<div> </div><div>Fort Scammon began its life as a hastily-constructed set of gun emplacements for the purpose of firing on the city of Charleston. Confederate forces used the area at the top of the hill to place artillery which commanded the surrounding countryside, most notably the city itself and the&nbsp;juncture of the Elk and Kanawha rivers. The hastily-constructed battery was used by Confederate forces until its capture in 1863, at which point Union forces fortified the area more heavily and converted it into a command post.&nbsp;This is also when the Fort was named for respected&nbsp;Union General E.P. Scammon, who operated in the area until his capture by Confederate forces in 1864. Scammon was later released in exchange for Confederate POWs. </div><div>The Fort was abandoned at the end of the Civil War and reclaimed by the surrounding vegetation in the intervening decades.&nbsp;</div>

The marker sign at the site of Fort Scammon

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Located at the site in Charleston now known as Fort Hill, Fort Scammon was constructed in 1863 to guard the juncture between the Kanawha and Elk rivers. Used for heavy gun emplacements, the Fort location controlled an easily-accessible tributary of the Ohio River as well as the surrounding countryside.

Fort Scammon (Fort Hill)

A short driving tour of Charleston's Civil War highlights, including some of West Virginia's most important personalities and memorials, plus landmarks in the Battle of Charleston.  Learn about Colonel George S. Patton, grandfather of the famous World War II general!  Learn about the Union garrison commanded by Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, future U.S. President!  Charleston changed hands several times during the war, so there's plenty of Civil War history to see here.

The Craik family was a prominent family from the Tidewater, Virginia area. Dr. James Craik was George Washington’s personal physician for many years. His grandson, James Craik, was a wealthy lawyer who ordered the construction of the Craik-Patton House in the Greek Revival style in 1834. Craik was, at the time, studying to become a minister. James Craik abandoned his law practice to become a rector at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Charleston. Craik and his family left Charleston and moved to Kentucky to pursue his religious career. Craik sold the house to Isaac Reed who owned it until 1858 when George Patton purchased the property for his family. Patton would become a Confederate Colonel during the Civil War, and lead a legendary detachment known as the Kanawha Riflemen against approaching Federal forces as hostilities heated up in the Charleston area. He was wounded severely at Scary Creek, but carried on fighting until he was killed at Winchester in 1864. Patton's military legacy lived on, however. The legendary George S. Patton of World War II was the grandson of Confederate Colonel Patton. Following the death of Colonel George Patton, his widow Susan Patton sold the house to Andrew Hogue in 1865. The Hogue family owned the property for many years.  The house has been moved twice. It originally stood on a large downtown lot near the intersection of Dunbar and Virginia Streets before being moved to the 1300 block of Lee Street East in the early 1900s. By the early 1970s the house had fallen into disrepair and was in danger of being lost. Then, in 1974 it was saved and moved to its current location at the western edge of the former Daniel Boone Park just east of Charleston.  The Craik-Patton house is available for public tours and now features a museum. Guests can observe the quaint, outdoor area as the Craik-Patton House is prided for its landscaping. The house is enrolled in the National Register and has been since 1975.

The Craik-Patton House was built in 1834 and was constructed by attorney James Craik. The Greek Revival styled home resides on Virginia Street. The house was later purchased by George S. Patton who was a Civil War Confederate colonel and grandfather of the famous General, George S. Patton from World War II. The house was originally known as Elm Grove and was built in downtown Charleston. The National Society of Colonial Dames in America saved the Craik-Patton house after it had been moved twice by placing it on this location in 1973.

Craik-Patton House

Peter Ruffner, a Swiss immigrant, arrived in America in 1713. He and his
wife, Mary Steinman settled in Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia where they
started their family. It was their eldest son, Joseph, that settled in
Charleston, WV. Joseph Ruffner, a successful farmer and businessman, traveled
the region, buying and selling produce and livestock. Searching for iron ore in
the upper James River, he met Colonel Dickerson of Point Pleasant, and learned of
the buffalo salt licks on the Kanawha River. He bought Colonel Dickerson’s land
that spans 502 acres and has salt licks on the spot.&nbsp;In 1795, Joseph finally
saw the land he bought. So impressed, Joseph went on to buy all the land that
he could, over&nbsp;a thousand acres that included log structures of Fort Lee,
unsold lots of the young town and all the bottomland surrounding the Fort, much
of what is now the city of Charleston. He sold his property in the Shenandoah
Valley upon his return to Virginia, and moved his entire family to the Kanawha
Valley late in 1795.&nbsp;Ruffner built the log house to serve as a sawmill and office for his
business, but by the 1820’s the&nbsp;hand-powered sawmill was no longer&nbsp;needed.
His grandson, Joel Ruffner, moved into the log house upon his marriage and renovated the log house&nbsp;in the 1820s and '30s. More rooms
were added to the dwelling beyond the original log structure, and the logs were
covered with clapboard siding. A 25,000 gallon stone-lined cistern was dug
adjacent to the house! This would have been filled with fresh rainwater to provide&nbsp;a clean water source for the family instead
of relying on&nbsp;the dirty Kanawha River that was polluted from early industry.&nbsp;The
Ruffners called the newly refurbished home “Rosedale.” The family raised 12
children in the house. An interesting Ruffner family tradition recounts that
the Ruffners would plant a holly tree upon the birth of each child. Thus on
old Ruffner property in the valley, one will see many ancient holly trees still
surviving.&nbsp;In the
1860’s, during the Union
occupation of Charleston, Rosedale became the headquarters of then Colonel )later General) Joseph A.J. Lightburn, commander of the 4th (West) Virginia Infantry. Substantial earthworks
were apparently built around the building. On September 13, 1862 the Union Army, in the
face of advancing Confederate troops, evacuated Charleston. Rosedale suffered damage in the action&nbsp;and was reportedly struck with several cannon balls. The building survived the Civil War and passed
from generation to generation until the late 1960s when the last Ruffner
descendant died and Rosedale passed out of family hands.&nbsp;The historic log cabin was dismantled when Rosedale was demolished to make way for modern construction on Kanawha Blvd.&nbsp;and the logs were stored for several years. &nbsp;Then, volunteers rebuilt the cabin&nbsp;as part of the 1976 Bicentennial project of civic clubs in the
area. Although the original Ruffner home was torn down in 1969, some furniture is on
display inside the Craik-Patton House. In the early 21st century&nbsp;the city of Charleston turned over
the Ruffner Cabin and the property it stands on&nbsp;to Craik-Patton Inc.

Located in Daniel Boone Park in Charleston, West Virginia, the Joseph Ruffner Log Cabin or “Rosedale” originally stood at 1538 Kanawha Boulevard. Built in 1803 by Joseph Ruffner, the log cabin is said to be one of the oldest extant houses in Kanawha County.

Ruffner Log Cabin (Rosedale)

The Mountaineer Soldier statue is located on the northeast corner of the West Virginia State Capitol. It was unveiled at the old State Capitol on Capitol Street in downtown Charleston on December 10, 1912. The guiding force for this monument was Col. William Seymour Edwards, speaker of the WV House of Delegates in the 1890s. Edwards personally helped raise funds for the project. The Mountaineer Statue was a symbol of the men of Western Virginia who volunteered and formed themselves into Home Guards to respond to President Lincoln's call to arms in 1861. By their actions, they helped to save Western Virginia for the Union. The base of the monument states: "Erected to commemorate the valor of those who on April 15, 1861, in instant response to the first call of Abraham Lincoln formed themselves into the intrepid Home Guards who held in check unaided the forces of Wise, and Lee, and Jackson, until the federal armies came..." The monument represents a popular notion that is not necessarily historically accurate. The militia system in western Virginia was disrupted by the war and not functional in many counties. Militia companies in the southern counties generally supported the Richmond government, many eventually entering Confederate service. Gen. McClellan wrote to Gov. Pierpont on July 21, 1861, saying "...I see no strong disposition manifested to take up arms...I confess that I am much disappointed by the extreme slowness with which recruiting goes on...Before I left Grafton I made requisitions for arms clothing etc for 10,000 Virginia troops-I begin to fear that my estimate was much too large." Pierpont wrote to Lincoln on Sept. 21, 1861, saying “There is much public condemnation of Western Va. because the people do not defend themselves from the rebbel forces in their midst.” As historian Charles H. Ambler noted "Admitted apathy toward the Union in its militant capacity was great."(Pierpont, pg. 99) A New York Times reporter travelling with the Union army in West Virginia wrote on Aug. 23, 1861, "I remark, however, that it is difficult to comprehend the reluctance of many of the Union Virginians to wage war against their rebel enemies...it is aggravating to the Army that the Western Virginians do not appropriate this part of operations to themselves.."While local militia and homeguards sometimes performed brave actions at critical moments, such as during the Jones-Imboden raid in 1863, the milita system was not very effective. In his address to the state legislature on January 15, 1867 Gov. Boreman stated: "This [militia] system has been regarded for years, by many, as wholly without benefit, and the truth of this impression has been confirmed and rendered the more palpable by the experience of the late war;".It took sculptor Henry K Bush-Brown two years to find the model and three years to actually sculpt the statue. Bush-Brown modeled the statue after Ellis Hamrick, a mountaineer from Webster County, West Virginia. Col. William Seymour Edwards sent Hamrick to Washington to model for the statue. The statue was originally modeled after one of Hamrick's brothers, but the brother passed away during the creation of the statue. As a result, Ellis Hamrick was chosen as the model. The eight-foot monument was dedicated by Colonel Edwards "To the hallowed memories of the brave men and devoted women who saved West Virginia to the Union."The statue is over a century old, and it has been restored by the Save Outdoor Sculpture (SOS!) program. The program is a collaborative project with Heritage Preservation and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art. Moisture damage and corrosion affected the statue, and the restoration included mending those damages and repairing the bronze patina and stone base.

In response to the dedication of a statue honoring Clarksburg, West Virginia native and Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson at the old State Capitol in downtown Charleston, West Virginia, veterans of the Union Army received an equivalent statue sculpted by Henry Kirke Bush-Brown in 1912. The bronze statue depicts a pro-Union citizen militiaman carrying a flag and musket, while the two reliefs on the base depict Mountaineer home life. Colonel William Seymour Edwards, former speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates was instrumental in the erection of the statue.

Mountaineer Soldier Statue

Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson emerged as one of the most well-known and skilled Confederate generals during the American Civil War. Yet Jackson hailed from humble roots. He was born on January 20, 1824, in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). In his youth, he faced not only the death of his father but had to be given up by his impoverished mother to his firm uncle, who raised him on the Jackson estate near Weston. He grew into a shy and reserved man in an unloving household with his uncle at the helm. Still, this equanimity would play to his benefit once he entered the West Point U.S. Military Academy in 1842 and graduated 17th in his class of 59 cadets. Jackson was a large man for his time, six-foot tall and 175 pounds, and he possessed skill in mathematics. For this reason, Jackson was assigned to an artillery unit. The young officer served in the Mexican War and gained three promotions during the conflict. During a siege of Mexico City, Jackson met Robert E. Lee for the first time. After the war, he retired from active military service and taught at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. VMI students found professor Jackson peculiar and some even played pranks on the instructor. While unpopular with students, he was known as a devout Presbyterian by his peers.Jackson also owned six enslaved persons: Amy, Hetty, George, Cyrus, Albert, and Emma. Hetty, George, and Emma took Jackson’s last name after his death, and Albert is believed to have been manumitted. Jackson opined little on slavery, so scholars often turn to his religious views and actions. Jackson acknowledged the humanity of enslaved persons and supported religious instruction for all persons. He also viewed slavery as compatible with Christianity. Despite concerns from Lexington citizens, Jackson ran a Sunday school for enslaved persons. The future general clearly accepted the institution of slavery and fought for its preservation during the Civil War.In 1861, in the wake of Virginia’s secession, Jackson offered his services to the Confederacy and soon found himself back on the battlefield. On July 21, 1861, during the first major land battle of the Civil War at Manassas, Jackson played a pivotal role in securing Confederate victory. He earned himself the sobriquet “Stonewall” for his clear and decisive resolve. Throughout the first two years of the Civil War, Jackson proved himself a skilled, confident, and aggressive commander. A well-respected disciplinarian, Jackson rose to further prominence during the 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Jackson’s forces (dubbed “foot cavalry”) marched more than 650 miles, winning a string of battles along the way. Jackson became a corps commander in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and was Robert E. Lee’s “right hand” man. He led the Second Corps through many engagements, including the Seven Days, Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.Jackson’s career was cut short, however. On May 2, 1863, Jackson enjoyed arguably the best day of his military career as he led an incredibly successful surprise flank attack against the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Hoping to continue the attack into nightfall, Jackson rode ahead of his lines in the darkness and was accidentally wounded by his own men. Taken to the nearby plantation of Guinea Station, Jackson’s left arm was amputated. Compounded with a case of pneumonia, Jackson died on May 10, 1863, just a month prior to the establishment of West Virginia and two months before the Battle of Gettysburg. His final words were, “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.”Like several other Confederate leaders, Jackson’s legacy and fame only grew in the years following the Civil War. Although West Virginia stood firm to the Union during the Civil War, many West Virginians wanted to link Jackson to his home state. In 1909, the Charleston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy gained permission to construct a monument to Jackson on the state capitol grounds at their expense; it was the first statue on capitol grounds. The bronze statue was cast in Italy by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a Jewish-American who attended VMI and knew Jackson from his days there. Ezekiel was also a Confederate veteran.The Jackson statue was unveiled on September 27, 1910, to much fanfare. The city celebrated with a parade, an event attended by 5,000 people. Several members of the United Confederate Veterans spoke, and many UDC members were on hand.The unveiling ceremony revealed the connection between Confederate iconography and Jim Crow politics. Hundreds of the attendees, including former veterans, wore "Lily White" campaign buttons. In the early 1900s, supporters of this ideology sought to disenfranchise African American voters. The Lily White movement was less prevalent in West Virginia, but in 1908, the state's Democratic Party ran on a Lily White platform. Charleston Advocate publisher John Gilmer penned a lengthy article two weeks following the monument's dedication that drew a clear line between the reappearance of "Lilly White" buttons and race. This monument was not simply a reminder of an effective West Virginia military leader, Gilmer's article demonstrated, but a reminder of the connection between celebrations of the antebellum South and attempts to recreate a society based on white supremacy. Perhaps recognizing that this was nothing new to readers of the Advocate, an African American newspaper, most of Gilmer's article centered on the state Democratic Party's internal debate over whether to support Charleston Gazette editor George Byrne's attempt to incorporate segregation and disenfranchisement into the state's Democratic platform in 1910.West Virginia Democrats ultimately decided against incorporating disenfranchisement and segregation into their 1910 platform. Gilmer pointed out that this was not the result of a change of heart, but rather a tactical decision. In close elections, the 15,000 Black voters in West Virginia might be a deciding factor, Gilmer reminded his readers. While they might not vote Democratic in an era when Southern Democrats openly embraced white supremacy, they might be less likely to cast their votes for a Republican Party that often took their support for granted if the Democrats toned down their rhetoric. Gilmer and other African Americans in the state were often critical of the Republican Party, and in 1912 Gilmer supported the Progressive Party and its leader, former Republican Teddy Roosevelt.Recognizing that Black voters in West Virginia were not a monolithic block for the Republicans, the reemergence of Lily White buttons at the Jackson monument unveiling dismayed some Democrats as the party was making small inroads among Black voters. In the weeks that followed, Democratic leaders disavowed their support of the Lilly White campaign in hopes of rebuilding support among the few Black Democratic clubs in the state. Meanwhile, Gilmer wrote that white Republican politicians were "happy" to see the buttons reappear at the monument's dedication as it might increase Black support for the GOP. Beyond these political calculations, the outward support for a campaign based on segregation and disenfranchisement offers another example of how Confederate monument dedication ceremonies provided an outlet for these ideas.The statue of Jackson was moved to its current location after the original Capitol building burned in 1921. A metal replica of the statue stands in the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. In recent years, the statue’s existence on capitol grounds has drawn increased protest. After the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, about 150 West Virginians gathered around the Jackson statue and called for the monument's removal. The protestors held a vigil for the victims in Charlottesville and called for the removal of the Jackson statue, arguing that it is inappropriate to honor Confederate soldiers at the state’s capital.On June 20, 2019, the 156th anniversary of West Virginia's admission into the Union as a new state, Charleston native Howard Swint stood in front of the Confederate statue and called for its removal citing it as a symbol of hate speech and white supremacy. Swint said other Confederate statues should be removed, as well. Swint suggested the statue be moved to a dark corner of the West Virginia State Museum in the Culture Center and the "12 Years a Slave" film should play in the background to highlight what the Confederacy fought for. He said the statue doesn't represent West Virginian values and those who erected Confederate monuments wanted to divide the nation.In 2020, in the wake of nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd, there were renewed calls for the monument’s removal; one petition demanding its removal gathered over 3,400 signatures. Governor Jim Justice stated, “From the standpoint of my personal beliefs, I don't feel like — that — anyone should feel uncomfortable here. This is our capital. This is our state. This is our people.”1 Ultimately, the statute’s fate rests with the state legislature. As of January 2021, the statue remains in situ on capitol grounds while Republican leaders who control a supermajority consider a bill that would bar the removal of statues on public grounds.

Born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Thomas "Stonewall'' Jackson rose to prominence as one of the Confederacy's most effective generals. In 1862, Jackson quickly maneuvered his forces to thwart the reinforcement of George McClellan's Army of the Potomac. The following year, Jackson was shot by accident by one of his own men, but his memory lived on as supporters of an ideology known as the "Lost Cause" used his tactical success to support their belief that Confederate troops and officers were only defeated owing to the superior numbers and resources of the North. In 1909, the United Daughters of the Confederacy hired Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel to sculpt a bronze statue in the general's honor. The state legislature approved the UDC's request to place this statue on capitol grounds. In 1910, this monument honoring a Confederate leader became the first on the state capitol complex. 

As chronicled by local newspapers, including the Charleston Advocate, an African American newspaper edited by Storer College graduate John Gilmer, hundreds of Confederate veterans and other attendees at the monument's dedication ceremony wore "Lily White'' buttons. As Gilmer and other editors explained, these buttons were a reference to a 1908 campaign by the state's Democratic Party to disenfranchise African American voters in West Virginia and pass Jim Crow laws. Gilmer and others argued the while some Democratic leaders denied their support of these measures, the prevailing spirit at this monument's dedication ceremony demonstrated that supporters of segregation and disenfranchisement had not abandoned their cause or lost the "Lilly White" buttons they had worn during the last election. As more West Virginians learn of the connection between this monument and the Lost Cause, segregation, disenfranchisement, and the actions of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, there have been repeated calls for the monument's removal. Supporters of Confederate imagery have responded by working with Republican lawmakers, and as of March 2021, a law to prevent statues in public places from being removed is being considered. 

Stonewall Jackson Statue

West Virginia is one of three states that came to be as a result of the American Civil War, yet it is the only one to have been carved out of another state. Starting in the 1820s, friction between eastern and western Virginia led to a series of conflicts, and residents in western counties generally grew to resent the power of planters in the Tidewater region. From the geographical factors that separated the two frontiers, to unfair representation and taxation, and even ethnic differences, it seemed that the western part of the state was itching to secede given the opportunity. On April 17, 1861, the representatives would be led to an opportunity to accomplish this when Virginia voted to leave the Union with a vote of 88-55. Representatives who voted against the secession later held two conferences in Wheeling on May 13 and June 11 of 1861 to decide whether they would separate from their mother state.For some time, Virginia had two governments. Francis H. Pierpont was selected as governor of the western part of the state, while Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile were elected U.S. senators. The “Restored Govenement called their territory Kanawha. Many citizens of the western part of Virginia did not wish to separate from the state to form a new one, but when the time came on May 13, 1862, after the third Wheeling convention, “West Virginia” would be named a potential new state under loyalty of the Union. However, the president himself, Abraham Lincoln, had a few concerns of whether this could be deemed legal. He would write to Pierpont himself, who he called “Peirpoint” in his letters, “Yours of the 14th received. Make haste slowly. Things are improving by time. Draw up your proclamation carefully, and, if you please, let me see it before issuing," the president would urge him.Lincoln was under considerable political stress regarding West Virginia statehood. Lincoln was supportive of the formation of West Virginia but had two concerns that he brought forward to his cabinet: given the state of the Constitution could West Virginia form into a new state even though it hadn’t gained permission of the mother state, and would this new state be anti-slavery? Luckily for the newly formed state, since Virginia pulled away from the Union, West Virginia did not need their permission to become West Virginia, thus making the Constitution condition void. As far as slavery goes, West Virginia was not entirely keen on becoming a free state but issued in the state constitution that there would be gradual emancipation. This meant slaves could be free if they were newly born or elderly, while those in-between would work off their servitude till their 25th birthday. On December 31, 1862, Abraham Lincoln acknowledged West Virginia as a Union state once terms of slavery were met with their state constitution, and sixty days later West Virginia would officially become the 35th sate of the Union.Fairmont, West Virginia sculptor Fred Torrey designed Lincoln Walks at Midnight based on Vachel Lindsay’s 1914 poem of the same name. Lindsay's poem was published in Louis Untermeyer's Modern American Poetry book in 1919. Additionally, Composers Roy Harris and Florence Price have created scores based upon the poem. The poem depicts Lincoln's restless spirit walking through Springfield, Illinois in the midst of the Civil War. The statue represents the former president on one such night as he considers how to respond to West Virginia's application for statehood in the midst of the Civil War. The 42-inch plaster model of the statue was displayed at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. After Torrey’s death in 1967, the sale of the statue’s model was delayed. Though discussion of the model’s purchase was begun in 1966 the sale was not completed until 1969. In 1974, Charleston artist Bernard Wiepper created a nine-and-a-half-foot bronze cast of the original model. The statue was placed in front of the West Virginia State Capitol to represent Lincoln contemplating the creation of West Virginia as the 35th state in the Union. Lincoln approved the West Virginia statehood bill on December 31, 1862, and West Virginia entered the Union as a state independent from Virginia on June 20, 1863. The statue is located in front of the south portico of the West Virginia State Capitol overlooking the Kanawha River and located in front of the capitol's main rotunda.

West Virginia sculptor Fred Torrey designed Lincoln Walks at Midnight in the 1930s based on Vachel Lindsay’s 1914 poem of the same name. The statue represents Lincoln's decision to grant West Virginia statehood during the Civil War. “Whereas, by the Act of Congress approved the 31st. day of December, last, the State of West Virginia was declared to be one of the United States of America, and was admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, upon the condition that certain changes should be duly made in the proposed Constitution for that State; And, whereas, proof of a compliance with that condition as required by the Second Section of the Act aforesaid, has been submitted to me; Now, therefore, be it known, that I Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, hereby, in pursuance of the Act of Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim that the said act shall take effect and be in force, from and after sixty days from the date hereof. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.” -Abraham Lincoln (April 20, 1862)

Lincoln Walks at Midnight Statue 

Some of the first battles of the Civil War occurred in West Virginia, though it remained part of Virginia prior to 1863. On June 3, 1861, Union General George B. McClellan pushed back Confederate Colonel George A. Porterfield’s forces from Phillipi, a major railroad connection to the entire northwest region of the state. This battle was possibly the first land battle of the Civil War and established space for the Wheeling convention to convene and debate the issue of West Virginia’s statehood. On August 18, 1861, there was an attempt to capture a U.S. armory in Harpers Ferry by Confederate forces. In 1862, Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson captured the town of Romney, a chokehold on the B&amp;O Railway that ran through the Shenandoah Valley region. Romney would be contested for throughout the war, and captured by both sides over 56 times.When Virginia voted to secede from the Union on April 17, 1861 delegates of the western region of the state mostly voted against secession, but as the war began most of them returned to Richmond and signed the ordinance of secession.(1) About a dozen Unionist delegates would later organize the Restored Government of Virginia and choose Francis H. Pierpont as their leader. On October 24, 1861, there was an election held in western Virginia to create a new state if the voters approved. The returns were low with 18,408 votes in favor. Historian Otis Rice wrote- "Although the Wheeling Intelligencer professed to see an 'astonishing unanimity' in the sentiment of the vote, in reality the returns reflected the deep division of feeling in western Virginia and intimidation on the part of supporters of the new state."(2) Mineral, Grant, Lincoln, Summers, and Mingo were not a part of the original formation of West Virginia and were created by the state legislature after the Civil War.The United States Constitution states that in order for a new state to form, the approval of the mother state must be met. But since the Reformed Government of Virginia was legitimized by President Abraham Lincoln himself, the new state was able to appoint itself statehood. West Virginia, though known as a Union state, remained divided amongst itself. West Virginians in Union and Confederate service found themselves fighting each other in battles in both eastern and western Virginia. Although West Virginia was credited with 32,000 Union soldiers, the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University conducted an individual soldier count and determined that West Virginia had given about equal numbers of men to both Union and Confederate service, around 20,000 men to each side.(3) The overestimation of Union soldiers was due to the inclusion of large numbers of Ohio and Pennsylvania volunteers as well as re-enlistments counted as new soldiers.In 1927, the WV Legislature created a Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Commission. This commission planned the memorial building on the Capitol grounds as a monument in recognition of the estimated, at that time, 20,000 to 36,000 men of the state who fought for the Union in the Civil War. The memorial was dedicated in 1930 to the memory of the Union soldiers and sailors from the State of West Virginia in the Civil War.The state set aside funds in the amount of $15,000 for the project. Two other Civil War monuments on the Capitol grounds, the Stonewall Jackson and Mountaineer statues, were both paid for by private funds. A New Martinsville, WV monument firm was awarded the contract. Little is known about the artist of the statue, Roy H. Stewart.The Union Soldiers and Sailors monument (USSM) depicts a Home Guard soldier carrying a musket and marching east toward the Stonewall Jackson statue in the southeast corner of the capitol grounds. The USSM has four plaques affixed to its base. One commemorates the dedication of the memorial and contains the names of the members of the Union Soldiers and Sailors Commission who erected the memorial. The second plaque contains a transcript of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The third plaque commemorates the admission of the State of West Virginia to the Union on June 20, 1863, as follows: "The Act of Congress admitting West Virginia as a separate state was approved by President Abraham Lincoln. June 20, 1863." The final plaque is inscribed: "In Memory of the thirty-two thousand soldiers, sailors and marines, contributed West Virginia to the service of the Union during the Civil War. 1861 - 1865."

The Union Soldiers and Sailors monument is a memorial to the West Virginians who fought for the Union in the American Civil War. As West Virginia became a state in response to Virginia's secession from the Union, the new state was predominantly sympathetic to the Union. The memorial was funded by the State of West Virginia and placed on the capitol grounds in 1930. It faces Kanawha Blvd. east of the Governor’s Mansion. The statue depicts a soldier carrying a musket and symbolically marching towards the statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, which is also placed on capitol grounds. 


West Virginia Union Soldiers and Sailors Memorial 

Ruffner Memorial Park (also known as Kanawha Riflemen Memorial Park) began its life as the Ruffner family cemetery in the 19th century. When the city of Charleston was looking for the site of a new city park in 1920, they decided upon the old Ruffner Cemetery, which had been purchased from the Ruffners for a city burial ground in 1831. Some of the graves were moved to Spring Hill Cemetery, but for others "the tombstones were each carefully laid on top of the graves of the owners they describe and then covered with earth and sod."[1] Indeed, the park contains the tombstone of Thomas Bullitt, a Colonel of Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War. Though he died early in the war, in 1778, he served at the <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=688" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Battle of Great Bridge</a> and the <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=9753" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">burning of Norfolk</a>. He attained his high rank quickly due to previous service in the French and Indian War, despite George Washington's low opinion of him: "Bullet (sic) is no favourite of mine, &amp; therefore I shall say nothing more of him, than that his own opinion of himself always kept pace with what others pleas’d to think of him—if any thing, rather run a head of it."[4] Land originally belonging to Thomas Bullitt would be sold by his brother after his death. This land would soon become the nearby site of <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=14196" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fort Lee</a> and the city of Charleston. Soon after the new city park's inception, a memorial to the Kanawha Riflemen--a locally raised militia company which fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War--was dedicated on the site. <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=26286" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">George Smith Patton</a>, a Richmond native and 1852 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, organized the Kanawha Riflemen after moving to Charleston in 1856. (George Patton was the grandfather of WWII General George S. Patton). By 1861, the Riflemen numbered between 75 to 100 members. The Riflemen counted some the city's most prominent figures among their ranks, including lawyers and salt barons. They were sympathetic to the South as conflict loomed on the horizon, and the company's members reportedly owned over 200 slaves. In April of 1861, the Civil War erupted as Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina and President Abraham Lincoln requested 75,000 soldiers to put down the rebellion. In response, the Riflemen passed a resolution: "we, the Kanawha Riflemen, hereby declare it to be our fixed purpose never to use our arms against the State of Virginia, or any other Southern State, in any attempt by said administration to coerce or subjugate them; and we hold ourselves ready to respond to every call that may be made on us to defend our State and section from hostile invasion."[5] In 1861, United States troops moved up the Kanawha River in 1861 to secure Charleston. Led by Patton, the Riflemen and other Confederate forces engaged Union troops at Scary Creek, on July 17, 1861. During the brief but bloody skirmish, Colonel Patton was wounded in the shoulder, though he continued to serve until his death at the Third Battle of Winchester in September 1864. The Kanawha Riflemen were eventually mustered into the Confederate army as Company H of the 22nd Virginia Infantry, which hailed from several western Virginia counties (the united was sometimes referred to as the 1st Kanawha Regiment). They held a distinguished fighting record that included several West Virginia engagments, including Carnifex Ferry and Droop Mountain (where the regiment suffered 21% casualties). Not long after the creation of Ruffner Park, the United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned a monument to the Kanawha Riflemen. It was dedicated on the site in 1922 and later donated to the city. Former Confederate General John McCausland, the second-to-last surviving Confederate general, was guest of honor at the dedication. The monument, shaped like a long bench, held a bronze plaque in its center containing the names of the Riflemen's members. Notable in the inscription of names on the monument was "William Armistead, colored cook, faithful during the war." This is in keeping with many Confederate monuments commissioned in the first half of the 20th Century, which sought to recast the image of Black slaves and servants in a manner that reflected positively on their subservient position under the Confederacy. At memorials more well-trafficked, this often caused outcry and controversy, as in the case of the <a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=20497" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Heyward Shepherd Memorial</a> in Harper's Ferry. On June 29, 2020, amidst nationwide debates over Confederate monuments, the City of Charleston removed the bronze plaque from the Kanawha Riflemen monument. The city took the statue down with little announcement or fanfare. As Mayor Amy Goodwin noted of the plaque's reference to William Armistead, “It perpetuates the falsehoods that slaves enjoyed being slaves and preferred not to be free. It’s offensive. It needed to be removed. And we removed it.” The Sons of Confederate Veterans protested the removal, calling it "secretive."[7] The city determined to replace the plaque with a new one explaining the history of the park.

Ruffner Memorial Park (sometimes referred to as Kanawha Riflemen Memorial Park) was established in 1920 on the old Ruffner family cemetery. Although many graves were removed, several remain, including the grave of Revolutionary War Colonel Thomas Bullitt. The most notable feature of the park is a monument to the Kanawha Riflemen, a local antebellum militia company that joined the Confederate 22nd Virginia Infantry and fought in the Civil War. Erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1922, the monument lists the company's members. It also lists "William Armistead, colored cook, faithful during the war," an example of the "happy slave" cliche common among Lost Cause monuments. In 2020, the City of Charleston quietly removed the monument's plaque with the intention to replace it with a new marker detailing the park's history.

Ruffner Memorial Park

Due
to its safe elevation above&nbsp;the temperamental Kanawah&nbsp;River, the property upon which Henry Devol MacFarland's house would be built was deemed suitable in 1831.&nbsp;&nbsp;William Whitteker selected the site and his brother, Norris Whitteker, was responsible
for building the house. The Whittekers were noted builders in the antebellum Kanawha Valley,&nbsp;and constructed many other early homes in Charleston. "If a Whitteker
built it, then there was nothing more to be said--it was a good house,"5 and indeed Norris Whitteker may have even manufacturing the bricks for the house with his own hands.6Though little remains in the historical record of Henry D. MacFarland, his&nbsp;brother James was prominent businessman and&nbsp;banker, largely responsible for establishing a branch of
the Bank of Virginia in Charleston in 1832. The branch would later burn&nbsp;down during Union Colonel Lightburn's retreat from Charleston in September 1862, when Confederate forces took the city. The fire also consumed James Macfarland's diary, which he had kept scrupulously for 50 years.By 1851, the house was occupied by the family of John C. Ruby II, who had married Mary Frances Noyes. Noyes' father, the wealthy Bradford Noyes, had made his fortune in the salt-making business that was Charleston's first great industrial boom. The Ruby family, like many of the Charleston business elite, were Confederate sympathizers at the outbreak of the war, and John C. Ruby II soon joined Colonel George Patton's <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22808">Kanawha Riflemen</a> (later incorporated into the 22nd Virginia Infantry regiment). The son of the house's previous owner, Henry Devol MacFarland Jr., was also a member of the Kanawha Riflemen.When Union forces occupied Charleston in April 1862, the Ruby family fled south for the duration of the war. Confederate troops in turn raided Charleston in September, and a cannonball (likely from Confederate artillery firing from the southern bank of the Kanawha River at Federal troops in the city)&nbsp;crashed through the roof of the Macfarland House.The cannonball was passed down from owner to owner and into the hands of the final private owner of the house, Elizabeth Hubbard. It is on display in the lobby of the house.Ironically their housebuilder, Norris Whitteker, was an ardent Unionist and served as the town's postmaster general for the latter half of the war. Charleston was an important communications hub, and Whitteker is reputed to have posted as many as 40,000 letters in one particularly busy day at the post office.Members of the Ruby family returned to the house in 1865 when the war came to an end. To their surprise, they discovered their vacant home had been converted into a hospital for Union troops. A number of soldiers were still convalescing within, but promptly moved into tents on the front lawn until healed enough to return home.The Ruby family continued to gain prominence in Charleston after the war. John C. Ruby II, who returned to his family after his service in the Confederate army, would be twice elected mayor of Charleston. Sons Bradford and John C. Ruby III, forming a grocery and real-estate firm under the name Ruby Bros.,&nbsp;opened the first wholesale grocery store in the city in 1872.&nbsp;&nbsp;The house was passed through Ruby family members until it was purchased by John B.
Crowley in 1922. A businessman like all the house's previous owners, Crowley underwrote the
construction of the Hotel Kanawha, Holley Hotel, and the Capitol Theater. Though Crowley owned the house for&nbsp;a shorter period than any other family, he made significant remodels during his occupancy. A
sunroom and porte cochere were added during his tenure, and a front
balcony replaced an original gallery.&nbsp;J.W. Hubbard, a grocer like the Ruby brothers before him, purchased the MacFarland-Hubbard
House in 1945. It was passed down to his daughter, Elizabeth Hubbard, upon his
death. Elizabeth was to be the house's last residential occupant.&nbsp;The West Virginia Humanities Council purchased the
home from the First Presbyterian Church in 1999 and immediately began preservation
efforts, taking care that all construction
complied with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic
Preservation. The structure’s stabilization was the first priority, followed by the installation of modern heating and cooling. The historic restoration on the first
floor created space for exhibits, programs, and meetings. The second floor of
the MacFarland-Hubbard House currently hosts the offices for the West Virginia
Humanities Council.&nbsp;The restoration efforts were made possible with the support
of the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia and the Kanawha County Historical
and Preservation Society.&nbsp;Visitors to the house wishing to tour the interior&nbsp;should use the "Business Entrance" at the rear, where West Virginia Humanities staff members are happy to provide information.

The MacFarland-Hubbard House was built in 1836, and is one of seven remaining homes built in Charleston prior to the Civil War. The home has housed four prominent Charleston families since its construction, including the MacFarlands, the Rubys, the Crowleys, and the Hubbards. In 1861, the home was temporarily used as a Federal medical hospital, even though it was owned by a family with Confederate sympathies. Today the MacFarland-Hubbard House has been restored by the West Virginia Humanities Council, whose offices reside on the second floor. 

MacFarland-Hubbard House; West Virginia Humanities Council 

The end of August 1862 brought despair to the Union cause, as a series of defeats and setbacks rocked the morale of the Union's Army of the Potomac and put it on the defensive around Washington. In a disastrous three day battle on Aug. 28-30, General John Pope's Union army was badly defeated at the Battle of Second Bull Run. Around the same time, General Don Carlos Buell was forced out of Tennessee by Confederate General Braxton Bragg. And a Confederate force under General Kirby Smith was moving virtually unopposed toward Cincinnati.To make matters worse, a Confederate cavalry raid just before 2nd Bull Run had captured General Pope's dispatch book, revealing to Confederate General-in-chief Robert E. Lee that more than half of the Union troops guarding the Kanawha Valley and western Virginia had been ordered northward to deal with these various crises, leaving an almost token force of 3,500 men in scattered garrisons under Colonel Joseph Lightburn to guard a line of defense from Fayetteville all the way west to the Ohio River.Seizing the opportunity, Lee ordered General William W. Loring to cross into what is now West Virginia with a sizable force, destroy or capture the Union garrison, then march northward. He was to secure the countryside along the way and prepare to rendezvous with more Confederate troops in the Shenandoah Valley. In capturing the Kanawha Valley, Loring would secure significant military supplies and perhaps even the salt-works near Charleston. Salt was an essential military item of the era, since without refrigeration it was the only way to preserve meat long enough to reach the fighting men at the front.Loring began his movement on September 6. He attacked a Union detachment near Fayetteville four days later with a force of at least 5,000 men — some estimates have placed it his numbers closer to 10,000. One thing is certain--it was the largest single Confederate force to invade West Virginia during the war.Federals were able to hold their positions near Fayetteville for a day then pulled back to Gauley Bridge, rendezvousing with other detachments along the way. From there, Lightburn's men conducted a fighting withdrawal up the banks of the Kanawha River, burning supplies as they went. The speed of the retreat meant that Lightburn had to split his forces, with columns traveling up both sides of the river. The Confederates followed suit, with sharp skirmishing all the way to Charleston.The majority of Lightburn's troops arrived in Charleston by the evening of September 12. But Loring's Confederates came close on their heels, and early on the morning of the 13th, Confederate artillery opened fire on Lightburn's positions near the town. Union surgeon Thomas H. Barton remembers,"The tale of rout and disaster is always the same. Intense excitement prevailed in the city. The streets were thronged with people, many of whom were preparing to follow our army, or leave the town, for the feared the battle of Charleston was about to be fought over their heads."1Union cannons attempted to answer, but were heavily outmatched. Loring's troops advanced up both banks of the Kanawha River. A brigade under General McCausland included the 22nd Virginia Infantry regiment, whose Company I were known as the Kanawha Riflemen. They were largely Charleston natives, and took part in some of the sharpest fighting near the present day Capitol Complex. Incidentally,<a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22808" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(32, 33, 36)"> </a><a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22808" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kanawha Riflemen Memorial Park</a> lies not far from where the action took place.Lightburn's troops were pushed steadily back through town, holding their ground briefly near present-day downtown Charleston to set fire to a number of buildings that held military supplies. The fire spread to unintended targets and caused the town much damage. Still more destruction was visited upon Charleston in the form of artillery fire, including a cannonball fired by a Confederate battery that passed through the roof of the the<a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22680" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(32, 33, 36)"> </a><a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22680" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MacFarland-Hubbard House</a> (owned at the time, ironically enough, by Confederate John C. Ruby II, who was serving in the Kanawha Riflemen).Lightburn had wisely pushed the many wagons of his supply train across the Elk River the previous day, and so after setting fire to the abandoned supplies his troops withdrew quickly across the suspension bridge. Under heavy shellfire, they cut the bridge's support cables and collapsed it into the river. The advancing Confederates restlessly prowled the banks looking for boats or a usable ford, but there was no way across. Musket and cannon fire still flew hotly across the Kanawha and Elk Rivers, but the engagement was effectively over.Lightburn's 700-wagon supply train had already begun the trek northward toward Point Pleasant (intense Rebel artillery fire had kept them from taking the westward route toward the Ohio River). Lighturn kept a rearguard dug in at the Elk until evening, when they extracted themselves and followed in the wake of the weary army. The Battle of Charleston had ended and<a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22836" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(32, 33, 36)"> </a><a href="https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=22836" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lightburn's Retreat</a>, in many ways more famous than the battle itself, had begun.Lightburn's destruction of the bridge over the Elk had preempted effective Confederate pursuit. Back in Maryland, the tide of Confederate victories was stemmed at Antietam only three days later--Loring was never called northward to join forces with Lee. Six weeks after the Battle of Charleston, Union reinforcements advanced southward and took the city without a fight, as the Rebels backpedaled to the positions they'd occupied before the Kanawha Valley campaign began.

Between September 6th and September 13th, 1862, Confederate forces pushed into the Kanawha Valley from western Virginia. When outnumbered Union troops pulled back from defensive positions near Fayetteville, a 10,000-strong Confederate force followed hot on the heels of the Federal retreat up the Kanawha Valley to Charleston. A brief but fierce fight took place throughout the city. Union troops withdrew across the Elk River and retreated north to Point Pleasant, but not before a large section of Charleston was burned to destroy military supplies. From the position of this marker, an observer would have been near the Union headquarters, and looked across the river toward attacking Confederate artillery. 

[Charleston's Civil War Trails Markers] Downtown Battlefield

MILITARY OCCUPATION MarkerCharleston resident James MacFarland, a prominent citizen who stayed in the city even in its darkest days during the Civil War, wrote to a friend in Washington in 1862:<blockquote>"You are doubtless aware of the sad destruction of property here on the advent of the Southern forces on the 13th of Sept. . . . . The Federals on their retreat set fire to their large commissary warehouse, the fire taking in its range the Bank of Virginia Building, the Kanawha House, William A. Whitteker's large store, the warehouse, Southern Methodist Church, Academy, etc., myself being by far the greatest sufferer. The walls of the Kanawha House present a ghastly appearance. In the former building but very little and in the latter not a particle of furniture was saved."1</blockquote>He later added in a letter to Arthur Boreman, the first Governor of West Virginia:<blockquote>"During all this period the Kanawha Valley has been in the occupancy of alternating armed forces."1</blockquote>Indeed over the course of the war Charleston changed hands several times. Only once was a pitched battle ever fought within the city, which went on to cause the damage MacFarland described. But the constant movement of troops also churned up streets and consumed resources. A year after the Battle of Charleston, MacFarland noted there were still no fence-rails to be found anywhere in town — they had been carried off for use in the soldiers' fortifications.Occupying troops were a common sight. When the Confederates briefly seized the city in 1862, their commander General Loring commandeered the local printing press to mass-produce proclamations, broadsides, and circulars. When Union troops retook Charleston in October of that year, they established camps within the city itself and across the river atop present-day Fort Hill.For the occupying forces, not all the fighting happened on battlefields. Much of the warfare in West Virginia was waged by partisans. From Charleston southward, much of the future state was pro-Confederacy, and Federal patrols were often ambushed and sniped at by unseen assailants commonly referred to as "bushwhackers."<blockquote>"If there was one thing more than another that the Second [West] Virginia Cavalry hated, it was the detestable bush-whackers (sic). We did not object to being shot at on general principles, but to have some unprincipled scoundrel who was too cowardly to join the army and fight as a man, sneak around like a thief in the night and shoot from behind a tree or from some inaccessible position, was more than we could patiently stand."2</blockquote>This made some of the most routine soldierly duties dangerous, since "in a mountainous country like western Virginia, [soldiers were] constantly exposed..."2  Union troops were usually safe in more urban areas like Charleston, but as soon as they ventured out they were vulnerable to ambush.Espionage was also not uncommon. A Union spy had worked his way into the good graces of Charleston native Colonel George S. Patton early in the war, then escaped before being caught. A story also persists that later in the war, while future President Rutherford B. Hayes was serving as an officer in the garrison guarding Charleston, two female Confederate spies were caught and executed by firing squad. A gravestone exists for the two women across the river. The story is not a far fetched one, as illustrated by dangerous Confederate spy Nancy Hart, who several times escaped Union custody and was known to assist the Moccasin Rangers, a particularly savage group of Confederate bushwhackers. PRESIDENTIAL PRESENCE MarkerAcross the river from this marker lay Camp White, built after Union forces retook Charleston in October 1862. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, 23rd Ohio Infantry, was based here in March 1863 and ordered fortifications and artillery to be placed on present-day Fort Hill (then called Fort Scammon), keeping watch over the intersection of the Kanawha and Elk Rivers. A battery of 12 cannons occupied the fort, though their only recorded firing was in salute to the Union's victory at Vicksburg in July 1863. Hayes wrote to his uncle shortly upon bivouacking at Camp White:<blockquote>"You can get on a steamer at Cincinnati and land at our camp, and be safely and comfortably housed here. Lucy and the boys, after a most happy time, went home yesterday...We seem intended for a permanent garrison here."3</blockquote>Another future President, John McKinley, served under Hayes in the 23rd Ohio for the duration of the war, and too was stationed at Camp White. Hayes noted of McKinley in his letters:<blockquote>"...an exceedingly bright, intelligent, and gentlemanly young officer. He promises to be one of our best..."3</blockquote>

Two markers on the north bank of the Kanawha River near downtown Charleston discuss aspects of military occupation during the Civil War. Notable during 1863 was the presence in Charleston of future U.S. presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley, both of whom served in the Union Army's 23rd Ohio Infantry Regiment, which was bivouacked across the river at Camp White. The former location of Camp White is visible from the marker.

[Charleston's Civil War Trails Markers x2] Military Occupation & Presidential Presence

Outnumbered two-to-one, and having determined that he could not make a stand against Confederate General William Loring's oncoming troops from his present positions in Charleston, Union Colonel Joseph Lightburn instructed loyal Union citizens to evacuate, then set fire to government buildings and his military stores. Unfortunately, the quartermaster's office had been set up in Asbury Chapel, the burning of which led to a later claim that the cold-hearted Federals had intentionally burned a house of worship. Other unintended buildings were caught up in the blaze, as well, causing considerable damage in what is now downtown Charleston.Lightburn quickly withdrew his troops across the Elk River, where under heavy fire from the Confederates they cut the cables of the suspension bridge to prevent the enemy from crossing in pursuit. Loring's Confederates searched vainly for a usable ford or enough boats to cross, but discovered nothing and discontentedly settled into Charleston. Thus began Lightburn's 50-mile trek northwest from Charleston to Point Pleasant, on the Ohio River.The Union commander's work was cut out for him. His 13-mile supply train consisted of 700 wagons laden with provisions and ammunition, and he had only 3,500 men to fight a long rearguard action against 10,000 pursuing Confederates. To complicate matters, the road and Kanawha River were choked with refugees from Charleston, including large numbers of runaway slaves who feared the consequences of recapture. The diary of Victoria Teays, who witnessed the column near the mouth of the Coal River, remarks: "Such a sight I never saw before or expect to see again....the river as far as you could see up and down was full of boats of all kinds...a person could have almost crossed the river by jumping from one boat to another." Lightburn's luck held. General Loring had meant for the retreating Union forces to be caught between the pincers of his main body and a large cavalry force under Colonel A.G. Jenkins, who had conducted a daring raid through exposed Union territory and was lying in wait westward of Charleston, in Barboursville. But on the night of Sept. 8, 1862, the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry Regiment caught Jenkins by surprise in a night attack on his camp and put him to route. By the time Jenkins reorganized his command and commenced the offensive several days later, the 2nd West Virginia had rejoined the retreating column and Lightburn's available forces kept vigilant guard over their vulnerable wagon train.The destruction of the bridge over the Elk River hampered effective Confederate pursuit, so it was up to Jenkins to harass Lightburn's withdrawing Yankees. He lacked sufficient numbers for a concerted attack, and was forced to content himself with shadowing their line of retreat--though his presence continued to be a cause of concern for the Federals.Lightburn managed to conduct the withdrawal with no major setbacks, passing through Sissonville and Ripley before many of his troops embarked upon steamships in Ravenswood and were conveyed to Point Pleasant on the Ohio River. Many of the civilians made their way to nearby Gallipolis. Lightburn consolidated his forces and fortified Point Pleasant, waiting for what he thought was an inevitable Confederate attack. It never came.AftermathAlarmed by a string of dramatic defeats in Virginia and Tennessee, the news of the loss of the Kanawha Valley prompted military leadership in Washington D.C. to send new commanders to Point Pleasant and relieve Lightburn. The former Union commander, General J.D. Cox, soon resumed command of the region and in October 1862 advanced on Charleston. Loring's troops evacuated the city and retreated. They had held Charleston for a mere six weeks.PerspectivesLightburn's Retreat has received both criticism and praise in the decades since. Historians and contemporary accounts have commended Colonel Lightburn for successfully withdrawing a large body of troops, supplies and civilians in the face of overwhelming enemy force.  Others have cast the retreat as a barely-controlled panic, typified by confusion and a failure to destroy key installations such as the salt works near Charleston (salted meat was an essential military supply at the time, and Lightburn's failure to destroy the salt works allowed the Confederates to extend the life of their rations significantly).A brief analysis of the episode by General J.D. Cox seems to straddle both sides of the argument. He postulates that Lightburn was precipitous to have fallen back to Charleston from his initial positions in Fayette County, arguing that encampments there were so strong as to have denied Loring access to West Virginia altogether. Cox goes on to defend Lightburn, however, pointing out that administrative mistakes at headquarters in Washington had left the Kanawha region with no overall commander whatsoever. Lightburn, he claims, did his best in a bad situation with no strategic oversight from ranking officers who might have had knowledge of the larger situation.It is notable that Lightburn appears to have possessed no knowledge of Jenkins' destructive raid through the countryside north and west of him. Colonel Jenkins had cut all the way across West Virginia and into Ohio, then positioned himself neatly upon Lightburn's exposed line of retreat, in an audacious display worthy of Confederate cavalry's well-earned reputation.Controversy surrounding the Retreat was alive and well into the 1990s, when a Charleston Daily Mail article resurfaced in The West Virginia Hillbilly entitled, "The Sad Saga of Lightburn's Retreat From Kanawha Valley." The article criticized Lightburn's leadership, and Lightburn's descendants responded with a letter in 1994 to the Director of West Virginia Archives and History, citing contemporary accounts and letters to refute the article's claims. A collection of these items resides at the West Virginia and Regional History Center in Morgantown.

As Confederate forces closed in on Charleston in 1862, Union commander Colonel Joseph Lightburn recognized he was outnumbered and needed to extract his troops or face destruction. After a brief fight in the city, Lightburn's troops successfully withdrew across the Elk River and destroyed the bridge to prevent pursuit, setting the stage for a 50-mile retreat to Point Pleasant while guarding refugees and a supply train 700 wagons long.

[Charleston's Civil War Trails Markers] Lightburn's Retreat

In July 1861, this area swarmed with retreating Confederate troops and pursuing Federal forces. Union Gen. George B. McClelland had ordered Gen. Jacob Cox to march his 3,000 raw Ohio recruits into western Virginia from Gallipolis, Ohio, to drive Confederate Gen. Henry A. Wise and equally raw troops from the Kanawha Valley. Wise marched downriver from Charleston to confront the Federals. By July 13, Wise's men had erected fortifications west of here on Tyler Mountain and on the Littlepage farm to command the junction of the road to Ripley with the valley road leading to Charleston.Cox launched a three-pronged drive up the Kanawha River Valley on July 11 to envelop Wise. Two wings marched overland while the third came upriver on four steamboats. Soon the Federal forces began to converge on Wise's position, and on July 17, they fought at Scary Creek, fifteen miles downriver from here. During a Union charge, the untested Confederates panicked and began falling back. Capt. George Patton tried to rally them, but his frightened mount bolted to the rear and the men fled faster. Capt. Albert G. Jenkins assumed command. His horse also bolted, and the retreat gathered speed. It stopped, however, when Wayne County's Sandy Rangers, called the Blood Tubs for their red shirts, joined the line, singing "Bullets and Steel." and turned the tide. Despite their victory, the Confederates retreated east to avoid being cut off by a superior Union force. They retreated eastward, pouring by here with the Federals in pursuit. The strategic Kanawha Valley was firmly in Union hands six weeks later."I saw, I think, the first puff of powder smoke and a bullet hit the stump on which I sat. A large beech tree was opportunely near me and I immediately sought the protection of its trunk. As the puffs of smoke increased, the beech tree seemed to wonderfully decrease in size. But for personal reasons, I stuck to it. Captain Albert G. Jenkins came up... and called for someone to go and get his horse. He did not like King Richard, promised a kingdom for his horse, but I was thinking of the kingdom to come, and a chance to dodge it. So I left the beech tree, and ran... over the hill and mounted the horse."-Sgt. Levi Welch, 22nd Virginia Infantry

This marker denotes the site of an early Civil War Battle for control of Kanawha Valley. A multipronged Union attack initially drove untested Confederate soldiers back. However, Confederate forces rallied and claimed a victory, though they continued their retreat out of southern West Virginia and into Virginia and Kentucky. 

Charleston's Civil War Trails Markers: Baptism By Fire

James Madison Laidley, a newspaper editor, politician, and prominent salt maker, had this home built in 1852 by William Preston.1 The material used for construction were available on the property or nearby. Wood was cut from the abundant timber standing, bricks were fired from clay found on the property, and the sandstone was taken from a nearby quarry. Brick used in construction is recorded as being 18 inches thick, or the thickness of three bricks. The exterior of this Greek Revival home is accented with a carved dentil cornice across the front. Sandstone block is used for the foundation. The Laidley family lived in a smaller four-room brick structure during the construction of Glenwood, This structure became the slave quarters, most likely for domestic slaves. There were smaller, less substantial structures throughout Glenwood's 366 acres for field slaves. Upon completion of the 12-room, two story home, Laidley named the home "Glenwood" for the nearby rock-strewn glen cut by a stream. This was a popular location during the summer for people in the area to visit as it was always cooler in temperature than elsewhere.  In 1857, Judge George Summers purchased Glenwood.2 Summers was an active politician. He served as a representative to the 1850-51 Constitutional Convention in Richmond, ran for governor as a Whig in 1851, and in 1852 became a circuit judge in Kanawha County, a post he held when he purchased Glenwwod. George Summers and his wife, Amacetta, lived at Glenwood until their deaths in 1868 and 1867, respectively.

One of Charleston's oldest homes, this beautiful antebellum residence is located on the West Side directly across the street from Stonewall Jackson Middle School. It is possibly the only antebellum home with slave quarters still standing in the Kanawha Valley, a structure that is located directly behind the home and known as "The Quarters."


Glenwood 

The "Stone House" was built in 1845 by Harop L. Joy and J. Carson. Designed in simple Federal style, the sandstone for the spacious and well-proportioned home was quarried on the property. An important West Virginia woman lived much of her life in the house, and it is her story that echoes throughout the home today. Rebecca Wood was born in March 1824 to prosperous landowning parents in the Kanawha Valley. She quickly grew into a strong, intelligent, and spunky young woman, and was married to Adam Littlepage, who had recently (on February 8, 1845) moved to the Kanawha Valley to join the growing salt business. The recently married Littlepages moved to a rented home near Brook’s Furnace, located on the site of what is now Daniel Boone Park. There, Rebecca and Adam welcomed their first three children, daughters Mary Lavinia and Mary Elizabeth and son John William. Both of the girls died in infancy, a common occurrence in those times. In 1848, the young couple began to plan for a permanent home when the Stone House on Kanawha Two-Mile Creek went up for auction. Adam Littlepage outbid Dr. Spicer Patrick, who owned adjacent property, by $500, and Rebecca Littlepage moved into the Stone House, which was to be her home for the rest of her life, with her family. The Littlepage family quickly grew; Rebecca brought five more children into the world before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Unlike the rest of Western Virginia, Kanawha County had a sizable slave population. In 1850, there were more than 3,000 slaves compared to a free population of 12,000. Rebecca’s mother had given her a slave, a young woman of 18 named Celine, at the time of Rebecca’s marriage to Adam Littlepage. Adam, an industrious businessman, used slaves in one of his many businesses, a cooperage across the street from the Stone House. When the state of Virginia seceded from the Union, the Kanawha Valley was sharply divided. Like the Littlepages, many of the landed gentry were supporters of the Southern cause. The top command post for the Kanawha Valley was controversially given to Henry A. Wise, former governor of Virginia. Wise was soon sent to the Valley to protect it from an invasion that might come from Union troops in Ohio. Wise and his soldiers set up camp near one of Adam Littlepage’s landholdings, a farm that was the main source of the family's food. While the Confederate troops camper near their property, they helped themselves to grain, horses, bacon, molasses, and sugar. Wise and Adam Littlepage soon butted heads over the fact that Littlepage continued to operate his cooperage business and his general store instead of joining the Confederate troops. Wise called Adam a “Yankee sympathizer who must be taught a lesson,” and demanded that he join the army or his property would be confiscated. He announced that he intended to use the Stone House as his headquarters. General Wise soon presented himself confidently as the door of the Stone House. It was Rebecca Littlepage who came to the door. Upon hearing Wise’s demands that the home be his headquarters, Rebecca (showing no sign of trepidation) told him that the the house was as much hers and it was her husband’s, and that she would not allow him to enter. Wise left with a threat to “blow the house down over your head.” The general returned later with artillery. A crowd of spectators gathered to watch. As tent poles were put in the ground of the front lawn, Rebecca went around and kicked them down. And as the guns were being wheeling into position, she gathered her children around her on the front steps. Wise gave her two minutes to remove herself and her children, an order that she ignored. An enraged Wise gave the order to open fire, but the captain refused. An enraged Wise marched off, never to return to the Littlepage house. Despite his responsibilities at home, Adam Littlepage soon entered the military on the Confederate side as the quartermaster officer of the Twenty-Second Infantry under George S. Patton’s command. Rebecca and Adam’s seventh child, a girl, was born after Adam left home. Never to return home, Littlepage died in a duel over a saddle. His opponent was also mortally wounded. Rebecca was left a widow with seven children. As the tide of war shifted, her situation become desperate and she relied on her courage and ingenuity to protect herself and her family. During the years of the war, sentries of one army or another were constantly present on Rebecca Littlepage’s property. She fed the soldiers and recognized that it made sense to put away her partisan feelings. After the war, Rebecca was forced to sell some of Adam’s landholdings to pay the taxes on the Stone House. The Littlepage children were taught by a governess who lived in the house, which soon became known as the “Stone Mansion.” When Rebecca died, in 1896 of pneumonia, a giant acorn (carved of the same sandstone as the Stone House) was erected on her grave. The unique marker evokes the memory of a strong-willed, independent woman.

Charleston, like the rest of western Virginia, was contested territory during the early years of the Civil War. Confederate troops attempted to capture and hold the city at several points during the course of the war. A marker at this location tells the history of the first engagement in Charleston. In July of 1861, Henry Wise's Confederates attempted to build a small fort at this location in anticipation of a battle with Union troops under the command of General George McClellan. The owner of the property, Rebecca Littlepage, reportedly denied Wise's demands and successfully compelled the Confederates to both leave and spare her home from destruction as they had originally promised.

Civil War Charleston

Fort Scammon (Fort Hill)

Introduction

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Backstory and Context

Additional Information