Editor's Note: This article is part of an occasional series on
the Civil War sesquicentennial provided by members of the
Wheeling Civil War 150 Committee. One of the city's unsung Civil
War heroes is Jesse Reno, born in Wheeling, Va., on April 20,
1823. Jesse was the third oldest of eight children born to Lewis
and Rebecca Quinby Reno and lived in our city until he was 7,
when his family moved to Franklin, Pa. His ancestors had changed
the family name from Reynault to Reno when they immigrated to
this country in the 1700s. He attended West Point where he soon
became close friends with Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. Other
classmates included George McClellan. He graduated eighth in his
class and was soon fighting in the Mexican-American War. He was
seriously injured at the Battle of Chapultapec. After the war,
he taught mathematics at West Point and instructed in the use of
the howitzer. After conducting a road survey in Minnesota, he
married and had five children. His son, Conrad, was a Boston
attorney and write