Determining the number of Confederates in the vicinity of Rich Mountain on July 11, 1861 is deceptively simple. There were only three infantry regiments, one cavalry company, and one active artillery battery present. Missing and incomplete records, however, considerably complicate efforts to quantify the Confederate strength. It is tempting to take the figures provided by Confederate commanders in the field at face value, but as you will see, those figures prove unreliable as well.
On July 8, 1861, Garnett reported the following troops “present for duty” at Rich Mountain. He listed a “total present” of 49 officers and 859 men (908 combined). I am positive that Garnett omitted the 20th Virginia Regiment from this report, but for what reason, I can’t explain. Seven companies of the 20th reached Rich Mountain on July 2 and the remainder on the 7th. Perhaps this was an incomplete report or an earlier report that was dashed off in haste as the enemy closed in?
| Infantry | Cavalry | Artillery | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Officers | 38 | 3 | 5 | 46 |
| Men | 694 | 52 | 85 | 831 |
| 732 | 55 | 90 | 877 |
According to Richard L. Armstrong, “The strength of the 25th Virginia Infantry at Rich Mountain amounted to 719 men present for duty, with a total present and absent of 767.” Why this differs from Garnett’s figure is unclear, but it is fair to say the regiment’s strength hovered around 732 officers and men.
But what of the 20th Virginia? On July 15, Pegram reported that his entire force at Rich Mountain on July 11 “was about thirteen hundred men, of whom certainly not more than three hundred and fifty at the utmost were engaged in the battle at Hart’s house. As I placed them there myself, I am positive on this point.”
I have found no firm estimate of the 20th Virginia’s strength at Rich Mountain. If Pegram’s figure of 1,300 is accurate, the regiment could not have numbered more than about 423 men, or roughly 513 if he excluded the artillerists. That is very low, even by the standards of a Virginia regiment in early 1861. Hansbrough’s four-company battalion numbered 331; a full ten-company regiment should have fielded at least 600 officers and men.
Some sense of the total strength at Rich Mountain can be drawn from the prisoners taken by McClellan. Fritz Haselberger’s careful accounting of the records identifies 404 officers and men from the 25th Virginia, 247 from the 20th Virginia, and 12 from the Lee Battery, a total of 663. Not all were surrendered by Pegram; some were captured at Camp Garnett, others rounded up as stragglers.
Two companies of the 20th Virginia, G (the Hampden-Sydney Boys) and H (the Clover Rifles), surrendered outright. Haselberger counts 105 men from Company G and 67 from Company H among the prisoners. His list includes names that do not appear in William E. Thompson’s monumental book First in War, which identifies 96 Hampden-Sydney Boys, but, oddly enough, omits the company’s captain, John M. P. Atkinson.
G. L. Sherwood and Jeffrey C. Weaver’s regimental history places Company K’s initial strength at 90. Company C’s at 102.
Taken together, that suggests an average somewhere in the mid-80s to low-90s per company. Using a conservative working average of about 85–90 men, a reasonable estimate for all ten companies of the 20th Virginia would fall in the range of 850 to 900 officers and men, with something around 875 as a sensible midpoint.
With that in mind, the following Confederate units were in the vicinity of the battle on July 11, whether at Camp Garnett, Hart’s Farm, or moving up to reinforce.
20th Virginia Infantry
The 20th Virginia Infantry Regiment was organized in May and June 1861 in south-central Virginia under Lt. Col. John Pegram. After only a week of training near Richmond, it was sent west. Major Nathaniel Tyler led seven companies to Laurel Hill, arriving June 20. On July 1, Garnett ordered Tyler to Rich Mountain, where his command reached the next day.
On the 7th, Tyler advanced with a small composite force from the 20th and 25th Virginia to reconnoiter Middle Fork Bridge. Near the bridge, they encountered two Union infantry regiments and an artillery battery in a prepared position. After a brief exchange of volleys, Tyler prudently withdrew to the fortified line on Rich Mountain. Neither side reported casualties.
On his return, Tyler found that Pegram had arrived with the remaining three companies. Pegram assumed command, his Confederate commission superseding Lt. Col. Jonathan M. Heck’s state commission from Virginia. Muster rolls survive for only part of the regiment, but (as explained above) the available figures in secondary sources suggest the 20th Virginia numbered roughly 875 officers and men.
25th Virginia Infantry
Garnett formed the 25th Virginia Infantry Regiment largely from companies that had fled Philippi and placed Lt. Col. Jonathan M. Heck in command, even though Col. George A. Porterfield had already been nominally appointed. After the disaster at Philippi, the men no longer trusted Porterfield’s leadership, and he was shifted to an administrative post in Beverly.
On June 16, Heck led the 25th Virginia into a strong position on the western face of Rich Mountain along the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, establishing Camp Garnett with the Churchville Cavalry and the Lee Battery. Garnett sent his topographical engineer, Jedediah Hotchkiss, and his chief of artillery, Capt. Julius A. DeLagnel, to help secure the position. In his July 8 report, he listed 38 officers and 694 men present for duty in the regiment.
44th Virginia Infantry
The 44th Virginia Infantry Regiment, recruited from counties around and west of Richmond, concentrated at Camp Lee in June and petitioned Governor John Letcher to appoint William C. Scott, an attorney and former legislator, as their colonel. Scott was also serving as a delegate to the Richmond Secession Convention. According to regimental historian Kevin C. Ruffner, the regiment mustered only 570 officers and men. Well equipped, it reached Beverly on the evening of July 10.
On the morning of the 11th, Scott received conflicting requests. Garnett called for support at Laurel Hill, while Lt. Col. John Pegram urgently requested help at Rich Mountain. Scott chose to post his regiment along the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike on the eastern side of Rich Mountain, anticipating a Federal flanking move. Unbeknownst to him, McClellan had already turned Pegram’s position with a detachment under William S. Rosecrans.
The sound of cannon and musketry, along with a warning from Lt. James Cochrane of the Churchville Cavalry, alerted Scott to the danger. He advanced to within half a mile of the fighting, but hearing cheers and reports from stragglers of a Union victory, he judged the field lost and the risk too great. He withdrew to Beverly and, learning of Garnett’s retreat, continued south to the Greenbrier River.
Scott was later criticized for failing to support Pegram, though he maintained he acted within his orders. If Scott had pressed forward to Hart’s farm, would he have checked Rosecrans’ flank attack, or simply added his men to the casualty lists? This question is one of the great “what ifs” of the Civil War.
Churchville Cavalry
Franklin Sterrett, colonel of the 160th Virginia Militia, organized the Churchville Cavalry in Augusta County. It initially consisted of 68 men, who mustered into state service for one year on April 19, 1861, just a few days after the Convention in Richmond voted in favor of secession. They travelled west with other reinforcements from Staunton to bolster George A. Porterfield’s meager force and were involved in the Action at Philippi on June 3. Among the wounded was James Edward Hanger, a member of the Churchville Cavalry. Hanger was struck in the leg by a cannonball and captured. To save his life, Union surgeons Dr. James D. Robinson and Dr. George W. New performed an amputation, making it the first battlefield amputation of the Civil War.
After Garnett took command of Confederate forces in the northwest, he sent the Churchville Cavalry to Rich Mountain, where it was involved in the foraging expedition to Buckhannon and the skirmish at Middle Fork Bridge. In early July, Garnett reported 55 officers and men present for duty in this company.
Lee Battery
Maj. Pierce B. Anderson, a Tennessean, organized the Lee Battery at Lynchburg on June 7, 1861, after finding himself without a command when his original regiment carried too many officers. He recruited 99 men for an artillery company, though they had no guns. Even so, they were ordered to western Virginia, reaching Camp Garnett on Rich Mountain on June 26.
The Eighth Star New Market Battery soon arrived and turned over four 6-pounder guns, leaving itself without artillery. Garnett placed Capt. Julius A. DeLagnel in charge of the guns on Rich Mountain. As McClellan advanced, one piece was sent to Hart’s Farm to guard against a flanking move.
During the fight, the battery’s gunners offered a stubborn defense but were ultimately overrun. It lost all of its guns and suffered heavy casualties. DeLagnel was wounded and later captured. In early July, Garnett reported 90 officers and men present for duty in the Lee Battery.
Eighth Star New Market Battery
The Eighth Star New Market Battery mustered into service on April 22, 1861, under Capt. William H. Rice. Its name reflected Virginia’s status as the eighth state to secede. The battery had no guns of its own. It escorted cannon to northwestern Virginia and turned them over to the Lee Battery on Rich Mountain. The Eighth Star then divided into two sections. One went to Rich Mountain, while the other drilled with the Danville Battery as it awaited its own pieces. According to historian Robert H. Moore, an analysis of the muster rolls indicates a strength of 80 to 81 officers and men. Garnett did not include the unit in his artillery return, and it remains unclear whether he counted them with the infantry or omitted them entirely.
| Unit | Commander(s) | Strength | KIA | MW | WIA | Captured |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20th Virginia Inf. Regiment | Lt. Col. John Pegram | 875 | 24 | 6 | 11 | 247 |
| 25th Virginia Inf. Regiment | Lt. Col. Jonathan M. Heck | 719 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 404 |
| 44th Virginia Inf. Regiment | Col. William C. Scott | 570 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Churchville Cavalry | Capt. Franklin F. Sterrett | 55 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Lee Battery | Capt. Pierce B. Anderson | 4 guns, 90 men | 2 | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| Eighth Star New Market Battery | Capt. William H. Rice | 0 Guns, 40 men | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2,349 | 32 | 8 | 30 | 664* |
Based on the available evidence, Pegram had roughly 1,780 men under his command at Rich Mountain, including infantry, cavalry, and artillery. Adding the 44th Virginia raises the total to about 2,350 Confederates in the vicinity on July 11, 1861.
By any measure, the battle was a disaster for the South. Two regiments were effectively wrecked. Those not surrendered or paroled straggled into Monterey in small groups. By August, hundreds of the 20th Virginia’s remaining men were down with smallpox, and the regiment was soon broken up and absorbed into other commands. Disease also ravaged the 44th Virginia. In just a few weeks, it had only 407 men fit for service.
Sources
Armstrong, Richard L. 25th Virginia Infantry and 9th Battalion Virginia Infantry. Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, Inc., 1990.
Haselberger, Fritz. Yanks from the South! The First Land Campaign of the Civil War. Baltimore: Past Glories, 1987.
Moore, Robert H. The Charlottesville, Lee Lynchburg, and Johnson’s Bedford Artillery. Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, Inc., 1990.
Ruffner, Kevin C. 44th Virginia Infantry. Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, Inc., 1987.
Sherwood, G.L. and Jeffrey C. Weaver. 20th and 39th Virginia Infantry. Lynchburg: H.E. Howard, Inc, 1994.
Thompson, William E. First in War: The Hampden-Sydney Boys (20th Virginia Infantry Rgt., Co. G). Farmville: Zebrabooks, 2013.
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