McColloch's Leap
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McColloch's Leap was a feat performed during a September 1777 attack by Native Americans on Fort Henry, site of present-day Wheeling, West Virginia, during the American Revolutionary War. While escaping a Native American warband, American frontiersman Samuel McColloch rode his horse down a dangerously high and steep drop. Both he and his horse survived without injury. The leap is based on a historic event, but retellings have exaggerated the story into a local legend or tall tale.
Native alliance with British forces
The Native American forces in this battle were from various tribes, primarily Wyandot and Mingo, with minor contingents from Shawnee and Lenape (Delaware) tribes. They were led by a tribal leader called Half-King Dunquat of the Wyandot people.[1]
The Wyandot were part of the Huron Confederacy which had allied with the British in the Huron–British Treaty of 1760. In the treaty the British recognized the sovereign rights of the native nation, promised an end to British incursions on their lands, and allowed free trade between the two nations in exchange for support for the British during the French and Indian War.[2]
McColloch and the American militia
On January 6, 1777, Samuel McColloch was appointed as a major in the Ohio County militia and was given command over Fort Van Meter near Short Creek, West Virginia. There are no records of his military service or qualifications prior to 1777.[3]
On January 28, Major McColloch represented his militia at the Catfish Camp council of war to discuss the ongoing conflict with the Native Americans and to organize communal defense between the various forts and militias in the region.[3] By that summer, rumors of an attack were widespread along the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Fort Henry became a focal point of activity in early August 1777 when the region's commander, General Edward Hand, called over 250 militia men to the fort. Major McColloch and his militia were not among these, presumably because they lived close enough to respond quickly without straining the fort's already meager supplies.[4]
Minor skirmishes took place on August 2 and 4, resulting in two wounded enslaved men and one killed Native. However, after several weeks with no activity, the majority of militia had returned home. This left the fort garrisoned with the companies of Captains Joseph Ogle and Samuel Mason each with about 25 men, and an additional 40 men from the local community.[4]