HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA, BY VIRGIL A. LEWIS, A.M. This file was scanned, OCRed, edited, and submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm CHAPTER II. THE MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS OF WEST VIRGINIA. Prehistoric Time Continued. 1. The First Inhabitants of West Virginia. Before entering upon the study of the history of our State it is proper that we make inquiry regarding the people who dwelt here before the coming of white men. Who the first inhabitants were we do not know, for all the ages through which the New World passed, prior to its dis- covery by Columbus, are destitute of history and chronology, called Mound Builders, far superior to the Indians, once existed on this continent, there can be not the least doubt. From the Atlantic on the east, to the Pacific on the west, and from the Great Lakes on the north to the Gulf the ascent where they stood upon the summit the first English speaking people on the top of this, one of the greatest mounds on the continent; from that day to this it has stood the wonder of all beholders, and such, if not destroyed by the hand of man, it will continue to be through centuries to come. The Mound was opened in 1838, a tunnel ten feet wide and seven feet high being made along the natural surface to the center (a distance of 111 feet) to a vault. Then a shaft was sunk from the apex to connect with the tunnel. Two large vaults were discovered which con- tained human skeletons, copper rings, bracelets, plates of mica, ivory beads and ornaments. Within two feet of one of the skele- tons was found the Inscribed Stone. *This stone was found in the Mammoth Mound in 1838. The inscription is in unknown characters, resembling those used by the Scandinavian priests before the introduction of the Roman alphabet. It has never been deciphered and nothing like it has ever been found in America. It has attracted more attention on the south, we trace them by the mounds which are to be found in almost every county of West Virginia, and throughout the Mississippi Valley and by the ruined structures in the southwestern part of our coun- try. But, who were they? What their origin, and what their fate ? Alas, we shall never know! Contem- porary history furnishes no aid, for they were isolated from all the world beside. They have disappeared from the earth with not a line of recorded history left behind them. " Antiquity appears to have begun Long after their primeval race was run." Campbell. 2. The Ancestors of the Indians. Were the Mound Builders the ancestors of the Indians ? It is not prob- able that they were. At the time of the discovery of America, in 1492, many thousands of individuals, ex- isting in all the various conditions of society, from the lowest stage of barbarism, to that of a half civilized state, from scientists and antiquarians at home and abroad than any other relic found in the United States. The characters are now conceded to be of European origin, and, if this be true, then there is evidence that Europeans visited this continent before the com- ing of Columbus. But who were they? No reply can be made beyond the fact that they were of those acquainted with some ancient alphabet known and used along the coast and among the islands of the European continent. Powell, the antiquarian, says: "Four of the characters correspond to the ancient Greek, four to the Etruscan, five to the Norse, six to the Gaelic, seven to the old Erse, and ten to the Phoenician." Certain it is that these char- acters were those of the ancient rock alphabet consisting of right and acute angled strokes used by the Pelasgi and other early Med- iterranean people and which is the parent of the modern Runic as well as of the Bardic. How came this Stone to be in a West Virginia mound is a question which scientists and antiquarians will continue to ask, but one which will never be answered. were found roaming from place to place in the Ameri- can wilderness. They were altogether ignorant of the country from which their ancestors had come, and of the period at which they had been transplanted to the New World. And, although there were traditions among them seeming to cast some light upon these subjects, yet, when thoroughly investigated, they tended rather to bewilder than to lead to any satis- factory conclusions. They knew no more of the work of the Mound Builders than we do. 3. The Tribal Organizations of the Indians. The Indians, though seeming to know nothing what- ever of any form of national government, nevertheless existed in great tribal organizations, each having its distinctive characteristics and name, and each con- fined, in a way, to certain geographical limits and under the leadership of ruling chiefs. Thus, in New England, were the Pequods and Narragansetts; in New York and Pennsylvania, the Six Nations; in Virginia, the Powhatans; in Tennessee and other southern states, the Cherokees, Creeks, Catawbas, Seminoles and Yamasees, while north and west of the Ohio dwelt the Miamas, Potawatamies and several other tribes. 4. The Indians of West Virginia. That part of the present State of West Virginia south of the Great Kanawha river was claimed by the Cherokees, while the region drained by that stream and its tribu- taries, was occupied by the Shawnees, one of the most warlike tribes with which the white people came in contact; they had towns within the present county of Greenbrier, and a large one at the mouth of Old Town creek, in Mason county; this latter they aban- doned about the year 1763. That part of the State between the Little Kanawha river and the present site of Wheeling, was the hunting ground of the Mingos, who had their towns on the northern bank of the Ohio, near where Steubenville now stands. The valley of the Monongahela river was occu- pied by the Delawares, while the region now embraced in the coun- ties of Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson, was the home of the Tus- caroras, which tribe removed from North Carolina in 1712, and, becoming one of the Confederated Tribes afterward known as the Six Nations, set- tled here. Tuscarora creek, which flows through the city of Martinsburg, derives its name from this tribe. 5. The Supremacy of the Six Nations. The most powerful Indian Confederacy in America was that of the Six Nations, or the Five Nations, before it was joined by the Tuscaroras; until then, it was composed of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagos, Cayugas and Senecas. The names of rivers and lakes in western New York indicate the former resi- dence of these tribes. Fierce and warlike, they tri- umphed over the Eries, Susquehannas and other eastern nations. Then turning southward, they carried their victorious arms to the Tennessee, and westward to the shores of Lake Superior, and in 1675, they com- pelled allegiance on the part of the Delawares, Shaw- nees and other tribes. Thus, by conquest, they established their title to all the territory between the Alleghany mountains and the Great Lakes, and thus their rule was supreme in West Virginia. The Indians residing here acknowledged their su- premacy. 6. The West Virginia Hunting Grounds. During the period of Indian occupation, West Virginia was a favorite hunting ground for many tribes. Over these extensive wilds, herds of bison, elk and deer roamed at will, all the way from the Alleghanies to the Ohio, and bear and much other game abounded in all this region. Here the Indian built his wigwam along the courses of the streams, and then chased the game through the dense forests, or wended his way along the war-path against the foe of his own race who had dared to trespass upon his hunting grounds. 7. Indian Battlefields Within the State. Long before the coming of white men to West Virginia, the Indians quarreled and warred among themselves and engaged in many bloody battles. Traditions of these struggles were preserved and communi- cated to the white settlers when they came to occupy the land. A bloody battle occurred about the year 1700, opposite the mouth of Antietam Creek, now in Jefferson county, on the Potomac river, between the Delaware and Catawba tribes. Every Delaware en- gaged, except one, was killed and every Catawba car- ried away a scalp. Other engagements between the savage warriors took place at the mouth of Opequon, near the mouth of the South Branch of the Potomac, and at Hanging Rocks, now in the county of Hamp- shire. This latter was, perhaps, the most fiercely contested battle which the Indians ever fought among themselves in West Virginia. 8. Indian Geography of West Virginia. These Indian inhabitants knew all the country in which they lived and had given names many of them pretty ones to all the prominent landmarks and rivers of the State. Far to the northward and southward stretched a vast mountain system, and the Indians called it Ap-pal-ach-ia, meaning "the endless moun- tains." They clambered over the mountains so long covered with snow and they called them the "Alle- gha-ny," signifying "the place of the foot print," or "the impression of the feet." 9. Indian Names of West Virginia Rivers. The Indians warred for the possession of the Ohio Valley and the name "Ohio" was given to the river, mean- ing the "river of blood." The Big Sandy river was called the "Chat-ter-a-wha," the "river of sand-bars"; the Guyandotte river, the "Se-co-nee," the narrow bottom river"; the Great Kanawha river was the "Ken- in-she-ka," meaning in the Shawnee language "the river of evil spirits" but the Delawares called it the Kan-a-wha, "the place of the white stone. "O-nim-go-how was the name of the Little Kanawha river; Po-co-tal-i-co meant "plenty of fat doe"; Cole river was the "Wal-hon-de" of the Delawares, signifying the "hill creek"; the Shawnees called Elk river, "Tis- kel-wah," "river of fat elk," but the Delawares called it "Pe-quo-ni," "the walnut river"; Paint creek, a tributary of the Great Kanawha river, was known to the Delawares as "Ot-to-we," or "deer creek"; Gau- ley river was the "To-ke-bel-lo-ke" of the Dela- wares, meaning the "falling creek"; the Greenbrier river was known to the Miamas as the " We-ot-o- we," while the Delawares called it "O-ne-pa-ke"; Blue Stone river was the "Mo-mon-go-sen-eka," "the big stone creek," of the Delawares who called East river the "Ta-le-mo-te-no." The Shenandoah was "the river of the stars"; the Po-to-meck has been changed to its present form; the South Branch of the Potomac was the "Wap-pa-tom-ica," and the North Branch the "Co-hon-go-ru-ta", meaning the "river of the wild goose;" the Delawares called the river on which they lived the "Mo-non-ga-he-la" signifying the "river of caving banks." "Weeling," "the place of the skull," was the name of Wheeling creek, and from it we have the name of the principal city of the State. 10. The Indian as a Factor in Our History. Such was West Virginia, its inhabitants and geogra- phy, before the coming of white men, who were des- tined to build homes in the wilderness, but in doing this, they were to dispute its possession with the Indians, who for more than a hundred years waged a fierce and relentless warfare upon the white settlers. But it was a struggle between civilization and barbar- ism and the result was the final supremacy of the former. The people who once occupied West Virginia, and made much of its history, have been driven out of the territory now embraced within the State, driven beyond the Mississippi to the western part of the Con- tinent. " A moment, and the pageant's gone; The red men are no more. The pale-faced stranger stands alone Upon the river shore." Paulding.