Many may not know that the area currently defined as southwestern Pennsylvania was also claimed by Virginia during the American Revolution. This region included the highly valued “Forks of the Ohio” where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers merge to form the Ohio River, site of present day Pittsburgh. Virginia’s claim to this region began in 1749 when the Ohio company was awarded a grant of land stretching between the Monongahela and Kanawha Rivers. In early 1754, a company of Virginians under William Trent began building Fort Prince George at the forks, but were forced to surrender to a superior French force. George Washington’s expedition into the area commanding a force of Virginia militia in the summer of 1754 resulted in the battles at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity, igniting the French and Indian or Seven Year’s War.
A factor contributing to this land dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia was an incomplete survey of the now famous Mason-Dixon line. The original land grant charter to William Penn in 1681 defined Pennsylvania’s western border at 5 degrees of longitude west from the Delaware River (the present day Pennsylvania border). However, in 1767 Mason and Dixon halted their survey about 21 miles short of this point, being unable to proceed due to their Iroquois guides refusing to proceed past the Catawba Path and into territory claimed by the Delaware and Shawnee. By the 1770s, Virginia’s expansive western county of Augusta had encompassed this region, which included the present day western Pennsylvania counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Greene and parts of Allegheny and Beaver.
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In order to counter Virginia’s claim and solidify their own, Pennsylvania established Westmoreland County in 1773, carving it from what was then the western section of Bedford County. At that time, Westmoreland also included land that would become the counties of Fayette, Washington, Greene and part of Allegheny and Beaver, overlapping the region claimed by Virginia. The Westmoreland County seat of government was established at Hanna’s Town, a settlement along the Forbes Road near present day Greensburg, PA. In early 1774, Virginia created the District of West Augusta to aid in the administration of the far reaches of Augusta since the county seat was located in Staunton, Virginia, over 200 miles from Pittsburgh.
Tensions escalated in 1774 and 1775 between the Pennsylvanians at Hannastown under Arthur St. Clair and the Virginians at Pittsburgh, led by Dr. John Connolly. Virginia Governor John Murray, known as Lord Dunmore, had commissioned Connolly “Captain Commandant of the Militia of Pittsburgh and its Dependencies” to enforce Virginia Law at Fort Pitt, which was renamed Fort Dunmore. In response, Arthur St. Clair had Connolly arrested and sent to the jail at Hanna’s Town. Connolly was soon released and promised to appear back in court at Hanna’s Town in April, which he did along with two hundred armed men. The Westmorelanders refused to back down from their territorial claim and the Virginians soon responded by arresting three of the Westmoreland magistrates and sending them to Staunton. With the onset of the American Revolution, the tension between the two factions somewhat subsided, but the controversy was not close to being settled. In 1776, Virginia divided the District of West Augusta into three counties: Ohio, Monongalia, and Yohogania.
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Ohio, Monongalia, and Yohogania counties in the District of West Augusta
After numerous attempts to resolve the dispute, the border was finally settled in 1780 when Pennsylvania and Virginia agreed to the western boundary of Pennsylvania being at 5 degrees longitude from the Delaware River, per the original land grant charter to William Penn. In 1784, surveyors David Rittenhouse and Andrew Elliot extended the Mason-Dixon line westward to 5 degrees longitude establishing the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Most of the Virginia county of Yohogania was then located within the state of Pennsylvania and was dissolved. Ohio and Monongalia counties survived and are now part of West Virginia.
For more information on this little known, fascinating story, see the presentation given by NPS Park Ranger Robert Dunkerly, who provided a great overview of this topic for the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia:
Border Wars: The Pennsylvania/Virginia Boundary Controversy - Frontier Culture Museum Lecture Series
Additional references for more information:
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