Guyandotte, Huntington, West Virginia

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Guyandotte is a historic neighborhood in the city of Huntington, West Virginia, that previously existed as a separate town before annexation was completed by the latter. The neighborhood is home to many historic properties, and was first settled by natives of France at the end of the eighteenth century. Guyandotte was already a thriving town when the state of West Virginia was formed from part of Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Guyandotte River and the Ohio River, it was already a regional trade center with several industries of its own when the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) reached its western terminus nearby just across the Guyandotte River in 1873. This event was soon followed by the formation and quick development of the present city of Huntington which was named in honor of the C&O Railway's founder and then principal owner Collis P. Huntington.

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History

First settled in 1799, Guyandotte was established on a tract of land belonging to the Savage Grant, a 28,628-acre (115.85 km2) parcel of land in western Virginia granted to veterans of the French and Indian War. These veterans served under Captain John Savage. The original grant extended from the present site of Milton, West Virginia in the east, to the Kentucky side of the Big Sandy River, then part of Virginia, in the west. Nearly all of present-day Huntington is situated on land that was part of the Savage Grant.

Before it was annexed by Huntington, Guyandotte was an old Federal Era town and has homes dating back to 1820. A graveyard containing 18th-century French and Colonial-era settlers with surnames such as LeTulle, Holderby, and Buffington, continues to exist in the neighborhood. Huntington was known as Holderby's Landing prior to 1871, and members of the Buffington family held tracts of land that later became the Huntington Land Company. The Buffingtons were the only revolutionary-era Savage Grant claimants to continuously reside within the area, and later generations of Buffingtons were associated with Marshall College (now Marshall University) and were business partners of Collis P. Huntington. The Confederate Army general Albert Gallatin Jenkins' plantation home, Green Bottom, is located in nearby Lesage. Green Bottom was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

As the state of Virginia voted to secede the citizens of Guyandotte took action. On April 20, 1861, a group of men gathered outside the Planter's Hotel where a "secessionist" flag was raised by Elijah Ricketts and John W. Ong. As W.S. Laidley rest on the sidewalk in front of the hotel a shot struck the hotel over his head, with some believing this shot came from across the Ohio River. By the end of May the flag was nowhere to be seen as the steamer Ben Franklin passed Guyandotte.

As the Civil War progressed Guyandotte earned a reputation as a continued hotbed of secession. On November 10, 1861, a Confederate cavalry force of over 700 quickly overtook a Union encampment in Guyandotte. Much of the town celebrate the victory, but over 90 citizens were captured and sent to Richmond for imprisonment. The next morning, the Confederates withdrew from Guyandotte and a detachment of the 5th West Virginia Infantry (Union) arrived. The infantry burned a large portion of the town in response to the townspeople aiding the Confederates in their raid the day before. [1] Contributing to the burning of Guyandotte was the towns reputation as a hotbed of secession. The Wheeling Intelligencer wrote on November 13, 1861, "Guyandotte... has always had the reputation of being the 'ornaryest' place on the Ohio River. It was at 'Guyan" where counterfeiter, horsethieves and murderers 'did most congregate.' It was a Vicksburg on a small scale. It was the first town on the Ohio River to display a secession flag, and has always been the worst secession nest in that whole country. It ought to have been burned two or three years ago." [2]

At the time of Huntington's founding, Holderby's Landing was already the home of Marshall College, a normal school that had been founded in 1837 as Marshall Academy. Originally, Marshall Academy was essentially a boarding school, under control by the Southern Methodist Episcopal Church, and intended to serve high school students from wealthy families. In 1857, the school became Marshall College, which in turn became a public institution in 1867. The college later became Marshall University in 1961 and now occupies a large portion of the city to the immediate east of the downtown CBD.

Historic buildings at Guyandotte include the Madie Carroll House and the Zachary Taylor Wellington House, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [3]

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The western Virginia campaign, also known as operations in western Virginia or the Rich Mountain campaign, occurred from May to December 1861 during the American Civil War. Union forces under Major General George B. McClellan invaded the western portion of Virginia to prevent Confederate occupation; this area later became the state of West Virginia. West Virginians on both sides would fight in the campaign while a Unionist convention in Wheeling would appoint their choice for a Unionist governor for Virginia, Francis H. Pierpont, and promote the creation of a new state in western Virginia. Large scale Confederate forces would gradually abandon the region, leaving it to small local brigades to maintain hold on southern and eastern sections for much of the war.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, US.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Huntington, West Virginia, USA.

On June 20, 1863, the U.S. government created a new state from 50 western counties of Virginia to be named "West Virginia". This was done on behalf of a Unionist government in Wheeling, Virginia, approved by Congress and President Lincoln, though it was done with a low participation of the citizens within the new state. There remained a large number of counties and citizens who still considered themselves as part of Virginia and the Confederacy which, in turn, considered the new state as part of Virginia and the Confederacy. In 1861 the 50 counties contained a population of 355,544 whites, 2,782 freemen, 18,371 slaves, 79,515 voters and 67,721 men of military age. West Virginia was the 6th most contested state during the war, with 632 battles, engagements, actions and skirmishes.

References

  1. ↑ Geiger Jr., Joe (2020). Disorder on the Border: Civil Warfare in Cabell and Wayne Counties, West Virginia, 1856 - 1870. Charleston, West Virginia: 35th Star Publishing. pp. 38–45. ISBN   9781735073941.
  2. ↑ ""Guyandotte"". Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. November 15, 1861. p. 3.
  3. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

38°25′37″N82°23′07″W / 38.42694°N 82.38528°W / 38.42694; -82.38528

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