An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
You may have noticed that clashes between North and South featured on this website aren't all referred to as "battles". There's the Action at Philippi, Engagement at Gloucester Point, and Battle of Blackburn’s Ford to name a few. Others are called skirmishes. What do these terms mean? Though somewhat arbitrary, these terms do have a…
Continue reading ➞ Action, Skirmish, Engagement or Battle – What Does it All Mean?
Maneuvers and battles in Virginia prior to the Battle of First Manassas were centered around control of major waterways. Virginia had three main waterways that defined its antebellum borders: the Ohio, Potomac, and Chesapeake rivers. While the men who fought in the Civil War wouldn't have recognized these as "fronts" or used that terminology, I…
The Skirmish at Glenville was fought on July 7-8, 1861 in present-day Gilmer County, West Virginia. The dramatic episode proved to be a sideshow in the larger campaign of Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan to wrest control of Northwestern Virginia from the Confederacy. It's often forgotten against the backdrop of the Battle of Rich…
Continue reading ➞ What Confederate Unit was Engaged in the Skirmish at Glenville?
Largely forgotten today, Thornsbury Bailey Brown was among the first Union casualties of the Civil War.
This unit's colorful commander was known for giving bellicose speeches, but his courage was of the liquid variety. The Pocahontas Rescues was a Confederate company raised in May 1861 in what is today Pocahontas County, West Virginia. “Count” Daniel A. Stofer (1821-1891), a boisterous attorney, organized the unit. Fifty-seven men mustered in at Huntersville, a…
Robert Seldon Garnett (1819–1861) was a Mexican War veteran and regular Army officer from Virginia. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1841 and later served as an assistant instructor of infantry tactics. It's rumored that one of his students was a young George B. McClellan, who attended West Point…
The Letcher Guard was a Confederate company raised in May 1861 in what is today Taylor County, West Virginia. It was involved in the Action at Philippi on June 3, 1861 and then became Company A, 9th Battalion, Virginia Infantry (Hansbrough’s) in the Army of the Northwest.
Trick question -- none of the Virginia militia at Philippi on June 3, 1861 had been sworn into Confederate service. Technicalities aside, the issue of what units were involved in the "Philippi Races," among the first land actions of the Civil War, is not just a matter of trivia. Most authors, however, only name units…
I'm proud to announce our first official map--depicting the actions around Romney, Virginia (today, West Virginia) in June 1861, which pitted Lew Wallace's Indiana zouaves against a variety of Confederate forces sent to secure the area. Romney was a hotbed of secessionist support and Confederate forces there threatened the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which Lew…
Continue reading ➞ Map of June 1861 Actions around Romney, Virginia
The 1st Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry was not the only unit to bear that name in the American Civil War, but it was among the first to stand up in service to its state. Raised by Colonel James Newton Ramsey (1821-1870) and mustered into service for a period of one year in March 1861, Ramsey's Georgia infantry played a central role in the opening months of the war in Virginia.
Spirit of '61 