celebrated Peter Francisco had a battle with nine of Tarleton's cavalry in 1781; for an account of which see Buckingham.

OHIO.

OHIO was formed in 1776, from the district of West Augusta: it is 14 miles long, with a mean width of 10 miles. It is bounded westerly by the Ohio River, into which empty several creeks of the county. The surface is much broken, but the soil, especially on the water-courses, is very fertile. Over one million bushels of bituminous coal are annually mined in the county. Pop. in 1840, whites 12,842, slaves 212, free colored 303; total, 13,357.

West Liberty is situated 12 miles NE. of Wheeling, and 5 from the Ohio River. It was established in Oct., 1787, and Moses Chaplaine, Zachariah Sprigg, George M'Cullock, Charles Wills, Van Swearingan, James Mitchell, and Benjamin Briggs, gentlemen, were appointed trustees for laying out the town, at which place the county buildings had been erected. It remained the countyseat until Brooke county was formed, in 1797, when the courts were removed to Wheeling.

Wheeling City, the seat of justice for the county, is situated upon an alluvial area on the Ohio River, on both sides of Wheeling creek, 351 miles from Richmond, 264 from Washington city, 56 miles from Pittsburg, and 31 from Washington, Pa. The city is surrounded by bold hills, containing inexhaustible quantities of bituminous coal, from which the numerous manufactories of the town are supplied at a trifling expense. It is furnished with water from the Ohio by water-works. It contains a handsome courthouse, a jail, county offices, 2 academies, 2 banks and a savings' institution, a fire and marine insurance company, and 1 Episcopal, 1 Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Unionist, 1 German Methodist, 1 Lutheran, and 2 Presbyterian churches, a Friends' meeting-house, and religious societies belonging to the Reformed Baptists or Disciples, Swedenborgians, and Reformed Methodists; 97 stores, 7 commission and forwarding houses, 4 iron foundries, 4 steam-engine factories, 8 glass-houses, in several of which cut-glass is manufactured, 4 woollen and cotton factories, with carding machines, 2 paper-mills, 4 saw-mills, 3 white and sheet-lead and copperas factories, 2 daily, 1 weekly, and 1 semi-monthly newspapers, together with many flouring mills in it and vicinity, and mechanical and manufacturing establishments of a lesser note.

A beautiful and substantial stone bridge crosses Wheeling creek. The city contains about 1000 dwellings; over twenty steamboats are owned here, and all which navigate this portion of the Ohio stop at its wharves. The national road passes through Wheeling, which is one of the greatest thoroughfares in the Union. Zane's

island lies on the Ohio, opposite the city, and is crossed by the national road. Wheeling is the largest town in western Virginia.

In 1810 its population was 914; in 1820, 1,567; 1830, 5,221; 1840, 7,885. From the advantages of its location, &c., Wheeling must eventually be a place of great business. The vast multitude of emigrants constantly passing through it to the far west, increase its trade, and impart to it an air of bustle and business peculiarly animating.

In 1769, (says Withers,) Col. Ebenezer Zane, his brothers Silas and Jonathan, with some others from the south branch of the Potomac, visited the Ohio for the purpose of making improvements, and severally proceeded to select positions for their future residence. They chose for their residence the site now occupied by the city of Wheeling,* and having made the requisite preparations returned to their former homes, and brought out their families the ensuing year. The Zanes were men of enterprise, tempered with prudence, and directed by sound judgment. To the bravery and good conduct of these three brothers, the Wheeling settlement was mainly indebted for its security and preservation during the war of the revolution. Soon after the settlement of this place, other settlements were made at different points, both above and below Wheeling, and the country on Buffalo, Short, and Grave creeks.

"A very intelligent merchant of this city describes, that in very early time, and doubtless much anterior to that mentioned above, a circumstance took place which presents the strongest probability of the first notice of this spot by a white man, and the best data demonstrative of the circumstance from which the name of Wheeling was conferred upon this city. A European gentleman in the capacity of a Catholic priest, direct from Europe, of the name of Wheelan, which was his orthography of the name, who on a missionary excursion through the United States, among the aborigines of this country, on descending the Ohio River, pitched his encampment at the mouth of the present well-known Wheeling creek, in or der for the discharge of his missionary duties there, among the red men of the forest. After a few months stay, he proceeded down the river, and left a name behind him, which will distinguish this celebrated spot till time shall be no longer. The founders of the city changed its orthography, since which it is written Wheeling."-Bowen's Directory of Wheeling for 1839.

It is stated in a communication to the American Pioneer by Mr. Jno. White, that Wheeling was originally called Weeling, which signifies the place of a head. The following tradition, explanatory of this, was obtained from Mr. John Brittle, who was taken prisoner by the Delawares, lived with them five years, and acquired their language. "In the earliest period of the settlement of Pennsylvania, some white settlers descended the Ohio River in a boat, and stopping at the mouth of Wheeling creek, were killed by the Delawares. The savages cut off the head of one of their victims, and placing it on a pole, with the face towards the river, called the spot Weeling. The Indians informed Mr. Brittle that the head was placed there to guard the river; I presume, to guard the camp from the incursions of the whites Mr. Brittle said, that if an Indian were asked, after shooting a deer or a bear, where he had hit the ant mal, his answer-if in the head-would be, 'weeling.""

The view shows Wheeling as it appears from an eminence on the Ohio side of the river, about a mile and a half below the central part of the town. Wheeling Island is seen on the left, and above it, on the hills in the distance, the National Road.

A traveller in this region in 1802, thus describes Wheeling as it was then :

Wheeling, situated on one of the high banks of the Ohio, was not in existence 12 years ago. At present it contains about 70 houses, built of planks, which, as in all the rising towns of the United States, are separated by an interval of several toises. This little town is confined by a long hill, from a hundred and eighty to two hundred toises in height, the base of which is not further from the river than two hundred toises. In this interval the houses are built; they form only one street, having one road in the middle. * * Here are 12 or 15 well-provided stores, from which the inhabitants for 20 miles round are supplied. This small town also participates in the exportation trade carried on between Pittsburg and the western country. Several of the traders of Philadelphia prefer sending their merchandise here, although it is a day's journey further; but this slight inconvenience is amply compensated by the advantage they derive, in avoiding the long circuit made by the Ohio on quitting Pittsburg, in which the very numerous shallows and the want of rapidity in the current during the summer, retard the navigation.

At Wheeling we lodged with Capt. Reymer, who keeps a tavern at the sign of the Wagon, and takes boarders for two piasters [$2] a week. The living is very good at his house for this money, for provisions are not dear here. Twelve fowls are sold for a piaster, [$1,] and a quintal [100 weight] of flour was not worth more than a piaster and a half.

The most important event in the history of Wheeling, was the siege of Fort Henry, at the mouth of Wheeling creek, in September, 1777. The bravery and perseverance of the little band who defended it against more than thirty times their number of savages, led on by the notorious Simon Girty, was such as to rank it among the most memorable events of border warfare. An account of this siege we abridge from the communication of Mr. George S. M. Kiernan, in the American Pioneer :

Fort Henry stood immediately on the left bank of the Ohio, about a quarter of a mile above Wheeling creek. It is said to have been planned by Gen. George Rogers Clarke, and was constructed under the superintendence of Ebenezer Zane and John Caldwell. It was originally called Fort Fincastle, and was a place of refuge for the settlers in Dunmore's war. The name was afterwards changed to Fort Henry, in honor of Patrick Henry. The fort was built on open ground, and covered a space of about three-quarters of an acre. It was a parallelogram, having a block-house at each corner, with lines of stout pickets, about eight feet high, extending from one block-house to another. Within the enclosure were a storehouse, barrack-rooms, garrison-well, and a number of cabins for the use of families. The principal entrance was through a gateway on the eastern side of the fort, next to the then straggling village of Wheeling, consisting of about 25 log-houses.

The savages, variously estimated at from 380 to 500 warriors, having been abundantly supplied with arms and provisions by the British governor, Hamilton, at Detroit, and led on by Girty, were brought before the walls of Fort Henry before Col. Shepherd, the commandant, knew of their real design. Some symptoms of their propinquity hav. ing been discovered, the settlers in the vicinity had, the night previous, sought shelter within the fort.

The garrison numbered only 42 fighting men, all told, counting those advanced in years as well as those who were mere boys. A portion of them were skilled in Indian warfare, and all were excellent marksmen. The storehouse was amply supplied with muskets, but was sadly deficient in ammunition.

The next morning Čol. Shepherd dispatched a man, accompanied by a negro, on an errand a short distance from the fort. The white man was brought to the ground by a blow from the firelock of an Indian; but the negro escaped back into the fort, and gave intelligence that they had been waylaid by a party of Indians in a cornfield.

As soon as the negro related his story, the colonel dispatched Captain Samuel Mason, with fourteen men, to dislodge the Indians from the field. Captain Mason with his party marched through the field, and arrived almost on the bank of the creek without finding the Indians, and had already commenced a retrograde movement when he was suddenly and furiously assailed in front, flank, and rear, by the whole of Girty's