Fort Henry (Virginia)

Infobox Military Structure
name=Fort Henry (Fort Fincastle)
location=Wheeling, West Virginia


caption=A 19th century depiction of Elizabeth Zane's legendary feat of retrieving powder during the 1782 siege of Fort Henry
type=stockade
built=1774
used=1774–1784
controlledby=Virginia
garrison=
commanders=
battles=Dunmore's War, Western theater of the American Revolutionary War

Fort Henry was a fort which stood about ¼ mile from the Ohio River where the town of Wheeling, West Virginia, is now located. The fort was originally known as Fort Fincastle and was named for Viscount Fincastle, Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia. Later it was renamed for Patrick Henry, and was at the time located in Virginia.

Built in June 1774, Fort Henry was not erected by any specific plan or design, but was one of a number of similar forts built to protect settlers on the frontier in the middle years of the 1770s. The outbreak of the Shawnee (tribe) or Dunmore's War, a conflict between American Indians of the Ohio Country and Virginia, was the immediate reason for its construction.

Construction was supervised by Colonel William Crawford under the orders of the Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore.

It would appear that the need for a fortified shelter was noticed simultaneously by the residents of the area, and by the military authorities at Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania), in the Spring of 1774. John Connally wrote to Wheeling and urged the settlers to fortify themselves as soon as possible.

Ebenezer Zane and John Caldwell began the fort, which was completed with the help of Captain William Crawford, Colonel Angus McDonald and 400 militia and regulars from Fort Pitt. A letter preserved in the Pennsylvania Archives shows that Connally told Crawford "to proceed to Wheeling and complete the fort."

A letter from Lord Dunmore dated June 20, 1774 to Connally states that Dunmore “entirely [approved] of the measures [Connally] have taken to build a fort at Wheeling." Dunmore, then, did not specifically order the fort to be built, but did approve of it. Connally, according to some accounts, left Fort Pitt with 100 men to help build the fort, but was harassed by a small raiding party of Indians. He returned to Fort Pitt, and then sent out Crawford and McDonald with 400 men.

The fort enclosed about one half acre and was defended on three sides by the topography. On the south and west (river) sides, the bluff prevented or greatly hindered assaults. On the north, the ravine provided protection. The only level ingress would have been from the east. Zane's blockhouse protected the entrance since attackers had to pass by it to attack the fort. They would have been caught in a crossfire between the fort and the blockhouse. All of the recorded attacks on Fort Henry came from the east.

The outer palisade wall was made of timbers, with blockhouses built at each of the four corners. In 1781 a two-story log structure was added near the front gate on which a cannon was mounted.

The fort was besieged twice during the American Revolutionary War including an attack featured in legends about Betty Zane. Numerous other skirmishes took place nearby.

References

*"The Border Wars of the Upper Ohio Valley (1769-1794)", William Hintzen, Precision Shooting Inc. (Manchester, CT 2001), pp.366-367.
*Brooks, A. B. [http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/journal_wvh/wvh1-2.html "Story of Fort Henry"] , "West Virginia History", Volume I, Number 2 (January 1940), pp. 110–118.
*Klein, Richard and Cooper, Alan, [http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/landmark/historic/fthenry2.htm "The Fort Henry Story"] , Fort Henry Bicentennial Committee, 1982