CAPTURE OF PEGRAM.-DEATH OF GARNETT. bayonets, which orders were promptly and vigorously obeyed. The Rebels at once took to flight, leaving their cannon, wagons, tents, provisions, and stores, with 135 dead. Gen. McClellan remained throughout the day inactive in front of Col. Pegram's position, awaiting advices from Rosecrans, that failed to reach him. Pegram, better advised of Rosecrans' operations, and justly alarmed for his own safety, attempted to escape during the following night, but found it impossible, and was compelled, after a day's hiding in the forest, to surrender" his remaining force-about 600 men—at discretion. 523 with their pursuers also. Rain fell incessantly, swelling the unbridged rivulets to torrents. Skirmishes were frequent; and four companies of a Georgia regiment, being cut off from the main body, were taken prisoners. At length, having crossed the Cheat at a point known as Carrick's Ford, which proffered an admirable position for defense, Garnett turned to fight; and, though the Union forces rapidly came up in overpowering numbers, and opened a heavy fire both of musketry and artillery, yet the strong and sheltered position of the Confed erates enabled them for some time to hold the ford, twice repulsing efforts to cross it. Col. Taliaferro, commanding the Rebel rearguard, finally withdrew by order, having exhausted his cartridges and lost about thirty men. The position had by this time been flanked by Col. Dumont, with his 7th Indiana, who had fairly gained the crest on the right, when he was ordered to turn it on the left; and, marching down the bluff and through the middle of the stream, between the two armies firing over their heads, the regiment, forcing their way through the tangled thicket of laurel, appeared on the right flank of the Rebels, who thereupon fled. The road crosses the stream again a quarter of a mile below; and here a desperate attempt was made by Garnett to rally his forces for another struggle; but in vain. They received and returned one volley, when they started to run-they being, at least, 3,000, and the Indianians, directly upon them, barely 600; but there were enough more not far behind. Gen. Garnett exerted himself desperately to hold his men, without success; and, 12 July 12th. Gen. McClellan pushed on to Beverly, which he entered early next morning, flanking Gen. Garnett's position at Laurel Hill, and compelling him to a precipitate flight northward. Six cannon, two hundred tents, sixty wagons, and over one hundred prisoners, were the trophies of this success. The Rebel loss in killed and wounded was about 150; the Union about 50. Gen. Garnett, completely flanked, thoroughly worsted, and fearfully outnumbered, abandoned his camp at Laurel Hill without a struggle, crossing the Laurel Mountains eastward, by a by-road, into the narrow valley of Cheat river, traversed by one wretched road, which he took care to make worse for his pursuers by felling trees across it at every opportunity. It rained incessantly. This valley is seldom more than a wooded glen; whence he hoped to escape across the main ridge of the Alleghanies eastward into Hardy county. Provisions and supplies of every kind were scarce enough with the fugitives, and, for the most part, while so doing, was shot through the body by Sergt. Burlingame, and fell dead without a groan. A slight, boy. ish Georgian-probably an Aid alone stood by him to the last, and shared his fate.13 Gen. McClellan, with a large portion of his force, had not united in this chase, but had moved southerly from Beverly, several miles, to Huttonsville; whence, on the next day," he telegraphed to Washington that ་ moving eastward to the Kanawha, and up that river. that river. At Scarytown, some miles below Charleston, a de-probably an Aid-tachment of 1,500 Ohio troops, under Col. Lowe, was resisted" by a smaller Rebel force, well posted, under Capt. Patton, and repulsed, with a loss of 57 men. Five officers, including two Colonels, who went heedlessly forward, without their commands, to observe the fight, rode into the Rebel lines, and were captured. The Rebels abandoned the place that night, leaving their leader dangerously wounded to become a prisoner. "Gen. Garnett and his forces have been routed, and his baggage and one gun taken. His army are completely demoralized. Gen. Garnett was killed while attempting to rally his forces at Carricksford, near St. George. "We have completely annihilated the enemy in Western Virginia. "Our loss is about thirteen killed, and not more than forty wounded; while the enemy's loss is not far from two hundred killed; and the number of prisoners we have taken will amount to at least one thousand. We have captured seven of the enemy's guns in all. "A portion of Garnett's forces retreated; but I look for their capture by Gen. Hill, who is in hot pursuit." This expectation was not realized. The pursuit was only continued two miles beyond the ford; when our weary soldiers halted, and the residue of the Rebels, under Col. Ramsey, turning sharply to the right, made their way across the mountains, and joined Gen. Jackson at Monterey. A strong Union force, under Gen. Cox, made an advance from Guyandotte simultaneously with Gen. McClellan's on Beverly, capturing Barboursville after a slight skirmish, and 13 The Cincinnati Gazette's correspondent, 'Agate,' in describing the battle, says: แ As 'Among the enemy's wounded was a young Massachusetts boy, who had received a shot in the leg. He had been visiting the South, and had been impressed into the Rebel service. soon as the battle began, he broke from the Rebei ranks, and attempted to run down the hill and cross over to our side. His own lieu Gen. Cox pushed steadily forward, reaching Charleston, the capital of Kanawha county, on the 25th. Gov. Wise, who commanded the Rebels in this quarter, had expected here to make a stand; but, discouraged by the tidings which had reached him, some days before, of Garnett's disasters, continued his flight up the river. Gen. Cox pursued, reaching, on the 29th, Gauley bridge, which Wise had burned to impede pursuit. The people of that valley, and, indeed, of nearly all Western Virginia-being Unionists-complained that the Rebels mercilessly plundered them of every thing eatable; which was doubtless true to a great extent, and, for the most part, unavoidable. In the race up the Kanawha valley, Wise succeeded, to the last, in keeping ahead, which was the only military success he ever achieved. He tenant saw him in the act, and shot him with a revolver. Listen to such a tale as that I did, by the side of the sad young sufferer, and tell me if your blood does not boil hotter than ever before, as you think, not of the poor deluded followers, but of the leaders, who, for personal ambition and personal spite, began this infernal rebellion." THE AFFAIR OF CARNIFEX FERRY. of Greenbrier, one of the few counties west of the main ridge of the Alleghanies which, having a considerable number of slaves, and having been settled entirely from Old Virginia, has evinced a preponderating devotion to the Rebel Cause. 525 retreated to Lewisburg, the capital | lantly executed, resulting in a short, but severe action, wherein the advantage of position was so much on the side of the Confederates that their loss must have been considerably less than ours, which was about two hundred, including Col. Lowe, of the 12th Ohio, killed, and Col. Lytle, of the 10th, severely wounded, as was Lieut.-Col. White, of the 12th. Col. McCook's Ohio brigade (Germans) at one time received an order to storm the Rebel intrenchments, and welcomed it with a wild delight, which showed how gladly and thoroughly it would have been obeyed; but it was an order which Rosecrans had not given, and which, after a careful observation of the works, he countermanded. Instead of assaulting, he directed a more thorough reconnoissance to be made, and the troops to be so posted as to be ready for decisive work early in the morning. But, when daylight dawned, the enemy were missing. Floyd, disappointed in the expected support of Wise, and largely outnumbered, had wisely withdrawn his forces under cover of the night, abandoning a portion of his equipage, much baggage, and a few small arms, but no cannon. He rapidly retreated some thirty miles to Big Sewell Mountain, and thence to Meadow Bluff, whither he was not closely followed. 16 Here he was reënforced, and outranked, about August 1st, by Gen. John B. Floyd, who, under the influence of the inspiring news from Bull Run, and the depletion of the Federal forces by the mustering out of service of the three months' men, was soon able to assume the offensive. Keeping well to the right of New River the main affluent which unites near Gauley bridge with the Gauley to form the Kanawha-he surprised the 7th Ohio, Col. Tyler, while at breakfast at Cross Lanes, near Summersville, and routed it with a loss of some 200 men. Moving thence southerly to Carnifex Ferry, he was endeavoring to gain the rear of Gen. Cox, who was still south of him, when he was himself attacked by Gen. Rosecrans, who, at the head of nearly 10,000 men, came rapidly down upon him from Clarksburg, nearly a hundred miles northward. Most of the Union troops had marched seventeen miles that day, when, at 3 o'clock P. M. of the 10th, they drew up in front of Floyd's strong and well-fortified position on the north bank of the Gauley, just below the mouth of Meadow river. Rosecrans ordered a reconnoissance in force by Benham, which was somewhat too gal 16 The capital of Nicholas county, 17 Pollard says of this conflict: "The successful resistance of this attack of the enemy, in the neighborhood of Carnifex Ferry, was one of the most remarkable incidents of the campaign in Western Virginia. The force 17 Wise strengthened the position on Big Sewell, named it Camp Defiance, and there remained. Gen. Lee, arriving from the North with a considerable Rebel force, took of Gen. Floyd's command was 1,740 men; and from 3 o'clock P. M. until night-fall it sustained, with unwavering determination and the most brilliant success, an assault from an enemy between eight and nine thousand strong, made with small-arms, grape, and round-shot, from howitzers and rifled cannon." command of both Floyd's and Wise's forces stationed there and taking over troops, swelling his army to 20,000 a hundred prisoners. All who remen. Rosecrans, after remaining sev-sisted were killed by the guerrillas, eral days in his front at Big Sewell, re- who left hastily next morning, with treated thirty miles to the Gauley, all the plunder they could carry. and was not pursued; Gen. Lee being Col. Zeigler, of the 5th [loyal] Virsoon after recalled to take a command ginia, who arrived early next mornon the coast, and Gov. Wise ordered ing, ordered the houses of the Secesto report at Richmond. sionists to be burned, on the assumption that they had instigated the Rebel raid, and furnished the information which rendered it safe and successful; and, the leading citizens being mostly rebels, the village was mainly consumed. This destruction was generally condemned as barbarous, though the charge was probably true, and would have justified any penalty that might have been inflicted on those only who supplied the information. on Gen. Lee, before leaving the North, had made a strong reconnoissance in force rather than a serious attack, on the position held by Gen. Reynolds Cheat Mountain, in Randolph county, not far from the arena of Garnett's and of Pegram's disasters. There was skirmishing on the 12th, 13th, and 14th of September, during which Col. John A. Washington, one of Gen. Lee's aids, was killed, with nearly one hundred other Rebels. The Union loss was nearly equal to this, mainly in prisoners. Reynolds's force was about half that of his assailants, but so strongly posted that Lee found it impossible to dislodge him, and retired to his camp at Greenbrier. Here Reynolds, whose forces were equal, if not superior, to those in his front, after Lee's departure for the South, paid a return visit to the Rebels, now commanded by Gen. H. R. Jackson, of Georgia, on the 3d of October. Reynolds, in turn, found his adversary's position too strong to be carried by assault, and retreated unpursued, after a desultory contest of several hours. On the 10th of November, at 8 P. M., Col. Jenkins, with his regiment of Rebel cavalry, which had been engaged for some time in guerrilla warfare, dashed into the village of Guyandotte, on the Ohio river, near the Kentucky line, surprising the Union Rosecrans having posted himself at Gauley Mount, on New River, three miles above its junction with the Gauley, Floyd and Wise, after Lee's departure, took position on the opposite (south) side of New River, and amused themselves by shelling the Union teamsters engaged in supplying our army. Here Rosecrans attempted to flank and surprise them, but was first defeated by a great flood in the river, rendering it impassable; and next by the failure of Gen. Benham to gain Floyd's rear and obstruct his retreat, as he had been ordered to do. The attack in front was duly made, but Floyd retreated unmolested by Benham, and but faintly pursued. On the 14th, his rear-guard of cavalry was attacked and driven by Benham; its Colonel, St. George Croghan, being killed. No further pursuit was attempted. Floyd retreated to Peterstown, more than 18 November 12th. 18 ALLEGHANY SUMMIT-HUNTERSVILLE. fifty miles southward. And thus died out the campaign in the southern part of West Virginia. In the north-east, Gen. Kelly, who held and guarded the Alleghany section of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, starting from New Creek on the night of October 25th, advanced rapidly to Romney, the capital of Hampshire county, driving out a Rebel battalion and capturing two cannon, sixty prisoners, several hundred stand of arms, with all the camp equipage, provisions, and munitions. By this spirited dash, West Virginia was nearly cleared of armed Rebels. Gen. R. H. Milroy, who had succeeded Gen. Reynolds in command at Cheat Mountain, attempted, soon afterward," a similar dash on the Rebels in his front, strongly posted at Alleghany Summit, twenty-two miles distant, on the turnpike to Staunton. To this end, he moved forward with 3,200 men, nearly half of which were directed to make a détour by the old Greenbrier road, to assault the enemy's left. The combination failed. The flank movement, under Col. Moody, of the 9th Indiana, was not effected in time. The Rebel forces, consisting of four regiments, under Col. Edward John 19 December 12th. 20 Though the crest of the main ridge of the Alleghanies is the natural and proper line of demarcation between 'the Old Dominion' and new, or West Virginia, and pretty accurately discriminates the Counties wherein Slavery and Secession did, from those wherein they did not, at any time, predominate, yet three or four CountiesMonroe, Greenbrier, &c.—which geographically pertain to West Virginia, have, either voluntarily or under duress, adhered to Old Virginia and the Rebellion. NOTE.-The originally proposed State of Kanawha included within her boundaries only the Counties of Virginia lying north and west of, but 527 son, were neither surprised nor dis- 20 not including, McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Greenbrier, and Pocahontas-thirty-nine in all, with a total population in 1860 of 280,691, whereof 6,894 were slaves. The Constitution of WEST VIRGINIA expressly included the five counties above named, making the total population 315,969, of whom 10,147 were slaves. It further provided that the counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, Frederick, Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan, might also be embraced within the new State, provided their people should, by vote, express their desire to be-which they, excepting those of Frederick, in due time, didraising the population, in 1860, of the new State to 376,742, and entitling it to three representatives in Congress. |