was both appointed
and succeeded by Joe
Manchin.
The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.
July 16, 1791: Adam Stephen, a physician and Revolutionary War general often credited as the founder of Martinsburg, died at his home in that city.
July 16, 1869: Philanthropist Michael Late Benedum was born in Bridgeport. He made a fortune in the oil and gas business but is best remembered for establishing the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
July 17, 1861: The Battle of Scary Creek took place in Putnam County. It was one of the earliest battles of the war and one of the first Confederate victories.
July 17, 1914: Singer Eleanor Steber was born in Wheeling. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1940.
July 17, 1921: Marcenia “Toni” Stone was born in Bluefield. She would become the first woman to play professional baseball for a previously all-male team. In 1953, she joined the Indianapolis Clowns of the old Negro American League, replacing the team’s second baseman, Hank Aaron, who had just joined the National League’s Milwaukee Braves.
July 17, 1922: The Cliftonville Mine Battle took place east of Wellsburg, Brooke County. The gun battle between striking miners and sheriff’s forces left at least nine people dead.
July 18, 1776: Methodist bishop Francis Asbury first set foot in present West Virginia outside of Berkeley Springs. He worked extensively in what is now the Eastern Panhandle, preaching and lecturing almost every day, before continuing farther into western Virginia.
July 18, 1865: Samuel Cabell was murdered at his Institute plantation by either pro-Union or pro-Confederate sympathizers, depending on the source. His widow and mother of his children, Mary Barnes Cabell, who had previously been one of his slaves, inherited all his land, on which West Virginia State University would be founded in 1892.
July 18, 1893: Spencer State Hospital opened. With its connected brick buildings, a quarter-mile in length, the hospital was sometimes referred to as the longest continuous brick building in America. It remained in operation until June 1989.
July 19, 1850: Pope Pius IX established the Diocese of Wheeling, naming Richard V. Whelan as its first bishop.
July 19, 1863: A Confederate raid led by Gen. John Morgan came to an end on Buffington Island, near Ravenswood. The Confederates were overtaken by federal troops, local militia, and three U.S. Navy gunboats.
