Wetzel County, WebSite

• Title	Wetzel County, WebSite
  Publisher	Name: http://www.statehousegirls.net/wv/counties/wetzel/;
  Source ID	S1973
  Linked to Individuals: 1	Wetzel, Lewis Ludwig

  
  

• Notes

  Source Medium: Electronic Wetzel County was created by an act of the Virginia General Assembly on January 10, 1846 from Tyler County. The county was named in honor of Lewis Wetzel (1764-1808). Lewis Wetzel was one of the most colorful characters on the American frontier. He was a famous Indian fighter and guide who was born in August 1764 on the South Branch of the Potomac River in present day West Virginia. In 1769, his father relocated his family to Wheeling Creek. In 1777 or 1778 Lewis and his younger brother, Jacob, were captured by a band of Wyandot Indians and taken about 20 miles beyond the Ohio River. On the first night of their capture, the boys were able to loosen the ropes holding them down and made their escape back to their home. In 1782, Lewis' brother, George, was killed by Indians while on a hunting expedition and that same summer Lewis' friend, Joseph Mills, was sot by Indians but was able to escape. The following summer he was with another friend, John Madison, when he was shot and killed by Indians. That autumn, he heard an Indian imitating a turkey call in the woods near Fort Henry and decided to get his revenge. He snuck up on the Indian and shot him dead. He then resolved to kill as many Indians as possible and was always the first to volunteer whenever an effort was made to hunt down a renegade Indian or to suppress an Indian uprising. A tall, strong man, he reportedly purposively rarely cut his black hair, which, when combed out, fell almost to his knees, in defiance of any Indian who would dare try to take his scalp. He reportedly killed about 100 Indians during his lifetime. Although a legendary figure on the frontier, his zeal and hatred of the Indians sometimes got the best of him. In 1785, he tried to ill a friendly Indian, but escaped punishment because the Indian survived the attack. In 1789, he was arrested in Marietta, Ohio for killing a friendly Indian, but the local authorities could not find a jury who would convict the famous Indian fighter for killing