Category Archives: WV Independence Hall
HOW WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA GOT ITS NAME by John Bowman
HOW DID WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA GET ITS NAME? In the late summer of 1769, brothers Silas, Jonathan, and Ebenezer Zane left Red Stone Old Fort Pennsylvania, and traveled over a path, well known to frontier scouts, Indian traders and Indians alike, and made claim to land that would one day become Wheeling.[1] Delf Norona, a […]
Read MoreWHEELING’S MINGO and GLADES INDIAN PATH by John Bowman
INDIAN PATHS Regarding WHEELING and the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia Generally, Indians made cuts to the bark of trees creating a marked ‘Indian Path’, its long usage established a well-beaten path. The most thorough written material on “Indian Paths” comes from Wallace, Paul, A.W., “Indian Paths of Pennsylvania”. Delf Norona, “Eighteenth Century Paths, Roads […]
Read MoreSECESSIONISTS TICKET May 23, 1861 WHEELING, VIRGINIA by John Bowman
SECESSIONISTS TICKET May 23, 1861, the people of the state of Virginia ratified the Virginia Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 132,201 to 37,451. The Poll-book of Wheeling listed those who voted to approve the Ordinance of Secession and to secede from the Union.[1] [2] Wheeling persons voting to approve the ordinance of Secession […]
Read MoreWHARFBOATS AT WHEELING WEST VIRGINIA By John Bowman
You may wonder, what is a Wharfboat? A Wharfboat was a floating warehouse found moored (tied-up) at a waterfront. If you wanted to mail a letter, you took it to a Post Office. If you wanted to send something by train, you took it to the Railroad’s Depot. If you wanted to send an item […]
Read MoreWHEELING CANNON “Old Garibaldi”
WHEELING’S “OLD GARIBALDI” Civil War CANNON by John Bowman “OLD GARIBALDI” was forged at Wheeling, Virginia’s La Belle Iron Works, Cut Nail Plant in 1861 and fired following the CIVIL WAR, the SPANISH AMERICAN WAR, WORLD WAR I, WORLD WAR II, the KOREAN WAR, the VIETNAM WAR, and the PERSIAN GULF WAR. The Cannon, named […]
Read MoreWHEELING or ROSECRANS CIVIL WAR AMBULANCE
Civil War Style Ambulance to be Displayed June 6, 2013 By SHELLEY HANSON , WVweb Save | RAYLAND, Ohio – A replica of a Civil War-era ambulance once built and used in Wheeling is slated to be on display June 20 at the West Virginia Welcome Center on […]
Read MoreSteamboat Stamp WASHINGTON
STEAMBOAT WASHNGTON 1816 STAMP ISSUED MAR 3, 1989 In 1929, Garnett Laidlaw Eskew writes of Wheeling, West Virginia on page 32 in his critically acclaimed book, ‘The Pageant of the Packets, A Book of American Steamboating’: “We wonder if Wheeling knows she is the birthplace of the American steamboat. Is Midland America aware that it is […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the Washington
Washington Henry Miller Shreve’s 1815 stern-wheel steam-powered Washington, built on the North bank of Wheeling Creek was the first steamboat built in Wheeling, Virginia. The Washington was one hundred and thirty-four feet in length and twenty-eight feet in width with two decks, the first double-decker steamboat. Washington had two high-pressure steam engines, the first on […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT STEAMBOATS the Liberty No. 2
Liberty No. 2 The side-wheel steam-powered packet Liberty No. 2 was built by the Wilson, Dunlevy & Wheeler Yard at Wheeling, Virginia in 1861 for Capt. Charles Booth. She replaced his 1857 Liberty, recently sold to the Mason City Coal Co. T. Sweeney & Co. of Wheeling placed her machinery. She was placed in the […]
Read MoreGlinda Bowman and John Bowman Civil War Period Dress
Glinda Bowman and John Bowman dressed in Civil War Period Dress at West Virginia Independence Hall Wheeling, West Virginia. Dresses by seamstress Glinda Bowman
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