n an eminence,
where is now the residence of Minor C. Hall. Upon the fort
being abandoned by the settlers, the Indians burned it. When
the whites again returned to their clearings, a new fort was
erected, locally called Beech Fort, "because built entirely of
beech logs--beech trees standing very thick in this locality."
Beech Fort was not over 500 yards from the old West Fort; it
was "in a marshy flat, some 75 yards east of the house built by
the pioneer Henry McWhorter, and still extant as the residence
of Ned J. Jackson." In the same field where Beech Fort was,
"Alexander West discovered an Indian one evening; he fired and
wounded him in the shoulder. The Indian made off, and fearing
an ambuscade West would not venture in pursuit. Two weeks
later, he ventured to hunt for the red man. Two miles distant,
on what is now known as Life's Run, a branch of Hacker's Creek,
the dead savage was found in a cleft of rocks, into which he
had crawled and miserably perished. His shoulder was badly
crushed by West's bullet."

Henry McWhorter, born in Orange County, N. Y., November 13,
1760, was a soldier in the Revolution, from 1777 to the
close. In 1784, he settled about two miles from West's Fort;
three years later, he moved nearer to the fort, and there
built the house of hewn logs, mentioned above, which "is
to-day in a good state of preservation." McWhorter died
February 4, 1848.--R. G. T.

[4] Alexander West was prominent as a frontier scout. Rev.
J. M. McWhorter, who saw him frequently, gives this description
of him: "A tall, spare-built man, very erect, strong, lithe,
and active; dark-skinned, prominent Roman nose, black hair,
very keen eyes; not handsome, rather raw-boned, but with an air
and mien that commanded the attention and respect of those with
whom he associated. Never aggressive, he lifted his arm against
the Indians only in time of war." West died in 1834. His house
of hewed logs is, with its large barn, still standing and
occupied by his relatives, about a mile east of the site of
West's Fort.--R. G. T.

[5] L. V. McWhorter says: "The branch of Hacker's creek on
which John Cutright was wounded, is now known as Laurel Lick,
near Berlin, W. Va." For notice of