The First Mountain Campaign

By John Miller

The first actions of the American Civil War started in the western mountain region of modern day West Virginia, when the mother state of Virginia seceded from the Union. Thirty-nine western counties of Virginia were opposed to secession, due to the lack of governmental help in the mountain areas. They did not have many slaves because the rocky terrain was hard to farm; therefore, western Virginia wanted to stay in the Union. This led to western Virginia asking for military assistance from Abraham Lincoln and helping to form her own government.

In late May of 1861, in the mountains of western Virginia Confederates under the command of Colonel George Porterfield, outside of Grafton guarding a vital road in the area called the Parkersburg and Staunton turnpike. The Confederate Army was to keep the Parkersburg and Staunton turnpike open to receive supplies and was also a road that led directly into Richmond from the west. After hearing reports of a federal regiment entering western Virginia from Ohio, under the command of General George McClellan, Colonel Porterfield removed his command from Grafton to the town of Philippi. Philippi supported the Confederate cause and was a better defensive location. The town was originally named Anglin's Ford and then renamed for Judge Philip Pendleton Barbour. The battle of Philippi was the first land battle of the Civil War, making this small town one of the most significant places during the Civil War.

On June 3rd 1861, Union forces under the command of Colonel Kelly attacked Col. Porterfield's small army of volunteers and the 14th Virginia Cavalry. The battle only lasted for a couple of minutes and would be known as the Philippi Races due to the fast retreat of the Confederates. In this battle the Union Army captured several Confederate flags. Among those were the Confederate Regimental flag, the Churchville Cavalry flag, Col. Porterfield’s Headquarters flag, and the Palmetto Flag that was the first Confederate flag to be flown in the state of Virginia at the Philippi Court House on January 1, 1861. The Confederate Army retreated into the town of Huttonsville.

At Huttonsville, (West) Virginia General Robert Garnett took over the command of the Confederate forces in the mountain region on June 14th. General Garnett's first job was to relocate the Confederate Army to a key position overlooking the Parkersburg and Staunton Turnpike and also the turnpike to Grafton. General Garnett reinforced two key mountain passes. The first was near Belington at Laurel Hill, and the second was near Beverly at Rich Mountain. Coloenl John Pegram was posted at Camp Garnett with about 900 men and one cannon, while Col. Poterfield was in Beverly protecting the eastern side of Rich Mountain.

General Garnett's Army entrenched at Laurel Hill over looking the road to Grafton. General Garnett realized he needed more troops to be able to hold the two mountains passes. As orders were coming in from the War Department in Richmond Virginia, General Garnett sent a request to General Robert E. Lee for additional troops and was finally granted.

On July 1st General Lee forwarded the request to General Henry Wise who was stationed in the Kanawha Valley near Charleston. However, General Garnett couldn't wait that long because General McClellan's Army of the Department of Ohio was in his immediate front.

On July 5th and 6th as the Union advanced toward Laurel Hill, General McClellan encountered parts of the Confederate Army at Middle Fork. Then on July 8th, the Confederate Army was beginning to skirmish with elements of General Morris's portion of McClellan's Army. General McClellan sent General Morris to Laurel Hill to keep General Garnett's army busy while General McClellan and General William Rosecrans attacked Col. Pegrams post at Camp Garnett at the western base of Rich Mountain.

The next few days at Laurel Hill were very active for the Confederates skirmishing with the federal army. Assaults were made and cannon duels were fought but nothing significant ever came from these engagements. General McClellan was testing the Confederate defenses looking for a weakness in Garnett’s line.

By this time, General McClellan was approximately a couple of miles outside of Camp Garnett, and after studying their defenses, General McClellan felt that Camp Garnett was too strong to attack and a different approach was needed. General McClellan sent General Rosecrans’ brigade numbering about 1,920 men to the southern base of Rich Mountain to try to attack from the pass.

David Hart, a 22-year-old son from the Hart farm, which was located at the top of Rich Mountain where the Confederates were. On the early morning hours of July 11th before dawn, the Federal army under General Rosecrans and David Hart guided the Federal Army up the mountainside. A heavy rainstorm began which created slippery conditions for the Federals and they were delayed until about 2:30 in the afternoon when they attacked the Confederates.

The Confederates took cover behind boulders and one lone cannon held off the Federals for about two hours. Meanwhile, at Camp Garnett Col. Pegram was rallying his men to the aid of those engaged at the mountain pass as the Battle of Rich Mountain had thus begun. Col. Pegram sent a message to Col. Poterfield to send reinforcements to Rich Mountain. Col. Pegram sent another telegram into Beverly until an aid of Col. Pegram gave a verbal message to Col. Poterfield for the one piece of artillery that he had. Col. Potorfield did not send help to Col. Pegram in time and the Federals eventually captured the cannon.

It was under these unfortunate circumstances for the Confederates which led to over half of them surrendering or deserting into the town of Beverly while Col. Pegram was evacuating Camp Garnett and then retreated toward Beverly after his force was split in half. The Battle of Rich Mountain lasted for only two hours but took a grave toll on the Confederate forces as General Rosecrans entered Camp Garnett. On the 13th of July Col. Pegram surrendered the last of his force at Beverly after realizing that his force was cut off from the supplies that they so desperately needed.

On July 11th General Garnett could hear the sounds of battle some 23 miles away toward the direction of Rich Mountain. With the Federals to his front he could not send help to those at Rich Mountain. After hearing about the retreat from Rich Mountain on the evening of the 12th, General Garnett realized that he too, was being cut off and issued orders for an immediate retreat. As General Garnett approached the town of Beverly, he saw what he believed to be Federal troops turned Northward toward today's town of Parson, located about 25 miles from Beverly. However, those troops at Beverly were indeed his own.

As the Confederates were retreating it gave the Federal Army time to organize a search party to find General Garnett's Army. This proved to be an easy task as the trail behind the Rebels was an easy one to follow. The Confederates had cut trees, dumped wagons, supplies and anything else they had to slow down the Union army in their wake. The weather that day was most undesirable and not in the best interest of either of the armies. Heavy downpours of rain made the roads muddy and in some places impassable. This led to some of the cannons and wagons to slip off of the steep mountain slopes. These were not ideal conditions in which to carry out operations to catch General Garnett's Army.

On the 13th of July, during the afternoon, outside of today's town of Parsons the Federals caught up to the rear of General Garnett's Army. They skirmished at Kalar's Ford of the Shaver Fork as the rest of the two-mile long Confederate column marched up the mountain. They were followed by General Rosecrans's Army of Ohio which met up with the main Confederate force while crossing the river. The high bluffs along the mountain gave some cover and protection while they crossed.

General Garnett was watching his troops as they crossed over Corrick's Ford when he ordered skirmishers to try and halt the Federal Army long enough for the rear of the army to cross the river. As General Garnett turned his body to look at the situation and directed orders, he was shot and killed. His body fell from his horse and onto the banks of Corrick's Ford. His death gave him the honor of being the first general to be killed in the field of duty on either side. Shortly after, the Federals found the lifeless body of General Robert Garnett and returned it to his family. He was then buried in New York and remains there today.

After General Garnett's troops retreated through Red House, Maryland they turned southeast towards Monterey, Virginia. Monterey is approximately 153 miles from the Maryland border, located at today's intersection of RT. 219 and RT. 50. It would take several days before the two armies would meet up again. The units were scattered all along the mountainside.

With the death of General Garnett, the officials at Richmond appointed General William W. Loring to take command of the Army of Northwest Virginia. On July 23rd, General Loring came to Monterey, Virginia to assume his new command and was very disturbed by the loafing and lack of discipline among the soldiers. Loring became even more upset when he found out that the Georgia troops were on leave getting ready to take a train home. He became so infuriated that he even had one of the colonels arrested. As for the troops, no leave was permitted without General Loring himself giving prior permission.

During the month of July, General Robert E. Lee took a train from Richmond to Staunton and traveled by horseback to Monterey. This way he would personally take command and oversee that this campaign would drive the Federals from the area. This was General Lee’s first military operation he personally led in the Civil War.

In September, General Lee took command and made plans to attack the Federal post at Cheat Summit Fort and regain the Parkersburg and Staunton Turnpike. The Parkersburg and Staunton Turnpike was a major roadway that allowed supplies to go into Richmond from the west. This became one of the major campaigns that took place in western Virginia. This also turned out to be General Lee’s biggest failure, not because of a poor strategy but rather the weather.

Cheat Summit Fort consisted of about 9,000 Federals which had elements of the 24th and the 25th Ohio regiments and the 14th Indiana regiment, all under the command of General Joseph J. Reynolds. The walls were fourteen feet tall and had several cannon to protect it from an enemy force. General Lee’s plan was to attack all sides of the fort by converging columns. As time progressed, Lee's Army moved closer to Mingo Flats, just south of Valley Head. The Confederates at Camp Bartow had two brigades under the command of General Henry Jackson and Colonel Albert Rust. This gave the Confederates about 11,000 men in total, most of which were not fit for active duty due to various illnesses. Colonel Rust would attack from the Southeast; General Jackson would march up the Parkersburg and Staunton turnpike and attack and support Colonel Rust from the east.

In the Tygert River Valley another Confederate force under General Daniel Donelson and Colonels Jesse Burk, William Gilham and Samuel Anderson would attack Cheat Summit Fort from the west via the Huttonsville and Huntersville turnpike. Coordinating the battles like this would give the Confederates a better chance in succeeding with their attack. Once Cheat Summit Fort was secure, a signal from a cannon was to be given to General Donelson and Colonel Burk so that they knew to attack Elkwater in the Tygert Valley.

Thus, the battle of Cheat Summit Fort had begun, however the plan of attack did not go as planned for the unfortunate rebels. This was due in part to the Confederates foraging around the base of the mountain. There, they managed to capture a sutler that had supplies that they so desperately needed. This gave the surprise attack away and the Federals prepared themselves for the oncoming battle. The Cheat Summit Fort Campaign turned out to be General Lee's worst campaign and he left to take command of the Armies of the Kanawha and the Gauley Valley District after their massive defeat at Carnifex Ferry on September 10, 1861.

The maneuver against Cheat Mountain was intended by Lee to sever the Parkersburg branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a prime objective of Confederate strategy. Floyd’s original plan, involving this movement after the destruction of Tyler and the expulsion of Cox from the valley, was thus far showing promise of success.

The disaster at Carnifex Ferry was due to the fact that General Wise had failed to send further troops to help General Floyd. Although General Rosecrans never broke through the main Confederate line, General Floyd retreated for he was badly outnumbered, and had no sign of more reinforcements. The 22nd Virginia Infantry under Colonel Christopher Tompkins had managed to help turn the tide of a complete disaster acting as a rear guard. General Floyd began his retreat across the Gauley River later that night. He blamed the action on General Wise for never coming to his aid. This was also the reason for the failure of driving back the Federal troops in the area. This action helped western Virginia to form her own state without the threat of the Confederacy.

After General Lee went to settle the differences of these two generals, his objective became to push the Union Army that occupied the Valley back into Ohio. To keep the Federals pinned down in the Kanawha Valley, General Lee ordered Generals Floyd and Wise to combine forces, and with much protest they did so.

At the same time Richmond thought it would be wise to combine Generals Loring, Floyd and Wise near Swell Mountain, unfortunately General Wise was relieved of duty and reassigned to take command in North Carolina, shortly after his weak assault on Swell Mountain. General Lee then decided to have the 22nd Virginia transferred to General Floyd's Army of South Eastern Virginia. After an utter defeat, an early winter came to western Virginia and on October 20th, General Lee was removed from command. He was then forced to go on staff for President Jefferson Davis at Charleston, South Carolina inspecting fortifications along the Carolina coast. The 22nd Virginia would not serve under General Lee until the 2nd Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864.

The weather that year was worse than in any other year in western Virginia’s history. Drenching downpours of rain made conditions even worse. The armies would cut trees and make new roads down the mountainside to avoid impassable roads. Rivers were over flowing and by the end of August; winter was already setting in, causing these rivers to freeze over night. Temperatures during the day would drop almost to the single digits. It would rain or snow several inches at a time and the wind made conditions some of the coldest ever known in the state West Virginia. In some cases the fog would be so thick that it was hard to see if any troop movement was in progress. Forts and winter posts were set up to help shelter the soldiers from the cold.

Fort Milroy or Cheat Summit Fort as it is known today was the highest of the federal forts ever built during the Civil War, which was at 4,000 feet above sea level. Several Indiana Troops in September of 1861 recorded conditions there. Conditions such as horses freezing to death and diseases that spread like wild fire due to the cold climate. Built to overlook the Parkersburg and Staunton Turnpike, Cheat Summit Fort was abandoned in February of 1862.

Camp Allegheny was another of the highest forts ever built during the Civil War. Situated on today's border of West Virginia and Virginia, open conditions there at the altitude of 4,400 feet above sea level had claimed the lives of hundreds of Confederate soldiers. This led to the decision to abandon it in April of 1862. Operations in western Virginia would almost cease due to these poor weather conditions.