POINT PLEASANT

The Céloron Expedition (1749)

In the second half of 1749, the French explorer Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville (1693–1759) claimed French sovereignty over the Ohio Valley, burying a lead plaque at the meeting point of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers.

L'AN 1749 DV REGNE DE LOVIS XV ROY DE FRANCE, NOVS CELORON, COMMANDANT D'VN DETACHEMENT ENVOIE PAR MONSIEVR LE MIS. DE LA GALISSONIERE, COMMANDANT GENERAL DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE POVR RETABLIR LA TRAN QUILLITE DANS QUELQUES VILLAGES SAUVAGES DE CES CANTONS, AVONS ENTERRE CETTE PLAQUE AU CONFLUENT DE L'OHIO ET DE TCHADAKOIN CE 29 JVILLET, PRES DE LA RIVIERE OYO AUTREMENT BELLE RIVIERE, POUR MONUMENT DU RENOUVELLEMENT DE POSSESSION QUE NOUS AVONS PRIS DE LA DITTE RIVIERE OYO, ET DE TOUTES CELLE~ QUI Y TOMBENT, ET DE TOUTES LES TERRES DES DEUX COTES JVSQVE AVX SOURCES DES DITTES RIVIERES AINSI QV'EN ONT JOVY OU DV JOVIR LES PRECEDENTS ROIS DE FRANCE, ET QU'ILS S'Y SONT MAINTENVS PAR LES ARMES ET PAR LES TRAIT TES, SPECIALEMENT PAR CEVX DE RISWICK D'VTRECHT ET D'AIX LA CHAPELLE.

(In the year 1749, in the reign of King Louis XV, we, Celoron, commander of a detachment sent by Commander de La Galissonière, Commander General of New France, for the restoration of peace in various untamed villages in the region, have buried this plaque at the confluence of the Ohio and Tchadakoin [Rivers] this 29th day of July near the fine river bank, to commemorate the retaking into possession of the afore-mentioned river bank and all the surrounding lands on both river shores back to the river sources, as secured by previous kings of France, and maintained by force of arms and by treaties, specifically the Treaties of Rijswick, of Utrecht and of Aix la Chapelle)

Céloron's expedition was a diplomatic failure since the local tribes remained pro-British, and British representatives refused to leave. This incident was the prelude to conflicts between the French and British in North America that would lead to the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754 (as part of the Seven Years' War) that would lead to the cessation of New France to the British and the ultimate expulsion of France from most of its possessions in North America.

The expedition can nevertheless be seen in more positive terms as a geographical project since the Céloron expedition was the starting point for the first map of the Ohio Valley, which was the work of the Jesuit Joseph Pierre de Bonnecamps.

In 1770, Colonel George Washington visited the confluence that would become Point Pleasant, then proceeded 14 miles up the "Great Kanawha" and later reported that "This Country abounds in Buffalo and Wild game of all kinds as also in all kinds of wild fowl, there being in the Bottoms a great many small grassy Ponds or Lakes which are full of Swans, Geese, and Ducks of different kinds."

The Battle of Point Pleasant (1774)

In the Battle of Point Pleasant (October 10, 1774), fought on the future site of the town, over one thousand Virginia militiamen, led by Colonel Andrew Lewis (1720–1781), defeated a roughly equal force of an Algonquin confederation of Shawnee and Mingo warriors led by Shawnee Chief Cornstalk (c. 1720–1777). The event is celebrated locally as the "First Battle of the American Revolutionary War", and in 1908, the U.S. Senate authorized the erection of a local monument to commemorate it as such. Most historians, however, regard it not as a battle of the Revolution (1775–1783) but as a part of Lord Dunmore's War (1774).

Settlement

"Camp Point Pleasant" was established by Col. Lewis at the time of the Battle, and the settlement that followed also took that name. Although not certain, Point Pleasant may have been permanently settled by whites as early as 1774. At about that time, a permanent stockade known as Fort Blair was erected there. Before that, hostilities between whites and Native Americans all along the Ohio River Valley probably precluded the possibility of settlement in the absence of a substantial stockade. In 1776, a new fort was built on the site of the earlier fort and named for the recently deceased Virginia official Peyton Randolph (1721–1775). Fort Randolph is best remembered as the place where Chief Cornstalk was murdered in 1777. It withstood an attack by Native Americans the following year but was abandoned in 1779.

George Washington's 1770 journey to the Ohio River Valley had been occasioned by military grants that had been awarded by proclamation in 1754 by Governor Dinwiddie to officers and soldiers who had served in the French and Indian War. The resulting survey encompassed 52,302 acres (or 80 square miles). It was subdivided in the 1780s as follows: 9,876 acres – including the present side of Point Pleasant – to Andrew Lewis, 5,000 acres for George Muse, 5,000 acres for Peter Hogg, 8,000 acres for Andrew Stephens, another 3,000 acres for Peter Hogg, another 5,026 acres for George Muse, 3,400 acres for Andrew Waggener, 6,000 acres for John Poulson, 6,000 acres for John West. On the lower side of the Kanawha River, 13,532 acres for Hugh Mercer (see Mercers Bottom) and, finally, 10,990 acres for Washington himself.

Fort Randolph was rebuilt nearby in 1785 after the renewal of hostilities between the United States government and Native Americans, but it saw little action and was eventually abandoned once again. The settlement at Point Pleasant did not receive an official charter until 1794.

19th century

Mason County was carved out of Kanawha County in 1804, and Point Pleasant was designated the county seat then. According to historian Virgil A. Lewis, "Point Pleasant did not flourish for many years [after the turn of the century]. There was no church for over fifty years, and society was low. There was a popular superstition that because of the fiendish murder of Cornstalk there in 1777, the place was laid under a curse for a hundred years". Lewis also relates that a visitor to Point Pleasant in 1810 observed that ... Point Pleasant is pleasantly situated immediately above the mouth of the Great Kanawha, on an extensive and fertile bottom of the Ohio, of which it has a fine prospect up and down that river. It is the seat of justice of Mason county Virginia, and contains about 15 or 20 families, a log courthouse, a log jail and as usual (but unfortunately) in the Virginia towns, a pillory and whipping post. Point Pleasant seems rather on the stand in point of improvement, arising, it is said, from the difficulty in establishing the land titles. It is, however, a considerable place of embarkation for those descending the Ohio from the back and western parts of Virginia. There is one merchant. Mr. William Langtry.

During the American Civil War, the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, Mason County's delegate, lawyer James H. Couch (1821–1899), although an enslaver, voted against declaring secession. Mason County then sent no delegates to the Virginia House of Delegates until West Virginia's statehood, which Virginia's House of Delegates refused to recognize, thus seating James Hutcheson, who Confederate soldiers had elected in their camp. Meanwhile, William W. Newman claimed to represent Mason and nearby Jackson, Cabell, Wayne, and Wirt counties throughout the war. Mason County sent more than 1000 men to the Union army and one company of 61 men to the Confederate Army (the 37th Virginia Infantry). In March 1863, in the only wartime skirmish in Point Pleasant, during the Jones-Imboden Raid, the 6th Virginia Cavalry and 8th Virginia Cavalry attacked the Mason County Courthouse, where they believed munitions stored, leaving bullet holes in the walls until a replacement was built in 1954.

20th century

On October 10, 1974, Point Pleasant celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Point Pleasant. A replica of Fort Randolph was built in 1973–74 and dedicated as part of the festivities. The town of Point Pleasant was situated over the site of the fort and so the replica is located at Krodel Park, about one mile away.

National Register of Historic Places

The Eastham House, Lewis-Capehart-Roseberry House, and Point Pleasant Battleground are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The central business district and surrounding residential areas are included in the Point Pleasant Historic District.