An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
It had been two months and 11 days since Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan invaded northwestern Virginia, and additional volunteer regiments arrived weekly to reinforce him. It had been over a month since Confederate forces fled from Philippi. Their commander, Col. George A. Porterfield, was replaced with Robert E. Lee’s adjutant general, Brig. Gen.…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: A Skirmish at Glenville
It had been over a month since Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan invaded northwestern Virginia, and every week, additional volunteer regiments arrived to reinforce him. It had been over three weeks since Confederate forces fled from Philippi. Their commander, Col. George A. Porterfield, was replaced with Robert E. Lee's adjutant general, Brig. Gen. Robert…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Skirmish at Bowman’s Place
In late June 1861, the 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment (3 Months) led by Col. Thomas Morton was headquartered at Fairmont, Virginia along the Tygart River and Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in Marion County. Its mission was to protect that strategically important railway connecting Washington, DC with the Midwestern states. Company I of the 20th…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Action at Righter’s House
On June 11, 1861, Union Col. Lewis “Lew” Wallace, commanding the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment at Cumberland, Maryland, attacked several companies of ill-trained militia at Romney, Virginia (today West Virginia) along the South Branch of the Potomac River. The Confederates fled in disorder. This, and the threat of McClellan's army coming over the mountains from…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Skirmish at New Creek
The “Battle” of Philippi was fought on Monday, June 3, 1861 between Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Morris and Confederate forces commanded by Col. George A. Porterfield in Philippi, Virginia during the American Civil War. The engagement, which was the first land action of the Civil War in Virginia, was a Union…
For 36 days following adoption of a secession ordinance in Richmond, the federal government had respected Virginia's sovereignty, despite the seizing of federal property and facilities by secessionists and hostile exchanges of fire between U.S. Navy ships and Virginia shore batteries. That changed on May 23, 1861, when Virginia voters ratified secession by a large…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago Today: Grafton Occupied by Union Troops
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
I almost wrote this one off. For a long time, I questioned whether the Skirmish at Bowman’s Place, which is listed in The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. II and elsewhere by simply a name and date, even happened. The usual sources revealed few other details besides the Union regiments involved and a…
Continue reading ➞ Page Added for the Skirmish at Bowman’s Place
Spirit of '61 