"Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel...a thrilling history of the celebrated Indian fighter with his perilous adventures and hair-breadth escapes...compiled from authentic records by R.C.V. Meyers." -Philadelphia Times, June 23, 1883
"The Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel...is a thrilling tale of the border 100 years ago and has the somewhat unusual merit of historical accuracy." -Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1883
"Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel...the greater part of his adventures took place in the vicinity of Wheeling (West Virginia) and gives a strong local interest to the book." -Wheeling (West Virginia) Daily Intelligencer, May 4, 1897
"Among the heroes of border warfare Lewis Wetzel holds no inferior station...Wetzel's fame had spread far and wide as the unerring shot of the day...lived on Wheeling creek." -Shepardstown (West Virginia) Register, Aug. 18, 1910
"Robert C. V. Meyers' ...work is always faithful, true to life, full of energy and dramatic power, and is characterized by a style so finished that it would lend a charm to productions far less vigorous and individual." -The Writer (1900)
Why is Lewis Wetzel considered by many to be on the level with Daniel Boone, among the greatest frontier heroes of the early border territory of West Virginia and Kentucky?
In 1883, famous author Robert Cornelius V. Meyers (1858-1917) published a much-lauded book on the famous frontiersman under the title " Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel, the Renowned Virginia Ranger and Scout."
Lewis Wetzel (February 24, 1752 - 1808) was a scout, frontiersman and Indian fighter. Raised in what is now the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, his exploits once hailed as similar to those of Daniel Boone.
In introducing his work, Meyers writes:
"In the preparation of this work, the author has had peculiar advantages. He has had access to a large collection of Miscellanies touching on early border times. He has had the opportunity of consulting rare authors on frontier life and warfare. He has derived considerable aid in the disposition of his materials, from former writers on various subjects connected with the life and manners of our early Western settlers. He has also enjoyed a large acquaintance among those who are directly or remotely the descendants of the Wetzel family, and especially among the descendants of those who lived at the time when the hero of this work lived, or at the places he frequented. He has, therefore, been enabled, in many cases, to verify the truth of incidents which he found in books by these oral traditions."
About the author:
Robert Cornelius V. Meyers was born in 1858 and died 1917. He was a highly successful author of short stories, plays, and books such as his famous book "Life and Adventures of Lewis Wetzel, the Renowned Virginia Ranger and Scout," which was originally published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1883.