War in West Virginia
"That Remarkable Campaign"
You are standing at the heart of the first campaign of America's Civil War, looking west toward Rich Mountain. Late in May 1861, Gen. George B. McClellan moved troops across the Ohio River "to secure Western Virginia for the Union" and to protect the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Confederates wanted to secure the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike, a vital road from the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River. The turnpike crossed Rich Mountain through the notch to the left of the radio towers.
After the defeat at Philippi on June 3 in the "First Land Battle of the Civil War," the Confederates reorganized at Huttonsville under Gen. Robert S. Garnett. On Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill, Garnett fortified the passes that he called "the gates to the Northwestern country." Union forces routed the Confederates on Rich Mountain on July 11, and the next day McClellan occupied Beverly. This area remained in Federal hands for the rest of the war.
Garnett became the first general killed in the Civil War, at Corrick's Ford (near present-day Parsons) on July 13. Gen. Robert E. Lee came to this area in August and established a headquarters at Valley Mountain but failed to drive out the Federals.
These small Union triumphs had two important outcomes. First, President Abraham Lincoln promoted the victorious McClellan to command all Union armies after the shocking Federal defeat at Manassas, Virginia, on July 21. Second, Federal control here allowed the fledgling statehood movement to grow. Two years later, on June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state of the Union.
"The valley in which we are is one of the most beautiful I ever saw & I am more than ever inclined to make my Head Quarters at Beverly & have you with me."
- Gen. George B. McClellan to his wife, Mary Ellen McClellan, July 13, 1861
"The history of that remarkable campaign would show, if truly portrayed, a degree of severity, of hardship, of toil, of exposure and suffering that finds no parallel."
- Col. Samuel V. Fulkerson, C.S.A.
Marker is at the intersection of Railroad Avenue and 3rd Street, on the right when traveling south on Railroad Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
