Action at Buckhannon

Thursday, June 27, 1861

In June 1861, a Confederate cavalry patrol skirmished with unionist Home Guards in Northwest Virginia, in a brief but chaotic exchange of fire. Though no casualties were reported, the encounter highlighted the fluid and unpredictable nature of the war in a region caught between opposing loyalties.

Narrative

The Action at Buckhannon occurred on Thursday, June 27, 1861 between a patrol from the Churchville Cavalry commanded by Capt. Franklin F. Sterrett and unionist Home Guards commanded by Col. Henry F. Westfall in Buckhannon, Upshur County, West Virginia.

As Virginia’s secession appeared all but certain in the spring of 1861, Virginia Provisional Army commander Robert E. Lee sent Col. George A. Porterfield to what was then Northwest Virginia to organize the state militia. Popular sentiment in the region was decidedly pro-Union, however, and recruits were hard to find. Lack of basic supplies, uniforms, and weapons compounded his problem. He only gathered a few hundred poorly trained men.

Towards the end of May, Porterfield sent Lt. Col. Jonathan McGee Heck (1831-1894), an attorney from Marion County, (West) Virginia, to Richmond to explain, in person, the dire situation they faced. Heck was in Staunton gathering reinforcements and supplies during the Philippi disaster. When Heck returned to the Northwest, Confederate forces had a new commander in the form of Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett. Garnett placed Heck in command of the 25th Virginia Infantry Regiment and ordered him to fortify Rich Mountain.

On June 26, Lt. Col. Heck took his men and wagons and marched toward Buckhannon, looking for supplies. Buckhannon, population 427 in 1860, is the seat of Upshur County. It is located along the Buckhannon River and Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. The Turnpike was a vital transportation route from the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River. Buckhannon, approximately 23 miles east of the Confederate camp on Rich Mountain, became a kind of no man’s land between Confederate forces and Union forces camped at Philippi and Clarksburg.

According to Heck, he left camp with 20 wagons and 300 men, including the Churchville Cavalry commanded by Capt. Franklin F. Sterrett. They stopped for the night five miles outside Buckhannon. The cavalry rode out ahead of the infantry, and as they approached a mill on the outskirts of town, they were fired on by 25 men concealed in ambush in a thick wood. Heck named the Union commander as Col. Henry F. Westfall. Westfall, in his diary, wrote “Col. W. defeated the Southerns at Ridgeway’s Mill,” possibly referring to Watson Westfall, a different militia leader with the same last name.

Westfall’s men were hidden in a wood with thick underbrush, so it was difficult for Sterrett to dislodge them. They eventually withdrew, and Sterrett pursued, capturing Arthur G. Kiddy and James L. Jennings on the Clarksburg and Buckhannon turnpike. The pair were taken to Staunton in chains. Although Heck doesn’t name them, he did write “We arrested two men.”

Heck purchased provisions in town and seized several barrels of salt pork the Union Army had left behind. As the Confederates withdrew on the 28th, the Home Guard continued to snipe at them from concealed positions, wounding a horse but otherwise causing no damage. There were no casualties on either side.

Opposing Forces

Confederate

Lt. Col. Jonathan McGee Heck, Commanding

Unit	Commander(s)	Strength	Killed	Wounded	Captured
25th Virginia Inf. Reg.	Lt. Col. Jonathan M. Heck	275	0	0	0
Churchville Cavalry	Capt. Franklin F. Sterrett	15	0	0	0

Union

Col. Henry F. Westfall, Commanding

Unit	Commander(s)	Strength	Killed	Wounded	Captured
Home Guard	Capt. Watson Westfall Capt. Boyles	25-40	0	0	2

Timeline

• May 28, 1861: Confederate Col. George A. Porterfield withdraws from Grafton south to Philippi. Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Morris takes immediate command of all Union forces in the field in northwestern Virginia.

• June 3, 1861: Union troops under Morris surprise and nearly surround Porterfield’s command at Philippi, but the Confederates escape to Beverly on the Tygart Valley River.

• June 11, 1861: Second Wheeling Convention opens in Wheeling, Virginia on the Ohio River. Delegates meet to determine a new, pro-Union Restored Government of Virginia.

• June 13-15, 1861: Brig. Gen. Robert S. Garnett is placed in command of Confederate forces in northwestern Virginia. He proceeds to fortify positions at Laurel Hill and Rich Mountain in Barbour and Randolph counties to guard the two main mountain roads, and sends Lt. Col. Jonathan M. Heck to Rich Mountain.

• June 14, 1861: Companies from the 14th and 15th Ohio regiments camp at Buckhannon, but are quickly withdrawn due to rumors of an attack.

• June 25, 1861: Garnett orders Lt. Col. Heck to take his wagons on a foraging expedition to Buckhannon.

Location

GPS Coordinates — 38.99578, -80.22095

Primary Sources

News Articles

Reports and Letters

• June 29 Report of Brig. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, U. S. Army
• 1861 Report of Lt. Col. Jonathan McGee Heck, Twenty-fifth Virginia Infantry

Secondary Sources

Cutright, William Bernard. The History of Upshur County, West Virginia: From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time. Buckhannon: By the author, 1907.

Heselberger, Fritz. Yanks from the South! The First Land Campaign of the Civil War: Rich Mountain, West Virginia. Baltimore: Past Glories, 1987.

Hornbeck, Betty. Upshur Brothers of the Blue and Gray. Parsons: McClain Printing Company, 1967.

Phillips, Marcia L. My Poor Dear Syl: The Upshur County Civil War Diary and Letters of Marcia Louise Sumner Phillips. Buckhannon: Upshur County Historical Society, 2013.

Westfall, Henry F. Diary of Henry F. Westfall, 1861, transcript by Beatrice Arnold Giffin in Robert F. Kidd Library Archives, Glenville State University, Glenville, WV.

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Updated: 16 March 2025
Created: 27 February 2024