USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia > Part 26
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much less, proceeded to Charleston. A few days later Wise abandoned the Valley and Charleston was occu- pied by Cox.
On the 6th of August, 1861, a detachment of the 4th West Virginia Infantry, commanded by Major John T. Hall, was attacked at Kenneday's Hill, or Beech Creek, in Logan county, by a body of Confederate cavalry under Major Witcher. The Federals were completely routed with a loss of three killed and eight wounded, one of the former being Major Hall. The loss of the Confederates was one killed and eight wounded.
In August, 1861, a Confederate force of three hun- dred, which had been lying at Bethesda Church, was moving its quarters to Mud River Church, now Blue Sulphur Springs, in Cabell county, and when near Pore's Hill, now Ona Station on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, about five and one-half miles from Bar- boursville, it was fired upon by a body of four hundred Federa's, a detachment of the 5th West Virginia In- fantry, then stationed at Barboursville. The Confeder- ates returned the fire, and retreated with a loss of one wounded and two prisoners, while the Federals returned to Barboursville without loss.
Soon after General Wise abandoned the Kanatvha Valley, General Floyd, with a strong Confederate force, marched into Western Virginia and took position at Carnifex Ferry, on Gauley river, in the southern part of Nicholas county. Here, on the 10th of September, 1861, after sharp skirmishing in the vicinity of Sum- mersville, the county seat, he was attacked by General W. S. Rosecrans with a Federal force, composed partly of the 11th, 12th and 13th Ohio, and McMullin's and Snyder's Batteries. The roth Ohio led the advance,
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closely followed by the other regiments. The Con- federates received the assault with spirit, and poured a destructive fire into the ranks of their assailants. The battle lasted until nightfall, when both armies rested upon the field. But before the return of day the Con- federates were gone, and the most important battle fought in West Virginia was ended. The Federal loss was 225 killed and wounded, among the former being Colonel Lowe, of the 12th Ohio.
On the 27th of September, 1861, a detachment of Federals, commanded by Captain Isaiah Hill, was attacked at High Log Run Bridge, in Wirt county, by a body of Confederates in ambush. The former retreated with a loss of one wounded; the loss of the latter, if any, is unknown.
A few days later a body of Confederates opened fire upon the town of Elizabeth from the hill on the oppo- site side of the Little Kanawha. Company C, of the Ist West Virginia Cavalry, encamped near the town, went in pursuit, but the enemy had fled.
Late in the summer of 1861, a Confederate force was collected at Traveler's Repose, in Pocahontas county, then known as " Camp Barteau." It consisted of the Ist Georgia Infantry, Colonel Ramsey commanding ; the 12th Georgia, Colonel Edward Johnson ; the 31st Virginia Infantry, Colonel William L. Jackson ; Colonel Hansbro's Battalion ; the Churchville Cavalry, from Churchville, Augusta county, Virginia, Captain James Sterrett; and the Rockbridge Cavalry, Captain J. C. McNutt ; the entire force under the command of Gen- eral Henry L. Jackson.
On the 14th of September, 1861, this force was attacked by the Federals under command of Generals
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MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS.
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Reynolds and Rosecrans. The firing began early in the morning and continued until nightfall, when the Federals withdrew and fell back to Rich Mountain, in . Randolph county, making no report of their loss. The loss of the Confederates was thirty-six killed.
A few days later the Confederates fell back to Camp ' Allegheny, on the summit of the range in the eastern part of Pocahontas county, where, after being reinforced by two regiments-one of which was the 52d Virginia Infantry, Colonel John Baldwin commanding-they fortified a strong natural position. Here, on the 12th of December, they were again attacked by the Federals, who once more advanced, and the engagement con- tinued throughout the day, but terminated, as had that at Camp Barteau, in the retreat of the Federals. The loss was considerable on both sides, among that of the Confederates being Captain Anderson, of the Lynchburg Artillery, and Captain J. C. Whitmer, of the Pocahontas Rifles.
Early in the autumn of 1861, Major K. V. Whaley recruited a company at Guyandotte to be attached to the 9th West Virginia Infantry, and by the first of No- vember its ranks were filled and only awaited the arri- val of the proper officer to muster it into the United States service. But various are the fortunes of war. On the evening of the 10th of that month, just as twilight was deepening into night, the 8th Virginia Confederate Cavalry, several hundred strong, rode into the town, and a portion having taken a position on a neighboring hill opened fire on the Federal posi- tion at the southern end of the suspension bridge. For an hour the rattle of musketry rang out upon the still evening air, at the end of which time the Federals
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were all killed, wounded or captured, save a few who saved themselves by flight. The Confederates who .were now in peaceful possession of the town, had two killed and several wounded. When the firing began, Colonel Zeigler, with the 5th West Virginia Infantry, was stationed at Ceredo, eight miles below, and learn- ing of the attack, with his force went on board the steamer Ohio, then ascending the river, and disem- barked on the Ohio side, at the mouth of Indian Guyan, one mile below the scene of action. From there they marched to Proctorsville, and at daylight on the morn- ing of the 11th began crossing the river. As the
Federals entered the town the Confederates left it, and no sooner were the former in possession than the torch was applied and two-thirds of the town laid in ashes. A few days later a party of men came from the Ohio side of the river, and after having fired the extensive flouring mills of Dr. Thomas C. Buffington, went one mile up the river and applied the torch to the private residence of Robert E. Stewart, and it too was laid in ruins.
Later on a skirmish occurred between a body of Confederate Cavalry, under Major James Nowning, and a Federal force commanded by Major Paxton. It was a running fight from the Blue Sulphur Springs to Barboursville. Here the belligerents separated, the Confederates going up Guyandotte river and the Fed- erals proceeding to Guyandotte, having lost one killed.
Early in May, 1862, Lewisburg was occupied by the Greenbrier Riflemen, commanded by Captain B. F. Eakle, and Company E, Captain William H. Heffner, of Edgar's Battalion. On the 12th of May, the Federal advance, consisting of one hundred and eighty cavalry
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and one hundred and twenty infantry, commanded by Colonel Elliot, of Crook's Brigade, reached Lewisburg, and the Confederates fell back toward Greenbrier river. The Federals occupied the town and continued in possession of it. Here a few days later they were reinforced by Colonel Gilbert with a large detachment 'of Crook's Brigade.
In the meantime, General Henry H. Heath's force of two thousand five hundred men were on the march from New River Narrows. Among his subordinates were Colonels Finney and A. R. Barbee and Major George Edgar. This force reached Lewisburg on the night of the 22d, and at 5.15 the next morning opened fire on the Federal position. The battle continued an hour when, the Federals having, by a right and left flank movement, secured a position from which they could pour an enfilading fire, the Confederates fell back, leaving their enemies in possession of the field. The Confederate loss was sixty killed, and that of the Federals twenty-five. The latter occupied the town until the 29th, when they fell back and took position at Meadow Bluff.
In September, 1862, General A. G. Jenkins, with a Confederate cavalry force, made a raid into Western Virginia. Leaving the Shenandoah Valley he pro- ceeded by way of Beverly, thence by way of Weston to Spencer, in Roane county, where companies B, E, F, and D, of the 11th West Virginia Federal Infantry were stationed. These surrendered and were allowed to go on parole. From here the Confederates pro- ceeded to Ravenswood, where a portion of the com- mand crossed the Ohio, carrying the first Confederate flag north of that river ; thence the detachment moved
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to Racine, several miles. below, where it recrossed the river, and having joined the main body, the whole re- turned east by way of Kanawha Valley.
The surrender of Harper's Ferry by General Dixon H. Miles to the Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson, on the 15th of September, 1862, was the most extensive military transaction that ever occurred in West Virginia. In August, McClellan directed Gen- eral Miles to occupy the place and hold the same until further orders. Meanwhile General Lee began the in- vasion of Maryland. On the 8th of September a Con- federate division consisting of the brigades of Generals Walker, Hill, Pender, Archer and McLaws, the whole under command of Stonewall Jackson, appeared be- fore the place and made arrangements to begin the attack. By the 14th all was in readiness, and batteries of heavy artillery on the summits and slopes of Bolivar and Loudoun Heights belched forth a storm of shot and shell. No human wall could stand before so deadly a fire, and the next day brought the surrender of the whole Federal army, numbering eleven thousand five hundred and eighty-three men. Forty-seven pieces of artillery of various calibre, and thirteen thousand stand of small arms were also given over to the Confederates. The evening before the capitulation, the 8th New York cavalry, Colonel Davis commanding, cut its way out and escaped into Maryland. The force surrendered consisted of the following: 32d Ohio, Colonel Thomas Ford; 60th Ohio, Colonel W. H. Trimble; 12th New York, Colonel Ward; 87th Ohio, Colonel Bannin ; 126th New York, Colonel Sherrill; Ist Maryland, Colonel Halsby; ILIth New York, Colonel Segoine ; Ist Maryland Cavalry, Colonel Russell ; 9th Vermont ;
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15th Indiana ; two companies of the 5th New York Artillery, Captains McGrath and Graham; Rigby's Battery of Ohio artillery; two western batteries and a detachment of the Maryland Home Brigade. General Miles was mortally wounded by the bursting of a shell. His injured leg was amputated, but he died soon after. General Jackson left General A. P. Hill in charge of the captured army while he pushed on into Maryland, where he joined General Lee on the eve of the battle of South Mountain.
In the military history of the Great Kanawha Valley, what is known as Lightburn's retreat, and which occurred in the autumn of 1862, must ever be a promi- nent event. In the spring of that year, General Cox marched eastward from Charleston and took position at Flat Top Mountain. About the last of August he proceeded thence to the Shenandoah Valley, leaving General J. A. J. Lightburn in command of the Kan- awha Valley District, with headquarters at Gauley Bridge, in Fayette county. His most eastern outpost was Fayetteville, occupied by the 37th Ohio Infantry, commanded by Colonel Sibert. The entire Federal force in the Valley at that time, numbering three thousand five hundred men, consisted of the 4th West Virginia Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Russell com- manding ; 9th West Virginia Infantry, Colonel Skin- ner; 2d West Virginia Cavalry, Colonel Powell ; 34th Ohio, known as the Piatt Zouaves, Colonel Toland ; 47th Ohio, Colonel Parry, and DeLille's Battery of Light Artillery. On the 9th of September the regi- ment at Fayetteville was attacked by the advance of a Confederate force officially estimated at nine thou- sand, under the command of General Loring. Colonel
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Sibert, closely pursued, retreated by way of Cotton Hill, where a slight engagement ensued, and joined Lightburn at Gauley Bridge. The entire force fell back toward Charleston, but at noon on the 11th made a stand at Camp Piatt opposite Brownstown. At three in the afternoon the march was continued, and at sunrise the next morning the advance column reached Charleston, where a halt of twenty-four hours was made. On the morning of the 13th the Confederates appeared in large numbers on Cox's Hill and on the opposite side of the Kanawha. The Federals having burned the gov- ernment stores which could not be removed, crossed Elk river and destroyed the bridge behind them. During the morning an artillery duel was kept up across the river, and at noon the Federal regiments began a retreat to the Ohio river, having with them a train numbering more than eleven hundred wagons, con- veying stores valued at a million of dollars. Two miles below Charleston the river road was abandoned, as it was feared that the Confederate cavalry which was on the south side of the Kanawha would ford the river further down and gain a position in front of the retreating columns. The Charleston and Ravenswood pike, by way of Ripley, in Jackson county was taken, and after a toilsome march of three days the dust-cov- ered regiments reached Ravenswood, whence the train pressed on to Portland, some distance above, and crossed the Ohio. Transports conveyed the troops to Point Pleasant, where they were soon after joined by Milroy's Brigade, from Washington City, one of the regiments composing it being the 8th West Virginia, commanded by Colonel-afterward General-John H. Oley. Some days later General Cox, with several
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regiments, reached Point Pleasant, and the entire force, thus increased to twelve thousand men, began the march up the Kanawha, but before the arrival at Charleston the Confederates, the command of whom had in the meantime been transferred to General Echols, abandoned the Valley and returned to East Virginia.
On the morning of February 2, 1863, the Federal General Scammon and staff left Point Pleasant on the Kanawha river steamer " B. C. Levi," Captain Charles Regnier, bound for Charleston. The boat reached Red House Shoals, in Putnam county, at one o'clock on the morning of the 3d, when it was found that the pilot could not pass the chute in the darkness, and the steamer was lashed to the north bank to await the coming of daylight. Here, while reposing in seeming security, a band of twenty-eight Confederates, com- manded by Major Nowning, quietly boarded the boat and made prisoners of General Scammon and staff, thirteen soldiers returning to Charleston to join their regiments, and the entire boat's crew. The steamer was then steered across the river to Winfield and thence down stream four miles to Vintroux's landing, where she was run ashore and all but the General and staff given five minutes to leave. At the expiration of the time the boat was fired and burned to the water's edge. The General and his staff officers were then mounted on bare-backed horses and mules-the Gen- eral upon one of the latter-and the cavalcade took up the line of march toward Richmond.
About the 20th of March, 1863, General Jenkins, at the head of a Confederate force numbering eight hun- dred, and consisting of portions of the 8th and 16th
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Virginia Cavalry, left Dublin depot on the Virginia and Tennessee railroad, and began a march into West- ern Virginia. On the 28th, Hurricane bridge, in Put- nam county, was reached. Here was stationed a Federal detachment consisting of companies A, Cap- tain Johnson ; B, Captain Stewart, and D, Captain Williams; all of the 13th West Virginia Infantry and Company G, of the 11th West Virginia. Major James Nowning, of the Confederate force, arrived under a flag of truce at the headquarters of Captain Stewart, and demanded an unconditional surrender. This was refused, and half an hour later the firing began and the rapid discharge of muskets, the only arms in pos- session of either side, continued for five hours, when the Confederates withdrew. Several were killed, among whom were Ultimas Young and Jesse Hart, of Mason county, both members of the 13th Regi- ment.
On the 29th, the same body of Confederates that had been engaged at Hurricane bridge, reached Hall's landing on the Kanawha river and in Putnam county. The steamer "Victress," having on board Paymaster B. R. Cowan, of the Federal Army, was descending the river. He had in his possession a large amount of Government funds. When nearing the landing, the boat was hailed by an individual who was apparently alone, the command being concealed behind a thicket of underbrush. The signal was recognized and the boat steered toward the landing, but when near shore she received a fire from a hitherto concealed but now exposed enemy. Captain Ford at once recognized the situation and ordered the steamer to be backed ; thus she escaped, but not until riddled with balls. She
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continued the voyage and reached Gallipolis, Ohio, without further incident.
From Hall's landing the Confederates continued the march, and on the next day-March 30-reached Point Pleasant at the mouth of the Great Kanawha. At the time the only Federal troops there were Cap- tain John D. Carter's Company E, of the 13th West Vir- ginia Regiment. They were encamped two squares above Court street, and when the firing began, which was the first intimation they had of the presence of an enemy, they fled to the court house for refuge. Here they were closely besieged for four hours, during which time a desultory fire was kept up on both sides. At three o'clock in the afternoon Federal reinforce- ments from Gallipolis arrived on the opposite side of the Ohio river and prepared to shell the town, believ- ing that the court house was occupied by the Con- federates, but the mistake was discovered in time to prevent what must have resulted in great destruction. The Confederates now despairing of being able to dislodge their enemies, abandoned the attack, crossed the Kanawha, that night encamped on the head waters of Ohio Eighteen mile creek, and the next day took up the line of march for Tazewell county, Virginia. The Confederate loss was three killed and five wounded, while that of the Federals was one killed and one wounded. During the engagement one of the most execrable acts of the war occurred. This was the kill- ing of the venerable Major Andrew Waggener, then in the eighty-fourth year of his agc. He was riding toward town and carrying his cane, as was his custom, when he was met by a Confederate soldier who de- manded his horse. This was refused, and when the
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latter attempted to take hold of the reins, the Major struck him with his cane, upon which the soldier shot him. Major Waggener had served throughout the war of 1812, having won distinction at the battle of Craney's Island. His father was a Major in Washing- ton's army during the Revolution, and he and a brother were at Braddock's defeat, where the latter was killed.
On the 19th of April, 1863, an engagement occurred at Tuckwiler's Hill, two miles northwest of Lewisburg, between Edgar's Battalion, consisting of Company K. of the 14th Virginia Cavalry, commanded by Captain Caraway, and Captain W. H. Heffner's company, and a detachment of the 2d West Virginia Federal Cav- alry, under Colonel Paxton. The latter was forced to retreat. The loss on either side was small.
In the latter part of April, 1863, General Jones, at the head of a body of Confederate Cavalry, made a raid into West Virginia. Proceeding by way of Buckhannon, Weston and Harrisville he reached the Burning Springs, in Wirt county, on the 9th of May. This was the centre of the petroleum industry. Gen- eral Jones caused one hundred thousand barrels to be simultaneously ignited, and the light that night was plainly visible at Parkersburg-distant forty-two miles.
The battle of White Sulphur Springs, or Dry Creek, took place about two miles from White Sulphur, on the 26th day of August, 1863, between a Federal force, under General Averill, and the Confederates, commanded by General John Echols. The latter was absent, and Colonel George Patton, who was afterward killed in battle at Winchester, Virginia, commanded in his stead. On the Confederate side was Chapman's
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GEORGE CROOK, Major-General U. S. A.
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Battery, and on the side of the Federals, Cotter's Battery B, of the 5th Ohio Artillery, and they kept up during the day such an artillery duel as was perhaps never before heard in the Alleghenies. The two forces met unexpectedly, and the battle, which began at 8 A. M., continued until nightfall, when the Federals retreated, having sustained a loss of one hundred and fifty. That of the victors was sixty.
An engagement occurred in the autumn of 1863 on the head waters of Sand Lick, a tributary of Sugar Tree Creek, now in Union district, Lincoln county, between a detachment of Confederates, commanded by Captain Peter Carpenter, and Company G, of the 3d West Virginia Cavalry, commanded by Major J. S. Witcher. The Confederates felled timber in the road, and when the Federals reached it they were forced to turn and retreat under a heavy fire. John Insco and William Smith were killed and three others wounded. The Confederates had one wounded.
One of the most important military movements within the State in 1864 was that known as the " Dub- lin Raid," so called from the objective point-Dublin Depot, a station on the Virginia and Tennessee-now the Norfolk and Western-Railroad, in Pulaski county, Virginia. Early in the spring of the above- mentioned year a Federal force, consisting of the 12th, 34th, 36th and 91st Ohio Infantry ; the 9th, 10th, 14th and 15th West Virginia regiments, together with Mul- ligan's Battery of the ist Ohio Artillery, and a small body of cavalry, the entire force under the command of General George Crook, was concentrated at Fay- ettesville, the county seat of Fayette. On the 2d of May the line of march was taken up, but the roads 26
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were so rough that on the 4th the entire army en- camped at Loup creek, still in Fayette county. On the 5th, it encamped at Mercer, in Mercer county ; on the 6th, at Princeton, in the same county ; on the 7th, near Rocky Gap, in Bland county, Virginia ; and on the 8th, at Shannon, in Giles county. On the morning of the 9th a Confederate force, composed of the 8th, 16th and 17th Virginia Cavalry, and the 36th, 45th and 60th Virginia Infantry, with Bryan's Battery and detached bodies of other organizations, the whole commanded by Generals Albert G. Jenkins and John McCausland, was encountered on the slopes of Cloyd Mountain, near the boundary lines between Giles and Pulaski counties, and at once there began one of the most fiercely contested battles of the war. The sounds of battle echoed, reverberated and died away amid the lofty peaks of the Alleghenies. Eight thousand heroic and determined men struggled for the mastery. Six hundred Federals and four hundred Confederates were either killed or wounded-one-eighth of the whole num- ber engaged, which loss is perhaps proportionately larger than that upon any other field of the Civil War. Such was the desperate nature of the conflict, that the 9th West Virginia Regiment lost one hundred and eighty- six men in ten minutes. The Confederates were defeated and retreated, leaving General Jenkins wounded upon the field. He was borne to the residence of David Cloyd near by, where a Federal surgeon amputated his arm at the shoulder. Shortly after he died, and Chap. lain Brillhart, of the Sth Confederate Cavalry, accom- panied by Major Nicholas Fitzhugh and the wife of the deceased, bore his body through the lines and interred it in the family burying ground on Jenkins' Bottom, in
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Cabell county. General Jenkins, previous to the war, had been a prominent figure in both State and National politics, having twice represented his District in Con- gress. The Federal army advanced from the scene of action to New River Bridge, which they burned, and thence returned by way of Union, in Monroe, to Meadow Bluffs, in Greenbrier, whence after a few days' encamp- ment it marched east and joined General Hunter at Staunton.
On the 6th of November, 1863, was fought the battle of Droop Mountain. The Confederate force consisted of the 22d Virginia Infantry, Colonel George Patton ; the 19th Virginia, Colonel W. P. Thompson ; the 20th Virginia, Colonel W. W. Arnott; the 14th Virginia Cavalry, Colonel James Cochran ; Jackson's and Chap- man's Batteries, and Edgar's and Derrick's Battalions, the whole commanded by Major John Echols. That of the Federals was composed of the 14th Pennsyl- vania ; the 23d and 28th Ohio infantry ; the 3d, 5th, 6th and 10th West Virginia regiments and a West Virginia Battery. The Confederates had marched from Meadow Bluffs in Greenbrier, and the Federals from Beverly, Randolph county. The two forces met on the northern extremity of Droop mountain, the Federals having formed on the Levels near Hillsboro. The firing began at 10 A.M. and continued until 4 p.M., when the Confederates, finding their position completely flanked right and left, began a hasty retreat, which con- tinued beyond Lewisburg. The pursuit was kept up for several miles. The loss on both sides was heavy.
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