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Fort Fincastle was built in 1774 at Wheeling, which was then part of the state of Virginia. The fort was built on the order of the colonial governor of Virginia, Lord John Murray Dunmore during a conflict between the native peoples and European settlers known an Dunmore's War. Colonel McDonald, an army engineer, designed the fort and supervised its construction.
The fort probably enclosed just under an acre (4,000 m²) of ground, as that was the typical size of other frontier government installations of the time. The outer palisade wall was made of timbers, and blockhouses were built at each of the four corners. In 1781 a two-story log structure was added near the front gate on which a cannon was mounted.
The fort was renamed Fort Henry in 1776 in honor of Patrick Henry, who was the new governor of the state of Virginia.
References
The Border Wars of the Upper Ohio Valley (1769-1794), William Hintzen, Precision Shooting Inc. (Manchester, CT 2001), pp.366-367.
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