On Friday, July 19, 1861, a seven-man patrol from Captain Henry W. Burdsall's Independent Company of Ohio Cavalry was ambushed along the West Fork of the Greenbrier River, near present-day Durbin, West Virginia, in Pocahontas County. Confederate reports claimed that all but one of the men were killed, but the reality was different. One man…
Tag: Burdsall's Dragoons
Guerrilla Warfare on the Greenbrier: The Hanging Rock Ambush of Burdsall’s Dragoons
Amid the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain, a deadly ambush at Hanging Rock left soldiers on edge as Confederate guerrillas vanished into the wilderness. This small but impactful action marked a dramatic moment in the struggle for control over northwestern Virginia’s strategic mountain passes. The death of Brigadier General Robert S. Garnett and the crippling…
Obituary Found for PVT Seeley E. Mensch
Finding a few new sources regarding the Action at Greenbrier River seems to have opened the floodgates, as I've now also discovered an obituary for Private Seeley E. Mensch, who was mortally wounded in the ambush. The obituary, posted on his Find a Grave page, contains a detailed account by a surgeon of the 14th…
New Sources Found in Greenbrier Ambush
The Action at Greenbrier River is among those "minor" incidents in the early months of the American Civil War that got lost among more dramatic events. It occurred a few days after Confederate resistance collapsed in northwestern Virginia and a few days before the First Battle of Bull Run. In summary, Sgt. William D. Gault…
Page Added for Action at Greenbrier River
While I was browsing the Ohio muster rolls for detailed casualty lists, I came across a previously un-reported engagement near the Greenbrier River between a Union scouting party from Burdsall's Dragoons and Confederate guerillas in present-day Pocahontas County, West Virginia. The Union patrol was ambushed and suffered one killed, one mortally wounded, and two wounded.…
Continue reading ➞ Page Added for Action at Greenbrier River
Spirit of '61 