Laurel Hill Camp Map

The Battle of Belington (Laurel Hill) was fought from Sunday, July 7 to Thursday, July 11, 1861 between Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Morris and Confederate forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett. It was a small skirmish but played a role in the more consequential Battle of Rich Mountain.

Laurel Hill Battlefield in Belington, West Virginia is a small battlefield with an interpretive loop trail that takes visitors past a Confederate cemetery and several historical markers explaining what happened there. One marker contains a map of the Confederate camp made by a Union spy named William Fletcher. I was unable to verify who this person was or the origin of this map, but it’s important because it’s the only detailed map showing the layout of Camp Laurel Hill.

I tried to re-create Fletcher’s map in Photoshop, tracing over it as best I could to make a clean copy free from dirt and smudges. My goal is to superimpose this map over a terrain image to try to determine where the Confederate positions were in relation to the present day. Below you can see the re-created map in comparison with the original.