An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
Throughout 1861, Union and Confederate forces struggled for control of the Kanawha Valley, an important east-west corridor through what was then western Virginia. I recently had the opportunity to visit several Civil War sites in the region, including locations along the Ohio and Guyandotte rivers. Although much has changed in the past 165 years, I…
The following is a comprehensive chronology of the important events leading up to the Action at Philippi, June 3, 1861. It begins at the initial secession vote at the Virginia Convention in Richmond, April 17, 1861, and covers 47 days, although not every day is represented. These days were filled with military and political intrigue…
Continue reading ➞ Events Leading up to the Action at Philippi
Accidental deaths of soldiers often receive less attention than battlefield casualties. However, for these soldiers of the First Virginia Regiment, sworn to fight for the Union, their fates marked some of the earliest losses of the Civil War. Were it not for a handful of brief newspaper articles and a sparse pension file, their stories…
By mid-May 1861, the secession crisis in Virginia had reached a boiling point. In response to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln calling for a volunteer army to suppress the rebellion in the Deep South, on April 17th delegates at the Virginia Secession Convention in Richmond passed an ordinance of secession, pending the results of a popular…
Continue reading ➞ 160 Years Ago: The First Wheeling Convention
Yesterday, I posted about a mystery skirmish mentioned in Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's July 5, 1861 report to Assistant Adjutant-General E. D. Townsend that supposedly took place around present-day Ravenswood, West Virginia along the Ohio River in early July 1861. The engagement is not listed in any source that I am aware of.…
Just when I thought I'd found every early Civil War skirmish in Virginia and West Virginia, I came across several references to an engagement near what is today Ravenswood, West Virginia along the Ohio River in Jackson County. Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan mentions it in his July 5, 1861 report to Assistant Adjutant-General…
Spirit of '61 