Before proceeding to an orderly examination of the records
of the several periods, it may not be out of place to catalogue
here the names of a few men who held important military
positions prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Peter Scholl of Augusta, who was made captain of one of the
militia companies organized in 1742, has already been men-
tioned. Col. Adam Stephen, of the lower Valley, was one of
Washington's field officers in 1755. Later, he lived near Lee-
town, Jefferson County, and was a major-general in the Revo-
lution. Col. Ebenezer Zane (1747-1811) was a native of
Frederick County, who in 1770 made the first permanent set-
tlement at Wheeling, building the blockhouse known later as
Fort Henry. He owned the land upon which the city of
Zanesville now stands, and assisted in laying out the original
settlement there. Captains Henry and George M. Bedinger
were Revolutionary soldiers from the lower Valley. Col.
John Hite and Capt. John Funk were men prominent in the
civil and military affairs of Frederick County prior to and
during the Revolutionary period. Major Isaac Hite (1758-
1836) was aide to Gen. Muhlenberg at the siege of Yorktown.
In 1781 Col. Swearingen was County Lieutenant of Berkeley.
In 1789 Col. Jacob Rinker held the same office in Shenandoah
County. Col. David Shepherd, of Sheperdstown, and Gen.
Isaac Zane, of Frederick County, were other prominent figures
in the last quarter of the eighteenth century.
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