A wealth of primary sources exists concerning the Battle of Corrick’s Ford, fought on July 13, 1861, in Tucker County, West Virginia, and its aftermath. Official reports from several Union commanders involved in the action, however, are conspicuously absent. It was customary for each colonel engaged in an action like this to submit a report detailing his command’s role to his superior officer, in this case Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Morris. Yet on the Union side, only the reports of Morris and Capt. Henry W. Benham, who led the advance regiments pursuing Confederate Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett, were ultimately published in the Official Records.
I recently came across Colonel Ebenezer Dumont’s report from Corrick’s Ford, published in The Indiana State Sentinel on July 31, 1861. At the time, it was not unusual for official reports to be sent to hometown newspapers so the public back home could read firsthand accounts of what had happened. In some cases, these newspaper printings are the only surviving record of reports that have otherwise been lost.
I believe the report is authentic because it directly references events corroborated by other reports and eyewitness accounts, including one by Pvt. William “Billy” Davis of Company H, 7th Indiana. In his diary, published in 1989, Davis described his regiment climbing the steep hill above Corrick’s Ford, grasping bushes and trees to pull themselves upward before being ordered away. Dumont’s report explicitly mentions the same incident.
Dumont’s lengthy report is a treasure trove of information about the battle. Here it is transcribed in its entirety:
Report of Col. Dumont to Gen. Morris of the Battle of Corrick’s Ford of Cheat River.
Camp at Indianapolis, July 25, 1861.
Mr. Editor:—The officers of the 7th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers earnestly request you to publish Col. Dumont’s official report of the battle of Corrick’s Ford.
Jas. Gavin, Adjt. 7th Ind. Reg.
Gen. T. A. Morris—I have the honor to submit to you herewith, a report of the part taken by my command (7th Indiana Regiment) in the battle of Corrick’s Ford of Cheat River, the 13th day of July 1861. About 10 o’clock, A. M., of the 12th a mounted scout, coming with the utmost speed on the road leading from the enemy’s camp, informed me that the order was that Col. Milroy and myself with our commands should march without a moment’s delay, by the Beverly road, on the enemy’s camp. That was all I was told, and, as the enemy’s camp was but a short mile distant, and the emergency seemingly such as justify no delay, I, with the assistance of Lieut. Col. Spooner and Maj. Oyler, formed my regiment, and was in rapid march in five minutes from the time the order was delivered. Col. Milroy’s regiment was formed and on march with Lieut. Col. Dunn at its head (Col. Milroy himself having advanced with a small party toward the enemy’s camp to reconnoitre) with as little loss of time, and, being encamped nearer the enemy than the 7th Indiana, took the advance.
The men marched with will and speed, and never did a body of foot pass a given space in quicker time, or with a greater desire to meet and fight the enemy. But when we arrived at the ground, no enemy was there—they had precipitately and ingloriously fled. Being joined by Col. Barnett, of Cleveland Artillery, with two companies of his command, to-wit: company C, commanded by Lieut. Leave and company E, commanded by Capt. Hickman, who took position in the rear of Col. Milroy’s and in front of my command, Capt. J. N. Bemusdaffer’s company of my regiment being in advance of the whole column as the advance guard. We gave immediate pursuit, the particulars of which is not perhaps necessary for me to detail at any great length. We found the road blocked with heavy trees in a great many places, felled by the enemy to retard our pursuit. We found the bridge at Leedsville broken up, which was repaired and made passable by Lieut. Waller, with a detachment of men from company A, of the 7th Indiana regiment, of which company he was in command, being detached for that purpose, from his own company, owing to the sickness and absence of all the commissioned officers of company A. I believe that I had no more reliable officer in my command and his subsequent conduct and daring in the battle proved the correctness of the belief. At this point which is some ten miles from the point of starting we were directed to halt, and, my men being wholly without provision, directed Captain John M. Blair of Co. C, (an efficient and meritorious officer; ever ready to do duty and encounter danger) to take a small foraging party and seek provisions at some of the adjoining farm houses. While on this duty he came upon a small party of the enemy and took them prisoners, to-wit: Lieut. John W. Jackson of the 20th Virginia regiment, and private Robt. Anderson, and Samuel B. Murphy of same regiment—all of whom gave up their arms to him. At or near night fall we were joined by Col. Stedman, (14th Ohio regiment,) who had made a very hard march to overtake us, and who informed me that he had been directed by you, at such time as we might be ordered to take up our line of march and renew the pursuit, to take position in my advance. When the line of march was renewed he took position accordingly, and maintained it until the crossing of Corrick’s Ford by my regiment, during the battle, when my command crossed the river, took the front and engaged the enemy on that side of the stream. What I know about the battle itself, and what part my command took in the same, I will now proceed to relate, and to do which understandingly, I will state, that our forces were pursuing the enemy at the time we came upon them, down Shank fork of Cheat river, and we came up with them at Corrick’s Ford, so that when the fight commenced we were on the left, and the enemy (except as to a few wagons in the act of crossing) on the right side of the stream above the ford in a large meadow. The meadow begins a half a mile or more above the ford and terminates in woods a few hundred yards before the ford is reached. The road at this point passes between the meadow and the river near the bank, and parallel to the river. To avoid the mud, which was very deep in the road, I was marching my command through the meadow, and when the firing commenced had nearly passed through it. Just before the firing the order of march was Colonel Stedman in front, then a portion of Col. Barnett’s artillery, then my command, (the 7th Indiana,) then Col. Milroy’s command, (the 9th Indiana.) I will not state the order of march as to the troops still to the rear, for the very good reason that I do not know it, starting in the night as we did on the day of the battle. As soon as I heard a gun I put my men upon the run, (double quick,) and soon after emerging from the meadow was met by Capt. Blake of Col. Milroy’s command, acting I believe temporarily as aid to Capt. Benham, who ordered me to cross the river and ascend the hill above the enemy, wind around it down the stream to his flank and rear and charge upon him. The right of my command was at that time near the river—without halting I gave the command to file right, marched straight to the river and in a moment was ascending the hill. I dismounted from my horse, gave him to a soldier—no horse could clamber up it—as it was almost perpendicular, and proceeded on foot to ascend the hill. I soon found that the top of the rugged hill could only be reached by the men marching in single file and seizing hold of the trees, bushes and ledges of rocks to aid them and prevent them from falling backward. Co. A, commanded by Lieut. Waller, Co. B, commanded by Capt. Morgan, a sturdy old man as tough as whalebone (who by the way, though sixty years of age, is gritty and resolute, a stranger to fear, the bravest of the brave) and a part of Co. C, had already reached the summit when Lieut. Col. Spooner, to whom I had confided the task of bringing up the rear, called to me, (I being at that time near the top of the hill,) saying that Capt. Benham directed me to bring the men back.
The order had been delivered by Capt. Benham to Adjutant James Gavin who communicated it to Lieut. Col. Spooner at the foot of the hill, and by him communicated to me as above stated. I filed my men quickly down the hill and was ordered to charge the enemy at the ford and guns. The space between me and the right bank of the ford was some 300 yards (I would judge) but for the greater part of that distance there was not a foot of ground between the river and the rough battlement of the hill upon which the men could march or even stand. They could not march alongside of the hill because it was a perpendicular battlement or parapet. Neither the ford nor the guns could be reached but by putting my men in the river and marching down. The bottom of the stream is covered with large, loose, rolling bowlders, and its depth and rapidity such that a number of the weaker men lost their footing and were submerged with their guns in the water. Still when I gave the order to charge down upon the ford no one hesitated, not a man faltered, notwithstanding their position in the stream necessarily exposed them to the fire of the enemy. The necessity of going down the stream at all, resulted from the fact that until the ford is reached the bluff is so high as to present an impassable barrier. The ford is where it is simply because there is at that point a narrow egress from the water to the right bank. The enemy’s guns were above the ford, that is to say between the place where I took the water and the ford. We reached the ford without loss of time, as will be readily believed when the danger of the position is appreciated. Here we encountered a difficulty resulting from the fact that the narrow passage was gorged with the wagons and horses of the enemy, and that many of the enemy were still behind and among them, and in the bushes and woods beyond; the wagons and bushes affording a good cover against our fire.
It should be borne in mind that the entire right bank of the river, not only above but below the ford, is covered by a dense laurel thicket almost impassable on foot and through which it was impossible to fire effectually from the left bank of of the stream upon the enemy. It will readily be perceived, therefore, that the attack most damaging to the enemy could be made by the Federal troops not until after the passage of the jungle. The enemy securely located behind the laurel thicket, which could not be penetrated by musket balls, might have been fired at across the river with but little damage an entire day. To pass the narrow blockaded road leading from the river to the open space beyond the thicket, was a task of no trifling magnitude; but this step was absolutely necessary in order to get at the enemy on that side of the river and pour such a fire upon him as to make his position uncomfortable. As soon as my command got where the enemy behind the thicket could be fairly reached, we found no difficulty in putting them to rout. It was a running fight between my men and the enemy until we reached the next ford of the river, a distance, I would judge, of about half a mile, some of the ground being covered with a thick jungle and the rest of it open timber.
On arriving at the ford we found that the enemy had made a stand on the opposite side with cavalry and infantry. My men were considerably scattered, for that was the only way that the fight between the fords could be made; but apprehending a charge from the cavalry, I lost no time in getting them into line above the ford as much as possible, for the bank of the stream above the ford was a small bluff of five or six feet, affording a pretty good protection against a charge of cavalry. My extreme left was less protected. I suggested this to the gallant Capt. Scott, of company H, but he thought that a brave man who had a ball and a bayonet between him and a cowardly enemy, was sufficiently protected. The enemy did not stand long. My men were cool, and being face to face with the enemy, and being in good position, most of them fired with precision.
It is but justice to the dead to say that the enemy were commanded by an intrepid young officer, whose voice was heard loud above the din of conflict, cheering his men, and urging them on to the charge. Such courage was worthy of a better fate. Not many rounds had been fired, not many volleys exchanged, until I saw this brave officer fall, and no man can describe the consternation that seemed to pervade the troops. At the fall of their leader, without firing another gun, they fled in the wildest disorder. Putting the left wing of my command in front, I charged rapidly across the river, and gave pursuit, directing the advance so as to pass where I had seen the commanding officer fall. He was not dead when we reached him, but he never spoke; the pallor of death was on his manly face, and but a moment passed until I saw that the vital spark had fled. Major Jonathan W. Gordon, U. S. A., who had been by my side through much of the engagement, aiding and assisting me, encouraging my men, and exposing himself to danger, was still there, and being on foot, was in a state of complete exhaustion. I requested him to detail three of my men, and take charge of the body, secure his effects, to be returned to his friends, and ascertain, if possible, his name. A soldier lay dead by his side, who fell at the same time with his commander. This done (all of which required but a moment,) I continued the pursuit of the enemy.
They had carried a number of their dead and wounded to a house on the road, a quarter of a mile beyond where the officer alluded to fell, and a number not wounded had taken refuge in an adjoining barn. As we passed the premises, I directed Capt. N. Lord, of Company G, who had been at the head of his company, and in the midst of the danger from the beginning of the fight, and whom I knew to be as kind and merciful as he is brave and heroic, to take a sufficient number of men to surround the barn and house, and without the firing of a gun, unless resistance was made, to take those not wounded as prisoners, to bring on the prisoners we had already taken, and to put a guard over them and the dead and wounded, and to adopt instant steps to relieve the suffering wounded enemy—all of which he faithfully did. A portion of Captain Ferry’s command, with a portion of Capt. Lord’s, was detailed for this purpose. Capt. Bemusdaffer and Adjutant Gavin assisted in posting men around the premises, that no one should escape, and no wanton firing be done. Before we arrived at the house, indeed before we arrived at the second ford, where the enemy made the second stand, we had taken a number of prisoners. I am not aware that any prisoner was taken on the right side of the river, nor beyond the second ford, which were not taken by my command. I continued the pursuit of the enemy with the main body of my command, and until overtaken by Capt. Benham, some one and a-half miles beyond Corrick’s ford, who directed me to pursue the enemy no further. I halted accordingly, and my officers and men, all of whom had acted nobly, made their supper on beef alone, killed by me on the spot. I did not stop to examine the captured property, but dropped sentinels, and continued the pursuit of the enemy; nor did I return until the next day, when I found that the wagons, (amounting, I should think, to forty or fifty, with their contents, had passed into the hands of another command, which did not cross the river until I had pursued the enemy far beyond, and that command claimed the captures. I am, therefore, unable to state what the wagons contained, or the precise number of wagons, horses or mules. I do not desire any of this property, nor do my men; but only that the share of credit due its captors, or that the part that my command took, whatever it may have been, may be properly awarded.
It is claimed that these captures were made by the command that first engaged the enemy from the opposite side of the river, and drove him from the wagons that were yet in the river. I claim that my command crossed the river long before any other command, and captured those of the enemy who remained with the wagons, and finally drew the enemy from the hill on the right side of the river, and beyond the second ford, and that I made the capture, though I did not stay to take an inventory of the goods. My command took twenty-three prisoners, a list of whom is herewith transmitted. What number of the enemy we killed, I am unable to state, owing to the pursuit already referred to. It affords me the most heartfelt pleasure to state, that not a man of my command fired upon any one of the enemy who grounded his arms, or showed any disposition to surrender. Heroic as they were, their heroism was tempered with mercy.
I am informed that an examination proved the commanding officer killed to be Gen. R. S. Garnett, of Virginia, the commanding General of the enemy’s forces. Major Gordon reports to me that the papers found upon him prove such to be the case, and I have heard that Major Love, of your own staff, recognized the deceased as General Garnett.
The wounded of the enemy, as far as I know, were properly cared for, and Dr. G. W. New, chief Surgeon of my regiment, reports to me that he dressed their wounds. He furnished me a list of the wounded of the enemy cared for by him, which I herewith submit. I cannot speak too highly of Dr. New. He is a brave soldier, and a skillful surgeon. On this, as on a former occasion, he proved his willingness to encounter danger, and his superior skill in the line of his profession.
The laurels won by Lieut. Col. Spencer, at Buena Vista, were not tarnished on this occasion; on the contrary, no man in the command was more eager for the fray. No one could have been more cool and self-possessed, nor yet more brave and determined. I know not how the second in command could have rendered more or better service than he did. In speaking of him in terms of commendation, I but utter the sentiment that pervades the Regiment. Nor may I omit to say that Major Samuel P. Oyler was in the fight; that he was in his right place, did his whole duty, and approved himself possessed of grit, pluck and capacity.
Of Adjutant James Gavin I will say, that he is never in the way and never out of the way; always right where he ought to be, and in the faithful discharge of his duty. On this occasion, as at Phillippi, he proved himself possessed of rare capabilities—quick, intrepid, willing to encounter any necessary danger in the discharge of his duty, regardless of his own personal safety. I can not withhold from him my unqualified approbation, without proving myself incapable of appreciating worth. No common so soldier in the regiment has encountered more toil, privations and danger than he. He has won a good name, and is worthy of it. It is my duty to put his praise on record—a duty which I execute with delight. Adjutant Gavin took Surgeon Carrington, of the 23d Virginia regiment, prisoner.
It affords me pleasure to state that George P. Buell, at one time a resident of Indiana, and a member of the Legislature from the county of Marion, rendered me his aid on this occasion; and as an amateur fighter took part with my regiment and rendered me material assistance. While my men were marching in the river to charge the ford, he bore my orders from front to rear, and animated and cheered my men by his fearless bearing and brave example, and finally took his place in the ranks, and with musket in hand fought like a war worn veteran.
It is proper to state here that the enemy, just before reaching the first house beyond where Gen. Garnett fell (the same house afterwards appropriated to the wounded as a hospital,) threw down the fence, passed into the meadow and orchard and limbered up one of his guns between where the General afterwards fell and the house. The bushes on the margin of the bluff so masked the gun as to hide it from view, and we were unable to tell, at the time, whence the firing from that gun came. After crossing the river, Capt. J. V. Bemusdaffer found one of his men who had fallen by the roadside, and stopped to care for him, which left him a considerable distance in the rear; but hearing the firing in front, he hastened to his company (which was being led by Lieutenants Shaw and Tucker) in time to lead them to the last charge, in which the commanding officer was killed and the enemy totally routed. On this, as on every other occasion that an opportunity had offered since we came into the service, the gallant Captain proved himself a skillful officer, a brave soldier and a stranger to fear. Lieut. Tucker, of Capt. Bemusdaffer’s company, took Lieut. Kean, of the Georgia troops, a prisoner. Capt. John F. Cheek, ever as true as steel, with his brave boys, was among the first to engage the enemy at the second ford, and with shoes worn out and feet blistering, to join with unflinching spirit in the pursuit. He and his boys were among the first to get at the enemy behind the Laurel thicket, on the right bank at the first ford, and bore their full share in the running fight between the fords after the enemy were routed from the Laurel thicket at the first. Capt. John H. Ferry was in advance in the charge made upon the ford. His company was on the extreme right, in the line formed at the second crossing; the Captain thinks it was his First Sergeant, Frank Burlingame, who killed the commander of the enemy. The same claim is made by Capt. Cheek, for Seageant Howard. I saw the officer fall, but am unable to state which of my men fired the shot. Capt. Ferry is game, and on this occasion, as at Phillippi, made it manifest. He will prove it when he has an opportunity. I have no better officer in my regiment, nor one who has performed more valuable services, nor one to whom I would more willingly assign a post of responsibility and danger. Capt. Scott, Capt. Rall and Capt. Gill, with their brave officers and men, are entitled to the warmest praise. None exhibited more courage and bravery under the enemy’s fire than they. Henry Waller, of company E, but at that time in command of company A, was the first to reach the top of the hill with his command, being the right flank company. His conduct throughout the engagement was most admirable.
I would do violence to my feelings did I fail to speak of the bravery and good conduct of Lieutenants John Flinn, John C. Maze, Jesse Armstrong, A. B. Pattison, B. C. Shaw, J. L. Tucker, S. K. Stephens, Wm. Francis, Wm. B. McLaughlin, Sol. Watterman, David Lostetter, Chas. Day and Thos. F. Omer. David E. Sparks and his assistant, David W. Cheek, participated in the fight, and acquitted themselves with credit and honor. Indeed I regret that I can not name every non-commissioned officer and man of my command, for never did men, without exception, conduct themselves in battle or fight more bravely. Feeble are the praises which I can bestow, compared with their merit, though they emanated from a grateful heart. But the plaudits of a grateful country will be theirs. Theirs has been the toil, privation and danger; theirs will be much of the glory and honor.
I have the honor to be, etc.,
E. Dumont,
Col. Commanding 7th Indiana Regiment.
Spirit of '61 