Betty Zane

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A 19th century depiction of Elizabeth Zane's legendary feat of retrieving powder during the 1782 siege of Fort Henry

Elizabeth "Betty" Zane (July 19, 1759 – August 23, 1823) was a heroine of the Revolutionary War on the American frontier. She was the sister of Ebenezer Zane, and a direct ancestor of the author Zane Grey.

Betty Zane's brothers founded the settlement that would later became Wheeling, West Virginia in the 1760s. At that time, Virginia extended to the Ohio River. Many places around that area are named for her, notably a chapter of the D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Revolution), Betty Zane Road in Wheeling, The Zane Highway in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and the unincorporated town of Betty Zane, West Virginia.

According to a historical marker in Wheeling, on September 11, 1782 the Zane family was under siege in Fort Henry by American Indian allies of the British. During the siege and ensuing battle, gunpowder and ammunition ran low. Betty, a girl of 14, volunteered to venture out of the fort to retrieve more supplies. The opposing forces, apparently surprised at seeing such a young girl emerge from the fort, let her pass. In her family's cabin, Betty filled either a tablecloth or her apron (accounts vary) with gunpowder and ammunition, and transported it back to the fort. Apparently unaware of what she was carrying, the enemy again let her pass.

The Zane family later settled in what became Bellaire, Ohio, across the river from Wheeling, and played an important role during Ohio's formative years.

Betty was buried in what is now the Walnut Grove Pioneer Cemetery in Martins Ferry, Ohio. Her heroism is remembered each year during Martins Ferry's Betty Zane Pioneer Days.

Betty Zane's descendent, the author Zane Grey, wrote a historical novel about her, entitled Betty Zane, published in 1903.