Berkeley County, West Virginia

Berkeley County is located in the Shenandoah Valley in the Eastern Panhandle region of West Virginia in the United States. The county is part of the Hagerstown- Martinsburg, MD- WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 122,076, making it the second-most populous of West Virginia's 55 counties, behind Kanawha County. The City of Martinsburg is the county seat.

History

Created on May 15, 1772 by an act of House of Burgesses from the northern third of Frederick County when it was part of Virginia, Berkeley County became West Virginia's second-oldest county after it separated from Virginia in 1863, during the Civil War. At the time of the county's formation, Berkeley County comprised areas that now are part of present-day Jefferson and Morgan counties in West Virginia.

Most historians believe the county was named for Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt (1718–1770), Colonial Governor of Virginia from 1768 to 1770. West Virginia's ''Blue Book'', for example, indicates Berkeley County was named in his honor. He served as a colonel in England's North Gloucestershire militia in 1761, and represented that division of the county in Parliament until he was made a peer in 1764. Having incurred heavy gambling debts, he solicited a government appointment and in July 1768, was made Governor of Virginia. In 1769, he reluctantly dissolved the House of Burgesses after it adopted resolutions opposing parliament's replacement of requisitions with parliamentary taxes as a means of generating revenue and a requirement the colonists send accused criminals to England for trial.

Despite his differences with the House of Burgesses, Berkeley was well respected by the colonists, especially after he sent Parliament letters encouraging it to repeal the taxes. When Parliament refused to rescind them, Governor Berkeley requested to be recalled. In appreciation of his efforts, the colonists erected a monument to his memory which stands in Williamsburg, and two counties were later named in his honor: Berkeley in present-day West Virginia and Botetourt in Virginia.

Other historians claim Berkeley County may have been named in honor of Sir William Berkeley (1610–1677), who was born near London, graduated from Oxford University in 1629 and was appointed Governor of Virginia in 1642. He served as Governor until 1652 and was reappointed Governor in 1660. Berkeley presided over the colony during Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676, and was called back to England the following year.

The first settlers

According to missionary reports, several thousand Hurons occupied present-day West Virginia, including the Eastern Panhandle region, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. During the 17th century, the Iroquois Confederacy (then consisting of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca tribes) drove the Hurons from the state. The Iroquois Confederacy was headquartered in New York and was not interested in occupying present-day West Virginia. Instead, they used it as a hunting ground during the spring and summer months.

During the early 18th century, West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle region was inhabited by the Tuscarora. They eventually migrated northward into New York and, in 1712, became the sixth nation to be formally admitted into the Iroquois Confederacy. The Eastern Panhandle region was also used as a hunting ground by several other Indian tribes, including the Shawnee (then known as the Shawanese) who resided near present-day Winchester, Virginia and Moorefield, West Virginia until 1754 when they migrated into Ohio. The Mingo, who resided in the Tygart Valley and along the Ohio River in present-day West Virginia's Northern Panhandle region, and the Delaware, who lived in present-day eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, but had several autonomous settlements as far south as present-day Braxton County, also used the area as a hunting ground.

Following the French and Indian War, the Mingo retreated to their homes along the banks of the Ohio River and were rarely seen in the Eastern Panhandle region. Although the French and Indian War was over, many Indians continued to view the British as a threat to their sovereignty and continued to fight them. In the summer of 1763, Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, led raids on key British forts in the Great Lakes region. Shawnee chief Keigh-tugh-qua, also known as Cornstalk, led similar attacks on western Virginia settlements, starting with attacks in present-day Greenbrier County and extending northward to Berkeley Springs, and into the northern Shenandoah Valley. By the end of July, Indians had destroyed or captured all British forts west of the Alleghenies except Fort Detroit, Fort Pitt, and Fort Niagara. The uprisings were ended on August 6, 1763 when British forces, under the command of Colonel Henry Bouquet, defeated Delaware and Shawnee forces at Bushy Run in western Pennsylvania.

During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the Mingo and Shawnee, headquartered at Chillicothe, allied themselves with the British. In 1777, a party of 350 Wyandots, Shawnees and Mingos, armed by the British, attacked Fort Henry, near present-day Wheeling. Nearly half of the soldiers manning the fort were killed in the three-day assault. The Indians then left the area celebrating their victory. For the remainder of the war, smaller raiding parties of Mingo, Shawnee, and other Indian tribes terrorized settlers throughout northern and eastern West Virginia. As a result, European settlement throughout present-day West Virginia, including the Eastern Panhandle, came to a virtual standstill until the war's conclusion.

Following the war, the Mingo and Shawnee, once again allied with the losing side, returned to their homes. As the number of settlers in present-day West Virginia began to grow, both the Mingo and Shawnee moved further inland, leaving their traditional hunting ground to the white settlers.

17th-century European explorers

In 1670, John Lederer, a German physician and explorer employed by Sir William Berkeley, colonial governor of Virginia, became the first European to set foot in present-day Berkeley County; their safety was not guaranteed. John Howard and his son also passed through present-day Berkeley County a few years later, and discovered the valley of the South Branch Potomac River at Green Spring.

The 18th century

The next known explorer to traverse the county was John Van Meter (1683–1745) in the 1730s. He came across the Potomac River, at what is now known as Shepherdstown, then he made his way to the South Branch Potomac River. In 1726, Morgan Morgan moved from Delaware and founded the first permanent English settlement of record in West Virginia on Mill Creek near the present-day Bunker Hill in Berkeley County. The state of West Virginia erected a monument in Bunker Hill commemorating the event, and placed a marker at Morgan's grave, which is located in a cemetery near the park. Morgan Morgan and his wife, Catherine Garretson, had eight children. His son, Zackquill Morgan,_later_founded_present-day_ est.h_...