Wheeling,
A city, port of entry, and county seat of Ohio county, W. Va.; on the Ohio River, 63 miles west of Pittsburg, Pa. It was settled by Col. Ebenezer Zane in 1769; provided with a stockade work named Fort Henry to protect it against Indian hostilities in 1774; was the scene of Indian attacks in 1777 and 1781; and was besieged by the British, Sept. 11, 1782, when Colonel Zane successfully defended the fort without loss to his small garrison. Colonel Zane laid out a town here in 1793, which was incorporated in 1806 and 1836, and became the capital of the new government of Virginia in 1861, the place of meeting of the convention from which grew the State of West Virginia, and was the capital of the State in 1863-70 and 1875-85. Population in 1900. 38,878. See Zane, Ebenezer.
