UCV Civil War Military Operations Marker #17: Kabletown, August 1864

In conducting research to revise and contextualize this United Confederate Veterans tour in Jefferson County, I was unable to find information on an August 1864 skirmish at Kabletown. It is likely that this was a smaller skirmish in the aftermath of the Chambersburg Raid led by Generals John McCausland and Bradley T. Johnson and as the Battle of Moorefield on August 7, 1864, or related to the 1864 Valley Campaign in general.

Original Text from the 1911 Pamphlet:

"Marker Number Seventeen

General Bradley T. Johnson Repulses The Enemy Near Kabletown

In the latter part of August, 1864, General Bradley T. Johnson, with his brigade of cavalry and a force of infantry, moved to Kabletown and encountered a large force of infantry of the enemy. An engagement followed, in which, after a good deal of severe fighting, a charge was made by Johnson, and the enemy, were driven down the Shenandoah river. The result of this engagement was considerable killed and wounded."

About the Monuments:

This series of monuments and accompanying tour pamphlet were part of an initiative from the Jefferson County Camp, United Confederate Veterans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Civil War. In 1910 Col. R. Preston Chew and the Jefferson County UCV raised the funds to place 25 concrete obelisks in Jefferson County to mark locations of engagement or other significant events. The following year the Camp published a pamphlet to accompany the obelisks and give more information about each location. This was Military Operations in Jefferson County, Virginia (Now West Virginia), 1861-1865 published in 1911. The pamphlet has been reprinted several times by the Henry Kyd Douglas Camp, No. 199 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Because the monuments and accompanying pamphlet were done by Confederate veterans it is likely that the locations and descriptions are biased towards or favor the Confederate view and experience of the war. 

Bushong, Millard Kessler. A History of Jefferson County, West Virginia. Charles Town, WV: Jefferson Publishing Company, 1941.

Engle, Stephen Douglas. Thunder in the Hills: Military Operations in Jefferson County, West Virginia, During the American Civil War. Charleston, WV: Mountain State Press, 1989.

Hearn, Chester G. Six Years of Hell: Harpers Ferry During the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996.

Military Operations in Jefferson County Virginia (and West Va.) 1861-1865. Published by Authority of Jefferson County Camp U.C.V. Farmers Advocate Print, 1911. Accessed January 20, 2021. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t4vh5gp6c&view=1up&seq=5.

Snell, Mark A. West Virginia and the Civil War: Mountaineers Are Always Free. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2011.