As Union forces crept toward the Kanawha River, a raid led by Lt. Col. George W. Neff erupted into a brutal skirmish on a rugged ridge above Barboursville. Facing relentless Confederate fire and a deadly ridge climb, Neff’s troops clawed their way to a hard-won victory.
As his campaign to secure northwest Virginia got underway, 34-year-old Maj. Gen. George Brinton McClellan (1826-1885), head of the U.S. Military Department of the Ohio, hesitated to send troops into the Kanawha River Valley. Local Unionists assured him that they could keep secessionists at bay, but when former Virginia governor Henry A. Wise established a base camp near Charleston with around 2,700 Confederate troops, McClellan had to act.
At the beginning of July, Wise occupied Ripley, south of Ravenswood on the Ohio River, with a small force. However, he withdrew on July 8 after the 21st Ohio crossed the river to confront them. Up to this point, the opposing armies had several near-misses and close brushes, but no actual fighting. That was about to change.
McClellan ordered Brig. Gen. Jacob Dolson Cox, Jr. (1828-1900) to take command of the 1st and 2nd Kentucky (U.S.) and 12th Ohio Infantry regiments and proceed to Gallipolis, Ohio on the Ohio River. The 1st and 2nd were Kentucky regiments in name only. They consisted almost entirely of Ohio volunteers, led by a few Kentucky officers. In Gallipolis, they met up with the 21st Ohio Infantry. Cox also brought along an under-strength regiment, the 11th Ohio, two cannons, and a small contingent of cavalry. In total, he commanded around 3,000 men.
Cox divided his small army into three columns. The 1st Kentucky (U.S.) crossed at Ravenswood, Cox and the Ohio regiments crossed at Point Pleasant at the mouth of the Kanawha River, and the 2nd Kentucky (U.S.) seized Guyandotte. These columns were tasked with dispersing any Confederate troops in their respective areas and then proceeding to Red House on the Kanawha River, where they would unite to confront Wise at Charleston.
U.S. Congressman Albert Gallatin Jenkins (1830-1864) resigned from Congress in 1861 and was elected captain of a cavalry company in Cabell County called the Border Rangers. Jenkins, who owned a plantation near Guyandotte, was well-respected in the community. Following the Union occupation of Guyandotte, Jenkins and his Border Rangers rode to nearby Barboursville, located at the confluence of the Mud and Guyandotte rivers, to reinforce a poorly organized local militia. The Sandy Rangers, led by Captain James Corns, joined them.
Around or shortly after midnight on July 13, Col. William E. Woodruff of the 2nd Kentucky (U.S.) roused his men and ordered Lt. Col. George W. Neff to take most of Companies A, B, D, F, and K on a spoiling attack against nearby Barboursville, where he believed the Confederates were gathering for an offensive. The 316 men were to march silently in the early morning and surprise the enemy. However, delays and unfamiliar terrain meant they didn’t reach their destination until after sunrise, despite being only six miles away. The Confederates were ready for them.
The Confederate camp and defensive position were on a ridge, now known as “Fortification Hill,” overlooking the covered bridge over the Mud River. The ridge was steep and bisected by a cut for the unfinished Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. The Confederate militia, armed with a variety of weapons including muskets, shotguns, squirrel rifles, and pistols, had also removed some bridge planks to make crossing more difficult.
As the Union force approached, the Border Rangers, who had been watching the road, withdrew. When Neff’s men came within range, the militia on the hill “opened a murderous fire upon us. From every tree, bush, and stone, rifle and musket balls were literally showered upon us. On a hill, southeast of the bridge, their main body formed in beautiful order, the front rank kneeling and the rear rank standing, and loaded and fired in rapid succession.”
A few Union soldiers were hit, and the rest sought cover in and around the covered bridge. It took quick thinking by Lt. Col. Neff to turn the tide. When he failed to get Company K moving, he turned to Capt. Alfred J.M. Brown and Company A, who fixed bayonets and clawed their way up the ridge. The surprised Virginia volunteers began to falter. They fired one last volley as the Federals reached the summit, then broke and fled. Several Confederates injured themselves as they fell into the railroad cut.
Neff’s triumphant troops marched into town with flags waving, gathered discarded weapons and equipment, and raised the Stars and Stripes over the courthouse. It was a hard-fought victory. One Union soldier was killed outright, two were mortally wounded, and 13 others were injured. The extent of Confederate casualties is unknown, but James Reynolds was mortally wounded, and at least two others were injured.
The immediate consequence of this small skirmish was that it cleared the way for the 2nd Kentucky (U.S.) to rejoin Brig. Gen. Cox’s main body along the Kanawha River in time for the Battle of Scary Creek four days later. Cox called it “a very creditable little action.”
Sources
Cincinnati Daily Gazette (Cincinnati) 18 July 1861.
Cox, Jacob Dolson. Military Reminiscences of the Civil War. Vol. I. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900.
Dickinson, Jack L. 8th Virginia Cavalry. Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, Inc., 1986.
The Elyria Democrat (Elyria, OH) 24 July 1861.
Geiger, Joe, Jr. Disorder on the Border: Civil Warfare in Cabell and Wayne Counties, West Virginia, 1856-1870. Charleston, WV: 35th Star Publishing, 2020.
Lowry, Terry. The Battle of Scary Creek: Military Operations in the Kanawha Valley April – July 1861. Charleston: Quarrier Press, 1982, 1998.
Phillips, David L. War Diaries: The 1861 Kanawha Valley Campaigns. Leesburg: Gauley Mount Press, 1990.
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