left bank of the swift, scenic river which the Miami Indians had named "Mississinewa," meaning "Falling water." So rapid had been the tide of settlement that it followed by only 19 years the Battle of Mississinewa, downstream, where federal troops and Indians had fought a bloody, pre-dawn encounter in 1812. With the formation of Grant County in 1831, Marion was established as the county seat and its future was assured. The river provided water supply, power, and drainage as it flowed at the base of the nearby hills. Along with at least 36 other communities in the nation, Marion was named for the Revolutionary War General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of South Carolina. Gas boom and growth Marion grew slowly for more than 50 years as an agricultural trading center supported by a sprinkling of small farm- and forest-related industries. Native Americans were a common sight as they traveled there from Indiana's last reservation, with its Indian school, Baptist Church, and cemetery, away. In the 1880s, fields of natural gas were discovered across much of east-central Indiana, and Grant County began to grow at a dizzying pace during the Indiana gas boom. Gas City and Matthews were carved out of raw farmland and launched as speculative boom towns, each absorbing existing tiny villages. They attracted several thousand residents before the gas reserves were tapped and most industries left. As late as the 1940s, Matthews resembled a Western ghost town, before it attracted eleven glass factories and drew the professional baseball team away from Indianapolis. Grant County's only covered bridge remains there as a link to the past. However, the gas boom left its legacy. A few industries remained, particularly glass manufacturers. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers On July 23, 1888, with increasing number of residents at the six HDVS, Congress established a seventh home in Grant County (and ultimately three more). It is known as the Marion Branch. Congress allotted an appropriation of $200,000 for construction, while Grant County residents provided a natural gas supply for heating and lighting. Marion was selected as a site for the new branch due to the availability of natural gas and the political support of Colonel George Washington Steele, US Congressman serving from 1880 to 1890. This facility is now a part of the Veterans Administration (VA) Northern Indiana Health Care System, a dual-campus facility associated with the former VA Medical Center