1820-1830 TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS IMPROVE, FOUR NEW COUNTIES
The next county to be created was taken from Hampshire and Berkeley and represented a northern rather than a western expansion. It received the name Morgan from General Daniel Morgan, one of the outstanding generals of the Revolution who defeated Colonel Tarleton in the Battle of the Cowpens.
The bounds of Morgan County are thus set forth: "Beginning at the mouth of Cherry's Run at the river Potomac in the county of Berkeley, thence up the middle of said Run to its source, thence due west to the top of Sleepy Creek Mountain, thence along the top of said mountain to the line that separates the counties of Frederick and Berkeley, thence with the said line to the county of Hampshire, thence a direct line until it strikes the river Potomac opposite Mitchell's Rock and thence by the river Potomac to the beginning."
Pocahontas County created in 1821, a year after Morgan had been formed, and likewise a West Virginia county, lies in the southeastern section of the state opposite the Virginia county of Alleghany. Its name was a long delayed tribute to the fine character and achievements of the Indian maid Pocahontas. She both aided the settlers at Jamestown with gifts of sorely needed food, and by her marriage to John Rolfe secured eight years of peace for them. This period was vital to their survival.
Pocahontas lies in a mountainous region rich in bituminous coal deposits, so much so that Pocahontas coal is known everywhere. The description of the county's bounds notes the lines of Greenbrier, Bath, Randolph and Pendleton counties and "Randolph court House." This is the first mention of a courthouse anywhere in this area.
After discussing eight counties now in West Virginia, we come to a Virginia county, Alleghany, formed in 1822 from Botetourt, Bath and Monroe counties. It is the name the Delaware Indians gave both the Ohio and the Alleghany rivers, but its origin is uncertain. Presumably, the mountains took their name from the river. Within the bounds of Alleghany County the Jackson and the Cow-pasture rivers unite to form the James River, the longest river in the state and the most important in its early history.
