By Janice McMillan and Rebecca Carr
Three brothers of frontier fame, Silas, Ebenezer, and Jonathan Zane, were born in Berkley County, Virgnia (now Hardy County, West Virginia) to Quaker parents, William and Anna (Nolan) Zane. They removed from Berkley County to the Ohio River and settled at what would become present day Wheeling, West Virginia. During the Colonial period, colonists were drawn westward by the possibility of obtaining land without debt, the excitement of adventure, and even the hope of new start. The opportunity presented by the West also came with great danger, particularly in the form of Indian attacks. This reality was nothing new to the Zanes, however. In 1756, when Silas, Ebenezer and Jonathan were young boys, the Battle of Trough occurred near the present site of Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia, where Shawnee Indians attacked and killed many settlers, with more attacks occurring again the next year.[1] On the frontier a strong antagonism was present between the settlers and Indians, and acts of great cruelty were perpetrated by both sides. Settlers’ cabins were burned and their families killed or kidnapped, and as a result, some setters became Indian fighters, killing any Indian they found.[2]
Captain Jonathan Zane, born about 1749, was described as about six feet in height, strong, compactly built, and muscular.[3] In History of the Pan-Handle, it says “it would have been difficult to find a man of greater energy of character – of more determined resolution, or restless activity.[4] He was widely considered one of the best marksman on the border, and most experienced hunter on the frontier.[5] In 1767, Jonathan accompanied his brothers, Ebenezer and Silas, in exploring the Virginia frontier, and with them located the town of Wheeling along the Ohio River. In 1771, Silas and Jonathan ventured up and down the Ohio River, and west into the Ohio territory. Jonathan frequently came to the aid of the settlers in Wheeling and the surrounding area, acted as a spy and guide for the military during important campaigns from the beginning of Dunmore’s War to the end of the American Revolution, earning the title of Captain.
During Lord Dunmore’s War, in 1774, Jonathan Zane was a guide in the campaign against the Indian town of Wakatomika (near Dresden). He also directed Colonel Brodhead’s expedition up the Alleghany in 1779 against the Munsies and Senecas where he was severely wounded.[6] In 1782 he was one of Colonel Crawford’s guides in the fatal Sandusky expedition. When the army reached the Sandusky plains and the town was found deserted, Jonathan recommended an immediate retreat.[7] Jonathan’s instinct told him that, even though the Delaware appeared to have left, they were actually gathering reinforcements nearby, and if the army continued marching into the area, they would be attached. Colonel Crawford was inclined to act on his advice, but the officers and soldiers did not want to leave without firing a shot, and so continued on. Had Crawford acted at once on the advice of Jonathan, he and his army would have escaped defeat. The Delaware indeed attacked with superior numbers, and Colonel Crawford was captured, tortured, and burned at the stake.[8] After the retreat began, Zane succeeded in avoiding capture, and returned safe to Wheeling.
Image from Zanesville Signal, June 9, 1946.
Jonathan was considered one of the best shots on the border, and was particularly proud of his marksman ability. On one occasion, while heading home after hunting with his horses, passing through some tall weeds on the bank of the Ohio River near his home outside the city limits of Wheeling, he observed a raiding party of five Indians jump into the river and swim toward Wheeling Island where his brother, Colonel Ebenezer had a home. He successfully killed the party with his rifle, one after another, loading and firing in quick succession. Four of whom he shot in the river as they were swimming the Ohio, and the fifth after the Indian had gained the Ohio side. He hid behind a fallen tree in the stream, and was in the act of peeping over the trunk, when Zane’s quick eye saw the top of his head. In another moment his body floated down stream.[9]
While Jonathan Zane was involved in many battles with the Indians, he did not consider himself an Indian fighter or killer. In fact, it was a practice, especially amongst the Zanes, to develop friendships with the local tribes, and avoid unnecessary confrontations. Jonathan and Ebenezer had both developed close friendships with members of the Wyandot and Delaware tribes who would visit often with them in their homes, and with whom they would frequently hunt and fish. On one occasion, a close friend and Delaware warrior called Captain John came to Jonathan’s home, as he had done many times before, but acted very strange on this occasion. Captain John came into Jonathan’s kitchen where his wife, Hannah, was preparing dinner, and sat down at the table without saying a word. Mrs. Zane offered him some dinner, which he refused, and Jonathan offered him a pipe, which he waved aside. His behavior was so odd that Jonathan motioned his wife to hide her knife under her apron, and Jonathan positioned himself between her and Captain John, in case his friend decided to turn on him. Finally, Captain John blurted out that he had left a Delaware war party which was headed in their direction to raid the Zane’s home and kill them. He said, “Mr. Zane, I have eaten salt in your house, and laid beside you at night in the forest, and I could not see you and your family killed in cold blood without making an effort to save you.”[10] Immediately, Jonathan and Hannah grabbed their children, and what little possessions they could, and fled their homestead for the safety of Fort Henry. When they returned the next day, they found their home reduced to ash. In A. Alma Martin’s Zane Genealogy, legend says that, later in his life, Jonathan was sitting peacefully in a tavern in Wheeling, when a stranger came up to him and asked how many Indians he had killed. Jonathan was so angry and insulted that he got up and walked out without finishing his drink.[11]
Grave of Jonathan Zane in Walnut Grove Cemetery. Credit: Ryan Stanton.
Captain Jonathan Zane was “remarkable for earnestness of purpose, an energy and inflexibility of will which often manifested itself in a way truly astonishing.”[12] Few men were as trusted and respected by his peers as Jonathan. Among his many accomplishments, Captain Zane was present at both sieges of Fort Henry in Wheeling in 1777 and 1782, which is considered the last land battle of the American Revolution, as well as assisted his brother, Ebenezer, in forging the Zane’s Trace – the first federally commissioned road in the United States. Along with Ebenezer’s son-in-law, John McIntire, he helped settled the town of Westbourne, present day Zanesville, Ohio. Captain Jonathan Zane died the 9th of October, 1823, in his own home in Wheeling. He left large amounts of land to his nine children, and a legacy of lifelong service to his country and fellow man.
[1] Blumel, Benjamin. The Zanes: A Frontier Family. New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2005, 7.
[2] Ibid., 9.
[3] Newton, J.H., G.G. Nichols, and A.G. Sprankle. History of the Pan-Handle Being Historical Collections of the Counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall, and Hancock. Wheeling: J.A. Caldwell, 1879, 163.
[4] Ibid., 133.
[5] Blumel, Benjamin. The Zanes: A Frontier Family. New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2005, 30.
[6] Newton, J.H., G.G. Nichols, and A.G. Sprankle. History of the Pan-Handle Being Historical Collections of the Counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall, and Hancock. Wheeling: J.A. Caldwell, 1879, 133.
[7] Blumel, Benjamin. The Zanes: A Frontier Family. New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2005, 30.
[8] Blumel, Benjamin. The Zanes: A Frontier Family. New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2005, 31.
[9] Newton, J.H., G.G. Nichols, and A.G. Sprankle. History of the Pan-Handle Being Historical Collections of the Counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall, and Hancock. Wheeling: J.A. Caldwell, 1879, 133.
[10] History of wheeling, 101.
[11] Blumel, Benjamin. The Zanes: A Frontier Family. New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2005, 31.
[12] Newton, J.H., G.G. Nichols, and A.G. Sprankle. History of the Pan-Handle Being Historical Collections of the Counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall, and Hancock. Wheeling: J.A. Caldwell, 1879, 133.
-
Blumel, Benjamin. The Zanes: A Frontier Family. New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2005.
Cranmer, Gibson Lamb. History of Wheeling City and Ohio County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1902.
Goodall, Cecil R. “Ebenezer Zane: Frontiersman.” West Virginia History 12, no. 1 (October, 1950): 5-45.
Newton, J.H., G.G. Nichols, and A.G. Sprankle. History of the Pan-Handle Being Historical Collections of the Counties of Ohio, Brooke, Marshall, and Hancock. Wheeling: J.A. Caldwell, 1879.