The Battle of White Sulphur Springs (25 page)

105
. Ibid., 88.

106
. Edgar, “History of the Battle of White Sulphur Springs,” 1.

107
. Price, “Plain Tales of Mountain Trails,” 391–92.

108
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 33–34.

109
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

110
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 34.

111
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

112
. Giunta,
Civil War Soldier of Christ and Country
, 191.

113
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 49.

114
. West,
Remember Me
, 229.

115
. Price, “Plain Tales of Mountain Trails,” 392.

116
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 34.

117
. Giunta,
Civil War Soldier of Christ and Country
, 191.

118
. John H. Oley to Capt. Fred Trowbridge, September 1, 1863, William Woods Averell Papers, Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont College, Claremont, California.

119
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 3492.

120
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 89.

121
. Mowrer,
History of the Organization and Service
, 8.

122
. Hedgeman Slack to his sister, September 5, 1863, Charles N. Slack collection, Charleston, West Virginia.

123
. Samuel B. Knox, letter of June 19, 1899, published in an unidentified newspaper as “No. 16.”

124
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 203.

125
. Oley to Trowbridge, September 21, 1863.

126
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 3493.

127
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 89.

128
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

129
. West,
Remember Me
, 229.

130
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 90.

131
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 3494.

132
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 203.

133
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

134
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 49.

135
. Edgar, “The Battle of White Sulphur Springs,” 2.

136
. Giunta,
Civil War Soldier of Christ and Country
, 191.

137
. Ibid. Lieutenant Meigs also made some prescient observations to his father. “We either capture or clear the country west of our line of march of
rebels forces
it will be a pity to abandon it again to be occupied by a force of 8 or 10 thousand as it has been while we watch along the B&O RR with 30,000. To hold it we would have to occupy each gap with some block houses and field works. The block houses only need to be garrisoned except on approach of the enemy. We could thus with a very small force hold the line of the Alleghanys as far as Lewisburg. Then we would strike westward to the Big Sandy. This line would be as easy to defend as the Alleghany but then we would have no large force in front from which detachments can be sent in quiet times to worry us.” Ibid., 191–92, 195.

138
. The town of Callaghan is located five miles east of Covington and fifteen miles east of White Sulphur Springs on the James and Kanawha Turnpike. The town was named for the Callaghan Tavern, opened in 1792 by Revolutionary War veteran Dennis Callaghan. It was an important crossroads, and the Callaghan Tavern was a well-known landmark.

139
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 34.

140
. Mathers, “The War in West Virginia.”

141
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

142
. Mathers, “The War in West Virginia.”

C
HAPTER
3

143
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 2, 634.

144
. Ibid., 652–53.

145
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”6

146
.
Richmond Daily Dispatch
, August 27, 1863.

147
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 44.

148
. MacCorkle,
White Sulphur Springs
, 264.

149
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

150
. Jones, “Foreword,” in Jones,
Siege of Charleston
, 5–6.

151
. Jones, “Holding Burnside in Check in East Tennessee,” in Cozzens,
Battles and Leaders
, 430–31.

152
. Robertson,
Soldier of Southwestern Virginia
, 144.

153
. Ibid., 157.

154
. Davis,
Confederate General
, 2: 92–93.

155
. Edgar Papers, Southern Historical Collections.

156
. Patton,
The Pattons
, 47.

157
. Ibid., 40–41.

158
. Brager, “Like His More Famous Namesake,” 12, 14.

159
. Colonel Isaac W. Patton commanded the 22
^nd
Louisiana Infantry. Colonel Tazewell Waller Patton commanded the 13
^th
Virginia Infantry and was mortally wounded while leading his regiment during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. Colonel John Mercer Patton Jr. briefly commanded the 21
^st
Virginia Infantry and then served as a judge advocate officer. See Allardice,
Confederate Colonels
, 300–01. Two other brothers also served in the Confederate
army
.

160
. Hayden,
Virginia Genealogies
, 33.

161
. Lowry,
Last Sleep
, 40.

162
. Faulkner,
Dear Annie
, 28.

163
. Lowry,
22
^nd
Virginia Infantry
, dust jacket.

164
. Derrick obituary,
National Intelligencer
, May 17, 1852.

165
. One source states that Derrick was dismissed from the army on July 16, 1861, for tendering his resignation in the face of the enemy. See Kirshner,
Class of 1861
, 79.

166
. Anderson,
Sharples-Sharpless Family
, 1:326; Krick,
Lee's Colonels
, 118.

167
. Lowry,
Last Sleep
, 43.

168
. Ibid., 44.

169
. Walls, “A History of the White Sulphur Rifles,” 17–18.

170
. Lowry,
Last Sleep
, 44.

171
. Ibid., 45.

172
. Ibid.

173
. Scott,
45
^th
Virginia Infantry
, 2–3.

174
. Morrison,
Memoirs of Henry Heth
, 152.

175
. Scott,
45
^th
Virginia Infantry
, 25–30.

176
. Allardice,
Confederate Colonels
, 80.

177
. Johnston,
Captain Beirne Chapman
, 1–6.

178
. Ibid.

179
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 2, 663.

180
. Ibid., 664.

181
. Ibid., part 1, 44, 42.

182
. Ibid., part 2, 666. He sent very similar orders to the Home Guard commander at Salem, also instructing those troops to be prepared to move at a moment's notice to defend the New River Bridge. Ibid., 668.

183
. Robertson,
Soldier of Southwestern Virginia
, 180.

184
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 44.

185
.
Richmond Daily Dispatch
, August 28, 1863.

186
.
OR, vol
. 29, part 1, 45.

187
. Arbogast, “The Battle of Dry Creek,” 14.

188
.
Richmond Daily Dispatch
, August 28, 1863.

189
. Edgar, “The Battle of White Sulphur Springs,” 2.

190
.
Richmond Daily Dispatch
, August 26, 1863.

191
. Price, “Plain Tales of Mountain Trails,” 393.

192
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 45. Jackson later claimed that “when I first arrived at Gatewood's and on several occasions, I dispatched to Colonel Patton (with the request that he forward to the general commanding) my opinion that the enemy would, after driving my command out of the way, proceed to Lewisburg, and I also dispatched to him, with the same request, all my movements until after I had fallen back from Warm Springs.” Ibid., 52. Patton never mentioned these dispatches in his report, so it is likely that they were not received. If Jackson indeed sent these dispatches, he had divined Averell's intentions. Undoubtedly such intelligence would have been important to Jones's and Patton's planning for responding to the threat posed by Averell's invading force.

193
. Edgar, “Battle of White Sulphur Springs,” 2.

194
. Henry C. Carpenter to “My Dear Sister Emily,” September 4, 1863, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia.

195
. Humphreys, “Personal Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

196
. MacCorkle,
White Sulphur Springs
, 265–66.

C
HAPTER
4

197
. McNeel, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

198
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 34–35.

199
. Mathers, “The War in West Virginia.”

200
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 119.

201
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 35.

202
. Ibid., 60.

203
. Edgar, “Battle of White Sulphur Springs,” 2.

204
. Humphreys, “Personal Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

205
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 55. Branham was actually a member of Brigadier General John Echols's staff, but he had been serving with Patton since Echols had to take sick leave. Patton praised Branham's energy, skill and courage in his after-action report of the battle.

206
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 204.

207
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap.”

208
. George M. Edgar to Francis H. Smith, August 31, 1863, Superintendent's Records, Incoming Correspondence, Archives, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia.

209
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 53.

210
. Humphreys, “Personal Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

211
. Noyes, “Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

212
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

213
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 65.

214
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

215
. Humphreys, “Personal Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

216
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 53.

217
. Ibid., 58.

218
. Ibid., 62.

219
. Knox, “Battle of Rocky Gap.”

220
. Mathers, “War in West Virginia.”

221
. Lyda, “Gen. Averill's Brigade.”

222
. Ibid.

223
. Brian Stuart Kesterson to the author, June 10, 2010.

224
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 35. It is important to note that when cavalry fights dismounted, its effective strength is automatically reduced by 25 percent, since one out of every four men has the task of holding his horse and those of three others at the ready, so that the riders can quickly mount up and move out as needed. This means that if Averell deployed his entire brigade in a dismounted fight, he would have fewer than one thousand carbines on the line of battle.

225
. Ibid., 65.

226
. Lyda, “Gen. Averill's Brigade.”

227
. Oley to Trowbridge, September 1, 1863.

228
. Benjamin Ronk diary, entry for August 26, 1863, West Virginia State Archives, Charleston, West Virginia.

229
.
Gallipolis Journal
, September 17, 1863.

230
. Ibid., September 3, 1863.

231
. Oley to Trowbridge, September 1, 1863.

232
. Ibid.

233
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 35.

234
. Ibid.

235
. Mowrer,
History of the Organization and Service
, 8.

236
. Affidavit of William Woods Averell of February 6, 1893, Chatham T. Ewing pension file, RG 94, NARA. Ewing died in July 1892 from a gunshot wound to the abdomen received at White Sulphur Springs that resulted in a disease of the bowels. Averell later stated that he believed that Ewing's wounds contributed to his early death. Ibid.

237
. Affidavit of Adam Brown, July 16, 1889, Ewing pension file.

238
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 204.

239
. Mowrer,
History of the Organization and Service
, 65.

240
. Johnson, “The Battle of Dry Creek.”

241
. Johnston,
Captain Beirne Chapman
, 77.

242
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 90–91.

243
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 35.

244
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap.”

245
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 120.

246
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 90.

247
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 58.

248
. Ibid., 53.

249
. Parke, “F.J. Parke on Dry Creek Field.”