USA > West Virginia > Barbour County > The history of Barbour County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time > Part 21
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From the top of Sweet Springs Mountain a splendid view was opened before them. Averell, in his official report, speaks of it thus: "Seventy miles to the eastward the Peaks of Otter reared their summits above the Blue Ridge, and all the space between was filled with a billowing ocean of hills and mountains, while behind us the great Alleghanies, coming from north with the grandeur of innumerable tints, swept past and faded in the southern horizon." Newcastle was passed during the night. Averell's ad- vance guard were mounted on fleet horses and carried repeating rifles. They allowed no one to go ahead of them. They captured a squad of Con- federates now and then, and learned from these that Averell's advance was as yet unsuspected in that quarter. It was, however, known at that time at Lynchburg and Richmond, but it was not known at what point he was striking. Valuable military stores were at Salem, and at that very time a train-load of soldiers was hurrying up from Lynchburg to guard the place. When within four miles of Salem a troop of Confederates were captured. They had come out to see if they could learn anything of Averell, and from them it was ascertained that the soldiers from Lynchburg were hourly ex- pected at Salem. This was 9 o'clock on the morning of December 16. Aver- ell's men had ridden twenty hours without rest. Averell saw that no time was to be lost. From this point it became a race between Averell's cavalry and the Lynchburg train loaded with Confederates, cach trying to reach Salem first. The whistling of the engine in the distance was heard, and Averell saw that he would be too late if he advanced with his whole force.
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR.
So he set forward with three hundred and fifty horsemen and two rifled cannon, and went into Salem on a dead run, people on the road and streets parting right and left to let the squadron pass. The train loaded with Con- federates was approaching the depot. Averell wheeled a cannon into posi- tion and fired three times in rapid succession, the first ball missing, but the next passing through the train almost from end to end, and the third fol- lowing close after. The locomotive was uninjured, and it reversed and backed up the road in a hurry, disappearing in the direction whence it had come. Averell cut the telegraph wires. The work of destroying the rail- road was begun. When the remainder of the force came up, detachments were sent four miles east and twelve miles west to destroy the railroad and bridges. The destruction was complete. They burned 100,000 bushels of shelled corn; 10,000 bushels of wheat; 2,000 barrels of flour; 50,000 bushels of oats; 1,000 sacks of salt; 100 wagons; large quantities of clothing, leather, cotton, harness. shoes; and the bridges, bridge-timber, trestles, ties, and everything that would burn, even twisting the rails, up and down the rail- road sixteen miles.
At 4 p. m., December 16, Averell set out upon his return. Confeder- ate troops were hurrying from all sides to cut him off. Generals Fitzhugh Lee, Jubal A. Early, John McCausland, John Echols and W. H. Jackson each had an army, and they occupied every road, as they supposed, by which Averell could escape. Rain fell in torrents. Streams overflowed their banks and deluged the country. The cavalry swam, and the cannon and caissons were hauled across by ropes where horses could not ford. The Federals fought their way to James River, crossed it on bridges which they burned in the face of the Confederates, and crossed the Alleghanies into Pocahontas County by a road almost unknown. More than 100 men were . lost by capture and drowning at James River. The rains had changed to snow, and the cold was so intense that cattle froze to death in the fields. Such a storm had seldom or never been seen in the Alleghanies. The soldiers' feet froze till they could not wear boots. They wrapped their feet in sacks, Averell among the rest. For sixty miles they followed a road which was one unbroken sheet of ice. Horses fell and crippled themselves or broke the riders' legs. The artillery horses could not pull the cannon, and the soldiers did that work, 100 men dragging each gun up the moun- tains. Going down the mountains a tree was dragged behind each cannon to hold it in the road. The Confederates were hard in pursuit, and there was fighting nearly all the way through Pocahontas County, and at Edray a severe skirmish was fought. Beverly was reached December 24, and thence the army marched to Webster, in Taylor County, and was carried by train to Martinsburg. Averell lost 119 men on the expedition, one am- bulance and a few wagons, but no artillery.
December 11. Confederates under Captain William Thurmond attacked General Scammon at Big Sewell and were repulsed. General Scammon was marching to attract the attention of the Confederate General Echols, and thereby assist Averell on his Salem raid.
December 11. · Confederates under General W. L. Jackson were defeated at Marlin Bottom, Pocahontas County, by Colonel Augustus Moor, who marched into that country to assist Averell, by attracting the attention of the Rebels.
December 12. Lewisburg was taken by General Scammon, General Echols retreating.
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR.
December 12. Troops sent by General Scammon drove Confederates across the Greenbrier River. December 13. Skirmish at Hurricane Bridge. Confederates attacked a small force of Federals under Captain Young. Both sides retreated.
December 14. Skirmish on the Blue Sulphur Road, near Meadow Bluff. Lieutenant H. G. Otis, with 29 men was attacked by Rebel guerrillas under William Thurmond. The guerrillas fled, having killed 2 and wounded 4 Union soldiers, while their own loss was 2.
1864.
January 2. Confederates under General Fitzhugh Lee invaded the South Branch Valley. This raid, following so soon after Averell's Salem raid, was meant as a retaliation for the destruction at Salem. The weather was so cold and the Shenandoah Mountains so icy that Lee could not cross with artillery, and he abandoned his guns and moved forward with his troops.
.January 3. Petersburg, Grant County, besieged by Fitzhugh Lee.
January 3. An empty train of 40 wagons, returning from Petersburg to Keyser, was captured by Confederates.
January 6. Romney was occupied by Fitzhugh Lee.
January 6. Springfield, in Hampshire County, was captured by Con- federates under McNeill and Gilmor.
January 30. General Rosser, with a strong Confederate force, captured a train of 93 wagons, 300 mules and 20 prisoners, at Medley, Mineral County. Among the prisoners taken was Judge Nathan Goff, of West Vir- ginia, whose horse fell on him and held him. He was then twenty years old. The wagon train was in charge of Colonel Joseph Snyder.
January 31. Petersburg, Grant County, was evacuated by Federals under Colonel Thoburn upon the advance of an army under General Early. Colonel Thoburn retreated to Keyser by way of Greenland Gap.
February 1. General Early advanced and attacked the fort near Peters- burg, not knowing that Colonel Thoburn had retreated and that the fort was empty.
February 2. General Rosser destroyed the railroad bridges across the North Branch and Patterson Creek, in Mineral county.
February 3. Forty Rebels under Major J. H. Nounnan attacked and captured the steamer Levi on the Kanawha, at Red House. General Scam- mon was on board and was taken prisoner.
February 11. Confederates under Gilmor threw a Baltimore and Ohio passenger train from the track near Kearneysville, and robbed the pas. sengers.
February 20. Twenty Federals under Lieutenant Henry A. Wolf were attacked near Hurricane Bridge. Lieutenant Wolf was killed.
February 25. General John C. Breckenridge was assigned to the com- mand of the Confederate forces in West Virginia, relieving General Sam Jones. General Breckenridge assumed command March 5.
March 3. Colonel A. I. Root marched from Petersburg and destroyed the Saltpeter Works operated by Confederates in Pendleton County.
March 3. Skirmish in Grant County. Lieutenant Denney with 27 Fed- erals was attacked and defeated near Petersburg with a loss of 7 men and 13 horses.
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March 10. Major Sullivan was killed by Mosby's guerrillas in a skirm- ish at Kabletown.
March 19. Eight men, of Imboden's command, who had been in Bar- bour County attempting to waylay a wagon train, crossed into Tucker County and robbed David Wheeler's Store, three miles from St. George.
March 20. Skirmish at the Sinks of Gandy in Randolph County. The Rebels who had robbed Wheeler's store were pursued by Lieutenant Val- entine J. Gallion and Captain Nathaniel J. Lambert and defeated, with 3 killed, 2 captured, and the stolen property was recovered.
April 19. Confederates were attacked and defeated at Marlin Bottom, Pocahontas County.
May 2. An expedition moved from the Kanawha Valley under Generals Crook and Averell against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. This is known as the Dublin Raid, so called from the village of that name in Pulaski County. The cavalry was under the command of General Averell, while General George Crook was in command of all the forces. On May 9 occurred a desperate battle on Cloyd Mountain, near the boundary between Giles and Pulaski Counties, Virginia. General Crook commanded the Union forces, and the Confederates were under General Albert G. Jenkins. For a long time the issue of the battle was doubtful; but at length General Jenkins fell, and his army gave way. He was mortally wounded, and died soon after. His arm had been amputated at the shoulder by a Federal surgeon. In the meantime General Averell, with a force of cavalry, 2000 strong, advanced by wretched roads and miserable paths through Wyoming County, West Virginia, into Virginia, hoping to strike at Saltville or Wytheville before the Confederates could concentrate for defense. When the troops entered Tazewell County they had numerous skirmishes with small parties of Confederates. When Tazewell Court House was reached it was learned that between 4000 and 5000 Confederates, commanded by Generals W. E. Jones and John H. Morgan, had concentrated at Saltville, having learned of Averell's advance. The defences north of that town were so strongly fortified that the Union troops could not attack with hope of success. Averell turned, and made a rapid march toward Wytheville, to prevent the Confederates from marching to attack General Crook. Arriv- ing near Wytheville on May 10, he met Jones and Morgan, with 5000 men, marching to attack General Crook. Averell made an attack on them, or they on him, as both sides appeared to begin the battle about the same time. Although out-numbered and out-flanked, the Union forces held their ground four hours, at which time the vigor of the Confederate fighting began to slack. After dark the Confederates withdrew. The Union loss was 114 in killed and wounded. Averell made a dash for Dublin, and the Confederates followed as fast as possible. The bridge across New River, and other bridges, were destroyed, and the railroad was torn up. Soon after crossing New River on the morning of May 12, the Confederates arrived on the opposite bank, but they could not cross the stream. They had been unable to prevent the destruction of the railroad property, although their forces out-numbered Averell's. The Union cavalry rejoined General Crook, and the army returned to the Kanawha Valley by way of Monroe County.
May 3. Bulltown, Braxton County, was captured and the barracks burned by Confederates under Captains Spriggs and Chewings.
May 4. Captain McNeill with 61 Confederate cavalry captured Pied-
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mont, in Mineral County, and burned two trains, machine shops, and cap- tured 104 prisoners.
May 6. Lieutenant Blazer's scouts attacked and defeated a troop of Confederates near Princeton, Mercer County.
May 8. Fifty Confederates attacked a Federal post at Halltown, Jefferson County, and were defeated.
May 9. Skirmish on the summit of Cheat Mountain between a scouting party from Beverly and 100 Rebels.
May 10. The Ringgold Cavalry was attacked and defeated at Lost River Gap, Hardy County, by Imboden. The Federals were hunting for McNeill's men, and Imboden had hurriedly crossed from the Valley of Vir- ginia to assist McNeill to escape.
May 11. Romney was occupied by General Imboden.
May 15. A scouting party moved from Beverly under Colonel Harris against Confederate guerrillas in Pocahontas, Webster and Braxton Coun- ties, capturing 36 prisoners, 85 horses, 40 cattle, and returning to Beverly May 30.
May 19. General David Hunter was appointed to the command of Fed- eral forces in West Virginia. He assumed command May 21.
May 24. In a skirmish near Charlestown the Confederates under Mosby were defeated.
June 6. Skirmish at Panther Gap. Rebels were defeated by Colonel D. Frost.
June 6. Fight near Moorefield. Eighty Federals under Captain Hart were attacked and lost four killed and six wounded, but defeated the Confederates.
June 10. Colonel Thompson was defeated near Kabletown by Major Gilmor. -
June 19. Captain Boggs, with 30 West Virginia State troops from Pen- dleton County, known as Swamp Dragons, was attacked near Petersburg by Lieutenant Dolen, with a portion of McNeill's company. The Confed- erates were at first successful, but finally were defeated, and Lieutenant Dolen was killed.
June 26. Captain McNeill, with 60 Confederates, attacked Captain Law and 100 men at Springfield, Hampshire County. The Federals were defeated, losing 60 prisoners and 100 horses.
June 28. A detachment of Federals was defeated at Sweet Sulphur Springs by Thurmond's guerrillas.
July 3. Skirmish at Leetown. Confederates under General Ransom attacked and defeated Colonel Mulligan after a severe fight. A large Con- federate army under General Early was invading West Virginia and Mary- land, penetrating as far as Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
July 3. Confederates under Gilmor attacked Union troops at Darkes- ville, Berkeley County, and were defeated.
July 3. General Early captured Martinsburg.
July 3. Skirmish at North River Mills, Hampshire County.
July 4. General Imboden attacked an armored car and a blockhouse at the South Branch Bridge, in Hampshire County. He blew the car up with a shell, and attempted to destroy the bridge, but the blockhouse could not be taken, and he retreated.
July 4 Rebels under Captain McNeill burned the railroad bridge across Patterson Creek, Mineral County.
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR.
July 4. An attack on the North Branch Bridge, in Mineral County, was repulsed by the Federals.
July 4. Harper's Ferry was invested by Confederates. They besiged the place four days, but the heavy guns on the heights drove them back and shelled them to the distance of four miles. General Franz Sigel was in command at Harper's Ferry.
July 6. General Imboden attacked Sir John's Run, Morgan County, and burned the railroad station-house, but was driven off by iron-clad cars. July 6. Big Capon Bridge, Morgan County, was attacked by Imboden. . He was driven off by iron-clad cars.
July 14. Romney was occupied by McNeill.
July 23. Romney was taken by McNeill and Captain Harness.
July 25. Federals under General George Crook were defeated at Bunker Hill, Berkeley County.
July 25. Fight at Martinsburg. The Confederates in strong force fought General Duffie all day.
July 30. Confederates under General W. L. Jackson were defeated near Shepherdstown.
August 2. The Confederates under General Bradley T. Johnson cap- tured Green Spring, Hampshire County, Colonel Stough being in command of the Federals. The Rebels had advanced toward Cumberland, and made an attack on the Federal defenders, but did not push the attack. These Confederates were returning from their plundering raid in Pennsylvania.
August 2. Confederates under McNeill destroyed three railroad cul- verts between Keyser and Cumberland.
August 2. The suspension bridge across the South Branch of the Poto- mac near Springfield was cut down by order of General Early.
August 4. Confederates under Generals Bradley T. Johnson and John McCausland attacked Keyser and were repulsed.
August 7. General Averell overtook and routed the forces of McCaus- land and Johnson, near Moorefield. These Confederates had burned Cham- bersburg, Pennsylvania, because the people would not pay $400,000 ransom. Averell entered Chambersburg within two hours after the Confederates left, and he pursued them through Maryland into West Virginia, and came upon them at daybreak near Moorefield and surprised them, captured all their artillery, 420 prisoners, 400 horses, retook the plunder carried from Penn- sylvania, and drove the disorganized forces ten miles into the mountains. The Rebels believed that no quarters would be given them because they had burned Chambersburg.
August 21. Skirmish at Summit Point between a detachment of Con- federates and the New York Dragoons.
August 21. General Sheridan was defeated at Welch's Spring with a loss of 275.
August 22. Confederates at Charlestown were defeated by Colonel Charles R. Lowell.
August 22. General Sheridan's troops defeated the Confederates at Halltown.
August 29. The Confederates were defeated four miles from Charles- town. This fighting, and that which followed and preceded it in the same vicinity, was between the armies of General Sheridan and General Early.
September 1. Martinsburg was captured by General Early's troops, Averell retreating.
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR.
September 2. Confederate cavalry under Vaughn was defeated by Averell at Bunker Hill.
September 3. Federals under General Crook defeated General Kershaw near Berryville, killing and wounding 200.
September 3. Averell defeated McCausland at Bunker Hill.
September 4. Cavalry fight near Berryville between Mosby's and Blazer's men, in which Mosby lost 19 men, killed and captured.
September 14. Skirmish near Centerville, Upshur County, between Fed- erals under Captain H. H. Hagans and 30 horse thieves.
September 17. Confederates under Colonel V. A. Witcher, to the num- ber of 523, among them Captain Philip J. and Captain William D. Thur- mond's guerrillas, moved from Tazewell County, Virginia, upon a raid into West Virginia, returning September 28 with 400 horses, 200 cattle, and hav- ing lost only one man.
September 18. General Early's troops recaptured Martinsburg.
September 23. Confederates under Major James H. Nounnan moved from Tazewell County upon a raid into the Kanawha Valley. They returned to Tazewell October 1.
September 26. Colonel Witcher captured Weston and robbed the Ex- change Bank of $5,287.85; also captured a number of Home Guards.
September 26. Captain William H. Payne, of Witcher's command, occu- pied Janelew, Lewis County.
September 27. Witcher defeated Federal cavalry at Buckhannon and captured the town.
September 28. The Rebels having moved up the river from Buckhan- non, and Federals, under Major T. F. Lang, having occupied the town, Colonel Witcher made a dash and recaptured the place and took Major Lang and 100 men prisoner, and destroyed a large quantity of military stores.
September 30. Skirmish at the mouth of Coal River. Rebels under Major Nounnan were defeated.
October 11. Skirmish two miles south of Petersburg between 198 Home Guards under Captain Boggs and Rebels under Harness.
October 26. Colonel Witcher attacked the town of Winfield and was defeated. Captain P. J. Thurmond was mortally wounded, taken prisoner, and soon after died.
October 29. Major Hall, with 350 Rebels, attacked Beverly and was repulsed with a loss of 140, Hall being mortally wounded and taken pris- oner. The Federals, 200 in number, were in command of Colonel Youart. He lost 46. The Confederate attacking force was made up of men from 21 regiments.
November 1. Green Spring, Hampshire County, was captured by Con- federates under Captain McNeill; about 30 Federals were taken prisoner.
November 5. Colonel V. A. Witcher captured and burned the steamers Barnum and Fawn at Buffalo Shoals, Big Sandy River.
November 7. Colonel George R. Latham, with 225 Federals, defeated McNeill at Moorefield, taking 8 prisoners.
November 27. Colonel R. E. Fleming with a small force attacked 2,000 Confederates under Rosser at Moorefield, and was defeated, with a loss of 20 men and one cannon.
November 28. Major Potts, with 155 men, was defeated by Confederates of Rosser's command at Moorefield.
November 28. General Rosser surprised Keyser, capturing or dispers-
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR.
ing the Federal garrison of 800, and taking several cannon, burning gov- ernment and railroad property, and carrying away hundreds of horses.
November 28. Confederates under Major McDonald were defeated at Piedmont by 27 men under Captain Fisher.
1865.
January 11. General Rosser captured Beverly. The Federals were in command of Colonel R. Youart. They lost 6 killed, 23 wounded and 580 prisoners.
January 11. A Federal scouting party, under Major E. S. Troxel, moved from Keyser, passing through Pendleton County.
January 15. Skirmish at Petersburg. Major Troxel defeated McNeill. January 19. Rebel guerrillas wrecked a train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad near Duffield.
February 4. Train thrown from track and robbed by Confederates near Harper's Ferry. February 5. Major H. W. Gilmor was captured by Federals under Colonel Young, near Moorefield.
February 21. Generals Crook and Kelley were captured at Cumberland by 61 Confederates under Lieutenant Jesse McNeill, son of Captain J. H. McNeill. There were 3500 Union troops in Cumberland at the time.
February 26. General Winfield S. Hancock was assigned to the com- mand of the Federal forces in West Virginia.
March 15. Rebel guerrilas were defeated on the South Fork, above Moorefield, by Captain McNulty.
March 22. Lieutenant Martin defeated Confederates of McNeill's com- mand on Patterson Creek, in Mineral County, killing 2, wounding 3.
March 30. A railroad train was derailed and robbed near Patterson Creek Bridge, in Mineral County, by McNeill's command.
April 2. General W. H. Emory was assigned to the command of Union forces in West Virginia.
April 6. Confederates under Mosby captured Loudoun County Rangers near Charlestown.
April 10. General Emory proposed to Governor Boreman that the West Virginia civil authorities resume their functions, re-open the courts and dispense justice, inasmuch as " no large bodies of armed Rebels are in the State."
April 12. Lieutenant S. H. Draper raided a Rebel rendezvous on Tim- ber Ridge, Hampshire County.
April 15. Captain Joseph Badger moved from Philippi with a scouting party, passing through Randolph and Pocahontas Counties, returning to Philippi April 23.
May 8. McNeill's company surrendered at Romney.
June 1. Colonel Wesley Owens left Clarksburg with 400 men and made a twelve days expedition through Pocahontas and Pendleton Counties. hunting for Governor William Smith, of Virginia, who had not surrendered. He was also collecting Government property, mostly horses, scattered through those counties. No trace was found of the fugitive governor. The country was exhausted and desolated. Only two families were found in Huntersville, Pocahontas County. The paroled Confederate soldiers were coming home and were trying to plant corn with but little to work with. By the terms of surrender granted Lee by Grant, the Confederate soldiers
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE WAR.
who had horses or mules were permitted to keep them. Old cavalry horses and artillery mules were harnessed to plows, and peace again reigned in the mountains of West Virginia.
West Virginia furnished 36,530 soldiers for the Union, and about 7000 for the Confederate armies. In addition to these there were 32 companies of troops in the state service, some counties having one company, some two. Their duty was to scout, and to protect the people against guer- rillas. The majority of them were organized in 1863 and 1864. These com- panies with their captains were as follows:
Captain M. T. Haller
Barbour County.
A. Alltop
Marion County.
H. S. Sayre.
Doddridge County.
66 J. C. Wilkinson
Lewis County.
66 George C. Kennedy
Jackson County.
John Johnson.
66 William Logsdon
.Wood County.
66
William Ellison . Calhoun County.
Alexander Donaldson Roane County.
66 Hiram Chapman
H. S. Burns
Wirt County.
John Boggs
Pendleton County.
66 M. Mallow.
John Ball.
Putnam County.
J. L. Kesling
Upshur County.
William R. Spaulding Wayne County.
66 M. M. Pierce
Preston County.
66 William Gandee.
Roane County.
66 Nathaniel J. Lambert
Tucker County.
James A. Ramsey.
Nicholas County.
John S. Bond.
Hardy County.
William Bartrum.
Wayne County.
66 William Turner
Raleigh County.
66 Sanders Mullins
Wyoming County.
Robert Brooks
Kanawha County.
B. L. Stephenson
Clay County.
G. F. Taylor.
Braxton County.
66 W. T. Wiant
Gilmer County.
66 Isaac Brown.
Nicholas County.
Benjamin R. Haley
Wayne County.
66 Sampson, Snyder Randolph County.
Ira G. Copeley.
PART SECOND. County History.
Area 290,000 square miles
LAKE OF THE WOODS
CANADA
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