Today in the WBTS, September 10th 1861 Confederate forces withdraw from the Kanawha Valley in western Virginia after fighting an indecisive battle at Carnifex Ferry in the early months of the war. During the summer of 1861, the two sides had struggled for control of western Virginia as the Union tried to secure the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and control the regions river transportation. Meanwhile, the counties of western Virginia were trying to secede from their own state. Since residents of the mountainous region had little in common with the rest of the state, and slavery was rare, a referendum was set for October 24 to create a Unionist state. After defeating a Union force at Cross Lanes on August 26, Confederate General John Floyd occupied the bluffs overlooking Carnifex Ferry on the Kanawha River. General William S. Rosecrans commanded Union forces in the area. On the morning of September 10, a Yankee detachment under General Henry Benham stumbled into the main Confederate force and the rest of Rosecrans army soon showed up to expel the Rebels from their positions on the bluff. Some 2,000 Confederates faced a Union force about three times their size. The battle lasted until nightfall, but the Yankees, who sustained 158 casualties to the Confederates 20, were unable to penetrate the Southern lines. Nevertheless, Floyd was unable to hold his position in the face of the larger Yankee contingent. By retreating, he left Union forces in control of Kanawha Valley and most of western Virginia. This facilitated the formation of West Virginia. The combatants at Carnifex Ferry included many men who later achieved fame, including two members of the 23rd Ohio Infantry who eventually became President of the United States: Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. Skirmish near Lewinsville, Virginia Skirmish at Lucas Bend, Missouri 1862: Skirmishes at Fort Mitchell, near Covington, Log Church, and Woodburn, Kentucky. Skirmish at Sauk Center, Minnesota Skirmishes near Frederick and Boonesborough, Maryland Skirmish along the Kilkenny River, South Carolina. Skirmish at Columbia, Rogers’ Gap, and Big Creek Gap, Tennessee. Skirmish at Fayetteville, West Virginia. 1863: Engagement at Bayou Fourche, Arkansas Skirmish at Summerville, Pea Vine Creek, and Graysville, Georgia. Skirmish along Brimstone Creek, Kentucky. Skirmish at Athens, Tennessee. Beginning of a two day Federal reconnaissance of the Middleburg, Tennessee, area. 1864: Skirmish near Monticello, Arkansas Skirmish at Campbellton, Georgia. Skirmishes near Dover, Roanoke, and Pisgah, Missouri The Fawn was an inoffensive little boat, engaged yesterday in the hauling of mail on the Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal. Today she did so no longer, because she had been seized and burned by a force of Confederates. An extremely irate Lt. Cmdr. Earl English, of the USS Wyalusing, landed in nearby Elizabeth City, N.C., determined to locate and punish whoever had committed this act. He went too far as to round up and detain 29 leading citizens of the town for interrogation and possible detention as hostages against repetition of such misdeeds. He was reluctantly persuaded to release them when they were able to convince him that the mail boat had in fact been burned by men from the CSS Albermarle and that no resident of the town had been involved or benefited by the act. Skirmish at Woodbury, Tennessee. Skirmish at Darkesville, West Virginia. Reference: The Civil War Day by Day, Philip Katcher. The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865, by E. B. Long with Barbara Long. The Chronological Tracking of the American Civil War Per the Official Records of the War of Rebellion, by Ronald A Mosocco.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 11:18:36 +0000
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