Great Campaigns of the Civil War | Episode Two - Western Virginia (Part I)

INTRODUCTION

On April 17, 1861, just four days after the fall of Fort Sumter and three days after Abraham Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers to subdue the Confederacy, Virginia seceded from the Union. With it went a number of the U.S. Army’s most decorated and competent officers such as Mexican-American War hero Robert E. Lee. Virginia would be an important member of the Confederacy as her wealth and industrial output outdid the rest of the South combined. Upon its official admittance into the Confederate States of America in early May, it was announced that the Confederate capital would move from its present location in Montgomery, Alabama to the more desirable city of Richmond – just 108 miles from the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C.

While Virginia seemed a match made in heaven for the Confederacy, all was not right in paradise. A substantial portion of the state, particularly the northwestern corner, was firmly against secession. What’s more they made it known how dissatisfied they were with the present situation. This made western Virginia prime real estate for the first major land campaign of the Civil War. If the Union could somehow wrangle that portion of the state from the Confederacy, they would immediately threaten the vital Shenandoah Valley as well as the eastern part of soon-to-be-Confederate Tennessee. They would close potential invasion routes into northern states such as Ohio while also winning unfettered access to the all important Baltimore & Ohio railroad line.


The Western Virginia Campaign of 1861

What was more, with western Virginia in Union hands, a back door into the newly minted Confederate capital of Richmond could potentially be opened, thus shutting the book on the southern Confederacy before the ink had dried. By the end of the campaign, much of the countryside in this part of the state would be lost to Virginia forever, as the people in this area formed their own pro-Union government and, two years later, transformed it into a new state they decided to call West Virginia.

A HERO RISES

As Virginia began to assert itself for war, machinations behind the scenes began to move quickly to organize a defense in western Virginia. Three separate commands were hastily thrown together under the leadership of Brigadier General John B. Floyd, Brigadier General Henry Wise, and Colonel George Porterfield. The decision to create three separate armies instead of one unified command would prove to be fatal for the Confederates during this campaign.

Commanding against these three would be a unified force under the leadership of the newly minted Major General George B. McClellan. Handsome, young, and charismatic, McClellan was set to put on a show for the northern populace begging for a victory in the aftermath of Fort Sumter. A graduate of West Point and veteran of the Mexican-American War, McClellan had distinguished himself in the interwar period as an official observer during the Crimean War. After writing a stellar report on what he witnessed while in Europe, McClellan left the service and became a railroad executive. After the Battle of Fort Sumter, he immediately offered his services to a willing Republic who immediately bestowed upon him the rank of major general. He was 34 years old.


Major General George B. McClellan, commanding, Department of the Ohio

After being given command of the Department of the Ohio on May 3, McClellan used his newfound authority to invade western Virginia later that month. The impetus for such a move was made possible by intelligence reports that stated Confederates were burning bridges along the Baltimore & Ohio. The invasion began on May 26 with a mind to protect the remaining bridges along the railroad line. Confronting McClellan were the 800 poorly trained troops under the command of Colonel Porterfield. They were all that he could muster to face McClellan’s approximately 3,000 soldiers. Realizing he was vastly outnumbered, Porterfield retreated in the face of the advancing Union host to a town called Phillipi.

THE BATTLE OF PHILIPPI

While McClellan was in overall command of the invasion of western Virginia, tactical command for the moment was being handled in the field by Brigadier General Thomas Morris. On the evening of June 1, 1861, he and Colonel Benjamin F. Kelley of the 1st West Virginia infantry regiment devised a two-prong attack against the Confederate forces under Porterfield at Philippi. Kelley would take 1,600 men and make the Confederates think that they were moving on the town of Harpers Ferry by taking a train off to the east. They would disembark the train at nearby Thornton and march on back roads to come at Philippi from the rear. Meanwhile, 1,400 men under the command of Colonel Ebenezer Dumont would come directly at Philippi from the north. If the plan was successful, the two columns would execute a double envelopment against the Confederate army at Philippi.

The two columns set off on June 2 for Philippi, executing a difficult overnight march in a steady rain storm. Both columns reached Philippi before dawn on June 3, 1861. However, Kelley’s column had taken the wrong road and were, in tandem with Dumont, coming at Philippi from the north. There would be no double envelopment but there was no time to turn back now. The green Confederate troops hadn’t even put up a picket screen to alert the main body of oncoming enemy soldiers and thus the way was wide open for a successful attack against an outmanned force.

The attack began with a quick artillery barrage that alerted the sleeping Confederates to danger close. The few Confederates who were armed and ready to go got off relatively few shots before they broke and ran in a panic to the south. Had Kelley’s column not taken the wrong road, these Confederates would have been forced to surrender. As such, they were allowed to run away to fight another day. Nevertheless, the Union army marched triumphantly into Philippi and the first land battle of the American Civil War had ended in a Union victory. There were only 30 combined casualties.


The Battle of Philippi - June 3, 1861

Minor though the battle was, it was indeed a victory and the northern press, hungry for war stories, ate it up. Due to how quickly and decisively the Confederate line broke, reporters dubbed the battle the “Philippi Races.” The light casualty figures and overwhelming nature of the victory fed into the notions that this conflict would be both bloodless and glorious. Following the battle, there was a shake up in the Confederate high command as Porterfield was sacked and replaced by Brigadier General Robert S. Garnett.