Key Facts
- Date
- September 11–13, 1782
- Duration
- 3 days
- Attacking force size
- ~300 (260 Native warriors + 40 British soldiers)
- British unit involved
- Butler's Rangers (provincial regiment)
- Historical note
- One of the last engagements of the Revolutionary War
Strategic Narrative Overview
The attacking force of approximately 300, including 260 Native warriors and 40 soldiers from Butler's Rangers, besieged Fort Henry beginning September 11, 1782. The three-day engagement tested the fort's defenders. The siege gained lasting fame in the 19th century through the story of Betty Zane, who allegedly ran through enemy fire to retrieve gunpowder for the besieged garrison, an act celebrated in popular American folklore.
01 / The Origins
By late 1782, the American Revolutionary War was winding down diplomatically, but frontier violence persisted. British forces and their Native American allies continued to raid American settlements on the western frontier. A combined force of Wyandot, Shawnee, Mingo, and Lenape warriors, supported by soldiers from Butler's Rangers, targeted Fort Henry at present-day Wheeling, West Virginia, in one of the war's final offensive operations on American soil.
03 / The Outcome
The fort held against the attackers, who withdrew after three days without capturing it. The engagement proved to be among the very last military actions of the Revolutionary War before the Treaty of Paris formalized American independence in 1783. Betty Zane's exploit embedded the siege in American popular memory, distinguishing it from other frontier skirmishes of the period.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent
Betty Zane (civilian).
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.