Battles hard fought on Camp Allegheny BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY - Civil War enthusiasts are quick to point to McDowell as one of the last remaining pristine battlefields of that era.
But nestled at the top of Allegheny Mountain in West Virginia lies an open sheep meadow that served as fighting grounds on Friday, Dec. 13, 1861. It was a sheep meadow then, too, and has remained undisturbed for more than 145 years. Camp Allegheny is as it was - a mixture of farm and forest that straddles an original portion of the Staunton-to-Parkersburg Turnpike, the now primary road U.S. 250 connecting West Virginia through Highland County and into Staunton. At 4,200 feet, it is also the highest battlefield ground east of the Mississippi.
The major difference between now and then is that during the Civil War, the battlefield was still in this state - the area then was simply "Western Virginia."
Elkins, W.Va., resident W. Hunter Lesser, author of "Rebels at the Gate," published by Sourcebooks Inc. in 2004, spoke last Thursday at a meeting of the Highlands Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia. The 20-year career archeologist's area of expertise and the topic of his book is the Civil War in 1861 West Virginia.
The first campaign of the Civil War was fought there. Generals George McClellan, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson, who played central roles during the Civil War in this area of Virginia, all got their start in the Western Virginia campaign.
The battles were small but had huge political consequences, says Lesser. Western Virginia Union sympathizers successfully sided with the Union, blocking the region from use by the Confederate army as an entryway to Union states.
A woman fired the first shot of the first land battle in the war in June 1861 at the battle of Philippi in Barber County, W.Va., which came to be known as the Philippi races. Near the town a mother had sent her son to warn Confederate troops that Union soldiers were approaching, according to an article by Ruth Woods Dayton published in the West Virginia History Journal. When Union soldiers captured her son, she took a shot at his captors. Hearing the shot, a federal artillery gunner thought it was the prearranged signal to start firing, thus the battle began before federal forces were in place and the Confederates in town easily made their escape.
The Staunton-to-Parkersburg Turnpike bisects Rich Mountain Battlefield, where 400 acres are protected.
McClellan won the July 11, 1861 battle of Rich Mountain near Beverley, W.Va. He was the first to use the telegraph in battle, and announced his victory within one hour of winning. It was also the advent of a new style of warfare, where leadership miles from the battle were able to provide command and control while the battle was going on.
The battle was documented with photographs, journals, sketches, maps and engravings. "We know where everything happened at Rich Mountain," says Lesser, who participated in an archeological survey of the battlefield in 1995. The battle was fought on a mountaintop and took up 45 acres - compact for a Civil War battle, Lesser says.
Relic hunters have been collecting at Civil War battle sites since the fighting stopped, he says, but scientists can still learn a lot from a survey. Many artifacts overlooked by relic hunters remain, as do features such as the imprint left by buildings and trenches. Geographic features in undeveloped battlefields also help archeologists determine the veracity of written accounts of the battles.
In Tucker County, W.Va., a different kind of survey was conducted at the battle of Corrick's Ford. "It was a mystery battle; we don't know much about it," says Lesser. Even the interpretive sign at the battlefield is not completely accurate because there is still a question about exactly where the battle took place.
Corrick's Ford was a running fight between the retreating Confederate army from Rich Mountain and the Union strike force pursuing them. The Confederates were following a circular path to get back to Monterey. The battle took place July 13, 1861.
Along the retreat route, Confederates lost most of their equipment. A Confederate wagon train was lost at the ford.
Confederate Gen. Robert Garnett died from wounds received in battle two days after Rich Mountain, and took with him the memory of the sequence of events. He was the first general killed in the Civil War.
There were not many witnesses - only the armies were present and they were tired and hungry from running for two days, so their written accounts are not reliable, says Lesser.
The Corrick family saw the battle because it was fought on their land, but its oldest living members, interviewed at a reunion in 1995, said they didn't know where the battle took place.
Part of the problem was determining how many times the Shaver's Fork river was crossed - reports varied, saying it had been crossed anywhere from 2-6 times.
A survey conducted in 1995 showed there were two crossings, both called Corrick's Ford. The first crossing was onto an island in the middle of the stream and the second was from the island to the shore.
There are engravings of the battle and a written memory by West Point graduate and engineer Capt. Henry Benham. Historians have questioned his account, however. He has been characterized as an egotistical maniac, Lesser says. But he was first in his class at West Point, graduating in 1837. And he was a good engineer, says Lesser. Benham was later promoted to general.
"Benham's accounts of the land were pretty accurate," says Lesser. Lesser used Benham's book to determine the locations of the crossings.
Even the Confederate General Garnett's image is a mystery. He had a cousin who was also a general, and was killed in battle two years later. Photographs of both generals exist, but which of them is depicted is not known with certainty.
As a result of the 1995 survey, a proposed highway there (Corridor H) was stopped and the battlefield protected - at least for now, says Lesser.
Cheat Mountain in Pocahontas County, W.Va., was occupied through the summer and winter of 1861-62. Lee led his first offensive of the war there with 4,500 men Sept. 12-15, 1861, and 1,800 Union soldiers defended Cheat Mountain. Lee withdrew after being unable to take it. It was a great disgrace for Lee, but one he learned from, says Lesser.
Finally, the battle of Camp Allegheny took place in December 1861.
The battlefield and camp is off U.S. 250 just at the border of Highland and Pocahontas counties, and like McDowell, it has been called one of the best-preserved battlefields in America, says Lesser. The 300 acres that make up the battlefield look just like it did in 1861.
The battle of Camp Allegheny was hard fought, says Lesser. And it was a much-needed victory for the Confederacy, which had experienced a series of defeats in the Western Virginia campaign up to that point.
Brig. Gen. Robert Milroy led Union forces up to Camp Allegheny in an attempt to capture the Confederates before they could retreat.
Milroy was impetuous, yet pious, says Lesser.
"He was told by (Confederate) deserters that troops at Allegheny were demoralized and ready to retreat. They were ready to retreat, but not demoralized," Lesser says.
Colonel Edward Johnson, 12th Georgia Infantry, led the Confederate force at Camp Allegheny. He liked to cuss, says Lesser.
Johnson was responsible for Milroy's first defeat and was promoted to brigadier general because of the battle. Johnson later fought at the battle of McDowell where he was wounded in the ankle.
Milroy intended to attack Johnson from two sides simultaneously, so he split his forces. Unfortunately, one wing arrived late, giving Johnson a chance to engage the attacking forces separately and on a more equal footing.
On each side 160 were killed and wounded. Approximately 3,000 troops were involved in the battle, making it more than a skirmish, says Lesser.
The site is well-preserved, even though it has been collected by relic hunters," says Lesser. "It still has relevance here for archeology."
The south side of the turnpike is privately owned, but the north side of the road where stones from the cabins can still be seen piled in equal spacing across the field is protected by the national forest.
"It is important to preserve sites for archeological integrity and to preserve open space," says Lesser. "It is important to preserve (the battlefield) to honor the Americans who fought and died here."
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