Forced Flight
Confederates Abandon Laurel Hill
By July 10, 1861, Federal cannons bombarded the interior of Camp Laurel Hill. Confederates may have sought shelter among the boulders nearby. On July 11, General Garnett learned of defeat at Rich Mountain. Fearful of being trapped, Garnett ordered a midnight retreat. Tents were left standing and campfires burning to deceive the Federals. The Confederate army and its large wagon train slipped away.
On July 13th, Federals caught up to the fleeing Confederates at Corricks Ford, twenty-five miles northeast. The Confederates at Corricks Ford, twenty-five miles northeast. The Confederate wagons were lost at that river crossing, and General Garnett was killed - the first Civil War general to fall. Demoralized Confederate soldiers fled south to Highland County, Virginia. "Western" Virginia was now in Union hands.
"They shot cannon balls, case shot and canister at us for near ten hours... A few having the mud and dirt thrown over them by the explosion of shells."
James E. Hall, 31st Virginia Infantry C.S.A.
"We received orders to make immediate preparation for the retreat - to destroy all extra baggage; to throw into the wells we had dug the surplus commissary stores, and to burn in small fires ... everything else that could not be transported."
Col. William B. Taliaferro, 23rd Virginia Infantry C.S.A.
Marker can be reached from Laurel Mountain Road (County Route 15), on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
