The Raid and Burning of Guyandotte Historical Marker

By the middle of the nineteenth century, Guyandotte was a bustling port on the Ohio River and included the largest flour mill between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. In 1857, Eli Thayer, a congressman from Massachusetts, hoped to build a new colony to demonstrate an economic alternative to slavery. Thayer chose an area ten miles west and south of Guyandotte and named the settlement Ceredo. The Northern press applauded the idea, but those who came to the area faced some opposition from pro-slavery men in western Virginia. At the same time, the arrival of some investment was generally welcomed until sectional tensions increased in the wake of John Brown's raid and conflicts that led to the Civil War. While citizens of Ceredo remained loyal to the United States, sentiment varied throughout Western Virginia with many in Guyandotte supporting secession or simply hoping to avoid the controversy, especially when the nation descended into war after Virginia joined other states in seceding from the Union on April 17, 1861. While precise figures do not exist, Guyandotte has long been remembered as the only town along the Ohio River to have its majority and delegates vote in favor of secession.

A few days after the official news of Virginia's secession, the town held a meeting with several local militias and county residents. The meeting ended when ex-congressman Albert Jenkins, a slave owner best-known for capturing Black women and children in Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg campaign, calling on militia members and volunteers to join him at his plantation at Greenbottom. During the following weeks, Confederate sympathy remained high in the area. Many Union sympathizers had property stolen, and some were even forced to flee into Ohio. Additional incidents throughout the summer increased tensions with Guyandotte earning a reputation of favoring the Confederacy.

In early July 1861, the Second Kentucky Infantry of the United States Army entered Guyandotte in response to the capture of a steamboat in Greenbottom. While the Union soldiers were in town, a few of Guyandotte's citizens took the oath of allegiance and joined the Union. However, by the middle of July, the Union soldiers had moved from the region which emboldened those who favored secession.

In Ceredo, men loyal to the United States formed the Fifth and Ninth Virginia Infantry. The NInth Virginia was commanded by Kellian Whaley. After a few months of raising troops in Ceredo, the camp was moved to Guyandotte, a move that angered some residents. While in Guyandotte Whaley was given thirty-five calvary, but they did not patrol the area and therefore were caught by surprise later when pro-Confederate forces converged on Guyandotte.

In the first week of November 1861, Confederate calvary were ordered to advance north through western Virginia to the Ohio River. A group of seven hundred calvary left camp in Fayette County and arrived at the outskirts of Barboursville on November 10. Some think that Ceredo may have been the original destination of this raid and it is uncertain why Guyandotte was selected. SOme believe that residents of Guyandotte who had sons in the Confederate army spread the word that their town was housing Union recruits. The calvary commenced their raid on Guyandotte the evening of November 10, 1861. The attack was so overwhelming and sudden that by the time the recruits realized they were under attack, it was too late.

Vastly outnumbered, some Union soldiers attempted to swim across the Guyandotte River but were fired upon by the town's Confederate supporters. The remaining soldiers attempted to mount a stand, but by daybreak, the short-lived resistance was over and the Confederates spent the rest of that morning hunting down the remaining recruits. Neither side suffered many casualties although the event would be recorded in some quarters as a massacre. The Union lost ten men but ninety-eight Union troops and sympathizers were taken prisoner and transported to prisons in Richmond.

That afternoon as Confederate forces withdrew from the town, the SS Boston appeared along the Ohio River. On board were two hundred members of the Fifth Virginia Infantry who had heard the news of attack and left their camp in Ceredo in order to offer reinforcements. Before landing in Guyandotte the boat docks on the Ohio side of the river and picks up a mob of Ohio Home Guards. As the Union men entered the town they were greeted with their dead comrades and reports of collusion between the townspeople and the Confederates. This enraged the soldiers, who began burning the town. They gutted every business in town to prevent the Confederates from returning to stock up on supplies. As they made their way through town, they encountered a woman named Mary Carroll. When ordered to leave her home she refused and barricaded her children inside. Eventually, the soldiers left and her house was not burned. Later that evening Union Col. William Bolles arrived in Guyandotte and ordered the men to stop the destruction. Reluctantly obliging, the men arrested sixteen local citizens for their role in the raid on their way out of the town.

After the burning, the Northern press exaggerated raid as a "massacre."

Accessed December 10th 2020. http://www.wvculture.org/history/markers/sesqui/burningofguyandotte.html.

Prats, J.J.. Raid on Guyandotte/Burning of Guyandotte, November 6th 2018. Accessed December 10th 2020. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=125979.

Geiger, Joe "Battle of Guyandotte." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 13 February 2012. Web. 10 December 2020.

Geiger Jr, Joe. Tragic Fate of Guyandotte. West Virginia History, vol. 54 28 - 41.