Retreat Becomes Disaster

Federal victory at Rich Mountain on July 11, 1861, forced Confederate Gen. Robert S. Garnett's 4,000 troops to retreat from Laurel Hill in Barbour County. Garnett, fearing that his escape route was blocked, struck northeast. His goal was to circle back to safety.

Garnett's army wagons labored over narrow mountain traces. His Confederates were further slowed in crossing the rain-swollen Shavers Fork of Cheat River. On July 13, a force of 1,800 Federals under Capt. Henry W. Benham caught Garnett's rear guard at Corricks Ford, one-half mile south. The Confederates retired after a bloody skirmish, leaving their dead, a cannon and most of the wagons.

A few minutes later, along the rocky shallows here, Gen. Garnett was killed while attempting to delay the pursuit. Federal troops splashed across the ford and recovered his body just behind this marker. He was the first general killed in the Civil War.

"They have given me the hardest job of the war...Indeed I shall esteem myself fortunate if I escape disaster."

- Gen. Robert S. Garnett, C.S.A.

Marker can be reached from Main Street (U.S. 219), on the right when traveling east.

Courtesy hmdb.org

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