Over the course of the raid, the Native American force burned approximately 25 surrounding cabins and slaughtered or stole 300 cattle.
Following the Revolutionary War, Captain Samuel Mason would later turn to a life of crime as a
river pirate
A river pirate is a pirate who operates along a river. The term has been used to describe many different kinds of pirate groups who carry out riverine attacks in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America. They are usually prosecuted ...
in 1797 at
Cave-In-Rock on the
Ohio River
The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
and a
highwayman
A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who travelled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to foo ...
on the
Natchez Trace
The Natchez Trace, also known as the Old Natchez Trace, is a historic forest trail within the United States which extends roughly from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi, linking the Cumberland River, Cumberland, Tennessee River, ...
.
References
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Fort Henry 1777
Conflicts in 1777
1777 in the United States
Fort Henry 1777
Wheeling, West Virginia
Fort Henry (1777)
Fort Henry (1777)
Attacks on military installations in the United States