The year was 1794. It was a violent time in southwestern Pennsylvania. There was still a threat of Indian attack, and the frontier settlements were just getting established. The Whiskey Insurrection was ending in the region, and there was talk that the lower portion of Washington County would break away, and a new county, Greene County, would be formed. This split happened two years later on February 9, 1796. Once the new county was established, a county seat was necessary to serve as the home of county government.
Thomas Slater sold a large tract of land to the newly established County of Greene (named for Revolutionary War General Nathanial Greene). This land was divided into 201 lots and sold at auction, thus establishing the town that would become the county seat. But what to call this county seat? Well, lets go back in time and learn a bit of history.
Throughout the 1770s, ‘80s and ‘90s, the threat of Indian attack was severe throughout the entire region. In 1774, the Spicer family was violently attacked in what is now Dunkard Township. There was the Davis Massacre near Ryerson, the attack on Statler’s Fort on Dunkard Creek, the little-known attack of the Rather family on Pursley Creek, the Cumberledge and Thomas families on Dunkard Creek, and the massacre of the Crow sisters in 1791 as well as many others.
George Washington, as first President under the Constitution of the United States, was all too aware of this threat, and was actively involved in keeping the frontier safe. The efforts to defend the frontier culminated on August 20, 1794, when General “Mad” Anthony Wayne won a significant victor over the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in North Central Ohio.
Anthony Wayne was from Chester County, Pennsylvania, served as part of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and helped to raise a militia unit in 1775 in support of the Revolutionary War. Wayne served throughout the Revolutionary War and attained the rank of Major General. He went on to lead Washington’s campaigns against the Indians in the 1790s in the Northwest Territory leading up to the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Here in Greene County, with the victory of Fallen Timbers still fresh in the minds of local citizens, it was General “Mad” Anthony Wayne who was honored by lending his name to the newly established county seat of Waynesburg in 1796. Wayne Township, in southern Greene County, was also named for him when it was established in 1808.
So, as it goes, the very name of Waynesburg serves as a reminder of a specific moment in history, not just locally, but important to the early years of our newly established country. The name of Waynesburg also reminds us of a time when things were very different than how they are now, when this area was still considered the West, and it was still very wild.
