Battle of Fort Henry

The Siege of Fort Henry at Wheeling is traditionally regarded as the last battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought in September 1782 — more than a year after Yorktown and just months before the Treaty of Paris formally ended hostilities. The fort on the Ohio River guarded the frontier settlements of western Virginia against British-allied Native American raids.

About 300 British-led warriors and rangers appeared before Fort Henry on September 11. The fort's garrison was small — perhaps 40 to 50 men — but the stockade was strong and the settlers fighting for their lives had the advantage of desperation. The British and Indians lacked artillery to breach the walls.

On September 12, as ammunition ran dangerously low, a remarkable act of heroism occurred. Elizabeth Zane volunteered to run to the nearby Zane house outside the fort to retrieve gunpowder. Her brother Silas told her the enemy would be less likely to shoot a woman — though this was far from certain. She walked to the house, filled her apron with gunpowder, and ran back to the fort under a hail of fire, arriving safely with the ammunition that allowed the garrison to continue the defense.

The attackers gave up on September 13 and withdrew without having captured the fort. The garrison had held at the cost of a few wounded defenders against a force six times their size. When peace came officially in 1783, the new United States stretched from the Atlantic to the Mississippi — a vast territory secured by battles like this one, fought by men and women who risked everything for independence.