In the autumn he set out for Berkeley County, Virginia, to tell his people of the magnificent country he had discovered.  The following spring he persuaded a number of settlers, of a like spirit with himself, to accompany him to the wilderness.  Believing it unsafe to take their families with them at once, they left them at Red Stone on the Monongahela river, while the men, including Colonel Zane, his brothers Silas, Andrew, Jonathan and Isaac, the Wetzels, McCollochs, Bennets, Metzars and others, pushed on ahead.

The country through which they passed was one tangled, most impenetrable forest; the axe of the pioneer had never sounded in this region, where every rod of the way might harbor some unknown danger.

These reckless bordermen knew not the meaning of fear; to all, daring adventure was welcome, and the screech of a redskin and the ping of a bullet were familiar sounds; to the Wetzels, McCollochs and Jonathan Zane the hunting of Indians was the most thrilling passion of their lives; indeed, the Wetzels, particularly, knew no other occupation.  They had attained a wonderful skill with the rifle; long practice had rendered their senses as acute as those of the fox.  Skilled in every variety of woodcraft, with lynx eyes ever on the alert for detecting a trail, or the curling smoke of some camp fire, or the minutest sign of an enemy, these men stole onward through the forest with the cautious but dogged and persistent determination that was characteristic of the settler.

They at length climbed the commanding bluff overlooking the majestic river, and as they gazed out on the undulating and uninterrupted area of green, their hearts beat high with hope.

The keen axe, wielded by strong arms, soon opened the clearing and reared stout log cabins on the river bluff.  Then Ebenezer Zane and his followers moved their families and soon the settlement began to grow and flourish.  As the little village commenced to prosper the redmen became troublesome.  Settlers were shot while plowing the fields or gathering the harvests.  Bands of hostile Indians prowled around and made it dangerous for anyone to leave the clearing.  Frequently the first person to appear in the early morning would be shot at by an Indian concealed in the woods.

General George Rodgers Clark, commandant of the Western Military Department, arrived at the village in 1774.  As an attack from the savages was apprehended during the year the settlers determined to erect a fort as a defense for the infant settlement.  It was planned by General Clark and built by the people themselves.  At first they called it Fort Fincastle, in honor of Lord Dunmore, who, at the time of its erection, was Governor of the Colony of Virginia.  In 1776 its name was changed to Fort Henry, in honor of Patrick Henry.

For many years it remained the most famous fort on the frontier, having withstood numberless Indian attacks and two memorable sieges, one in 1777, which year is called the year of the “Bloody Sevens,” and again in 1782.  In this last siege the British Rangers under Hamilton took part with the Indians, making the attack practically the last battle of the Revolution.