Harding Duval Wellsburg Native



This story from a collection of the former HISTORICAL SOCIETY  of Brooke County.
The article was originally written by Betty Caldwell Leonard.   Contributed by
The Brooke County Genealogy Society.  
Many Thanks to them!!




STEAMBOAT 'ROUND THE BEND BY JAMES G. MULLOOLY "WELLSBURG'S HARDING 
DUVAL LEFT MARK ON FRONTIER AMERICA"


Every time we make a turn around the courthouse and city hall in Wellsburg, we 
half expect to come across a bronze figure of a horse and rider standing on the
lawn next to the sidewalk.  And the mounted figure might well be that of GEN. 
HARDING DUVAL, Wellsburg's Marco Polo of adventure and travel.



And the story of Harding Duval and the many adventures that befell him during 
his years away from Wellsburg makes current TV scripts pale into insignificance, 
action-wise.



Harding Duval;s father ISAAC DUVAL, had at one time operated a flint glass works 
at Wellsburg,the first of its type west of the Allegheny Mountains.  But with 
the river at his door, young Harding have little thought to the glass business.  
The flowing stream of the Ohio, with its picturesque steamboats and still not 
too distant exploits of Mike Fink and Davey Crockett, called up within him a 
desire to see what it was all about in that mysterious and exciting land to the 
west.



Thus it was, at the age of 13, Harding Duval left his mother's home at Wellsburg, taking passage on the steamer TEMPEST, bound for Louisville, 
Kentucky, and from there shipped aboard the steamer JOHN JAY for Vanburen, 
Arkansas, with an eventual destination at the home of his brother.



This was the start of a new life of adventure and hardship for the young and 
plucky Wellsburger. The next eight years saw Harding Duval in the unstable 
Southwest of the continent, hunting and fighting Indians.  At times he acted as 
a scout and filled in with other occupations between assignments.  On several 
occasions Duval had accompanied JOHN C. FREMONT on his expeditions to the west 
and northwest.



When the annexation of Texas came about in the year 1845, it brought many Indian 
problems with it.  Duval, a nephew of GOV. BUTLER, of South Carolina, was 
appointed by President Polk, along with his uncle and Col. Lewis of Tennessee, 
as a commissioner to visit and treat with the hostile Indian tribes.


With the help of two friendly Indian guides, Duval left FORT GIBSON in Oklahoma, 
on his way to cross the Red River into Texas.  After an absence of seven months, 
be brought in 8,000 Indians, representing 30 tribes. Some of these he took to 
Washington to show them the "power of the Great White Father". The entire job 
was a rough assignment, but Duval never complained of one mile of the many he 
had covered.


When the Mexican War showed its ugly head on the horizon, Harding Duval took 
charge of Gov. Butler's plantation on the storied Red River, near Shrevesport, 
LA.  When Butler met his demise during the storming of the hilltop fortress at 
Chapultepec, Duval left for the intriguing city of New Orleans.  Here, the 
glamour and color of the Queen City of the Mississippi was not to greet him - 
instead he found only garish ravages of a cholera epidemic; hundreds dead on the 
streets and burial an impossibility.


At this time a much brighter light shone in the west - this was the discovery of 
gold in California.  Duval left New Orleans for Texas and became Commander of 
the first company to start for California, Seventy-nine men were in the group, 
with Duval being the youngest.


The stalwarts left Waco, Texas, May 10, 1849, but the expedition was doomed to 
failure.  A fire in a hotel at Marysville stopped the troupe dead with the loss 
of all their possessions.


After the fire, Captain Duval took a boat to New York.  The trip was a tiresome 
one for excitement-lover Duval  Arriving at Cuba, he joined the troops connected 
with the Lopez insurrection and narrowly escaped death by so doing.


He returned to Wellsburg and took up the quiet and seemingly dull profession of 
a mercantile retailer.  But not for long.  The past events in the Southwest were 
now taking their toll; and a Civil War was in the making. The year was 1861, and 
the call of high adventure again found Harding Duval in the first request for 
U.S. Troops.


With his previous record, Capt. Duval was promoted from time to time and came 
out of the war with the stars of a Major General by Brevet, and a full Brigadier 
General.


Not one to stand by and be a spectator.  Duval displayed his usual flair for 
action and excitement during the War Between the States. While holding the rank 
of Colonel, he was wounded twice, had eleven horses shot out from under him; was
 assigned to the New Hancock Veterans Corps; leading them down the valley with 
orders to get in the rear of Richmond to prevent Gen. Lee's escape in his 
encounter with Grant.



Following this, Duval captured Gen. Rosser's cavalry, paroled several thousand 
Co federate soldiers and took possession of a number of railroad trains loaded 
with various supplies of the Confederate Army.


Gen. Duval's troops on the occasion captured the Rebel Flag flying from the pole 
at Lexington Virginia Military Institute, along with a miniature brass  canon, 
taken from the school.  These were the only trophies brought back by Gen. Duval 
at the end of the fracas.  These souvenirs are in possession of his family 
today.


And the colorful career of the boy who left Wellsburg at the tender age of 13 
did not stop here.  After the war, Gen. Duval served in the U.S. Congress as a 
representative from the First District of West Virginia; also as a legislator of 
the state for a period of four terms and was in the State Senate two terms.


Harding Duval died July 10 1902.  He had been well honored by his state and 
country, and had gotten his  "image" the hard way- forged out of the hectic days 
of the pioneer west and on the battlefields.