The Battle of White Sulphur Springs (26 page)

250
. Humphreys, “Personal Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

251
. Scott,
45
^th
Virginia Infantry
, 30.

252
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 62.

253
. Ibid., 60–61.

254
. Rand, “Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

255
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 62–63.

256
. Humphreys, “Personal Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

257
. Crayon, “Recollections of Civil War Days in Greenbrier.”

258
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 53.

259
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

260
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 205.

261
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 64.

262
. Ibid., 35–36.

263
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 76.

264
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 53–54. Barbee's wound was so severe that he was unable to return to active duty in the field with the regiment. Lowry,
22
^nd
Virginia Infantry
, 46. In December 1863, Barbee wrote to his wife: “My wounds have entirely healed. While East a large piece of bone worked out near right elbow joint from which again followed an Erysipelatous inflammation & gave me much pain. All however is now well. I sometimes suffer pain about my left hip where I was beaten with a gun. Sometimes I fear the heavy blows recd on crest of Ischium will yet bring about Caries of that part of the bone.” He indicated that he soon expected to regain full use of the wounded arm and returned to duty in the winter of 1864. Andrew R. Barbee to his wife, December 7, 1863, Letters Received 1863–1865, Department of West Virginia, Entry 5691, RG 393, U.S. Army Continental Commands 1821–1920, NARA. When he returned to duty, Barbee did not return to the 22
^nd
Virginia. Instead, he was assigned to duty in the Confederate medical department and served out the rest of the war in that capacity. Miller and Maxwell,
West Virginia and Its People
, 2:202.

265
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 58.

266
. Ibid.

267
. Mathers, “The War in West Virginia.”

268
. George S. Patton to C.Q. Tompkins, September 27, 1863, Terry Lowry collection, Charleston, West Virginia.

269
. Benjamin, “Killed in Battle with Four Names.”

270
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 54.

271
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

272
. Humphreys, “Personal Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

273
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 2, 60.

274
. Ibid., 54.

275
. Ibid., 60.

276
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

277
. MacCorkle,
White Sulphur Springs
, 268.

278
. Stevens, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

279
. Lowry,
22
^nd
Virginia Infantry
, 47.

280
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 36.

C
HAPTER
5

281
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 36.

282
. Ibid., 61.

283
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 205.

284
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 36.

285
. Ibid., 38.

286
. Ibid., 54.

287
. Ibid., 61.

288
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 91.

289
. James McChesney to his sister, September 4, 1863, H.E. Matheny collection, Akron, Ohio.

290
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 91.

291
. Ibid., 248.

292
. Stevens, “The Battle of Dry Creek.”

293
. Ibid.

294
. MacCorkle,
White Sulphur Springs
, 269.

295
. Charles Mestrezat to his wife, undated letter, Charles Mestrezat letters, Special Collections, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia.

296
. Edgar, “The Battle of White Sulphur Springs,” 7.

297
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 38.

298
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap.” Sergeant Joshua Groft of the 14
^th
Pennsylvania did not care for the baron, whom he described as “a very overbearing officer.” Groft later recounted that “they say he was killed by our own men, for he was found shot in the back.” There is no evidence to suggest that von König was shot by anyone other than one of Patton's foot soldiers. Sergeant Groft's claim that his own men killed Captain von König cannot be corroborated and should be discounted. A member of the 3
^rd
West Virginia claimed that von König was intoxicated. “He was under the influence of liquor and approached our Colonel on the field, inquired for the 8
^th
[West] Virginia, was told not to go in that direction he was then taking or he would be shot. He persisted and fell in sight of several of our men,” he claimed. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.” There is also nothing to corroborate the claim that Baron von König was intoxicated either.

299
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 92.

300
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 36.

301
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 91; Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 206.

302
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 34.

303
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 64; Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 205.

304
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 205.

305
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 59.

306
. Ibid., 36; Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 205.

307
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap.”

308
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 54.

309
. Carpenter to his sister, September 4, 1863.

310
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 59. Upon learning of her husband's death after the battle, Mrs. traveled to West Virginia to try to reclaim her late husband's remains. She spent three traumatic weeks in Beverly in the hope of getting a pass to go through the lines to retrieve her husband's remains. Collins,
General William Averell's Salem Raid
, 34.

311
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 54.

312
. Scott,
45
^th
Virginia Infantry
, 30.

313
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 63.

314
. Scott,
45
^th
Virginia Infantry
, 30.

315
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 206.

316
. Lyda, “Gen. Averill's Brigade.”

317
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 54.

318
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap”;
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 61.

319
. Johnston,
Captain Beirne Chapman and Chapman's Battery
, 14.

320
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap.”

321
. Mathers, “The War in West Virginia.”

322
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

323
. McNeel, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

324
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 3699.

325
. Ibid., 54.

326
. Oley to Townsend, September 1, 1863.

327
. Mathers, “The War in West Virginia.”

328
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 92.

329
. Ibid.

330
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 45.

331
. Jones, “Battle of Dry Creek.”

332
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 36.

333
. Stevens, “Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

334
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 36.

335
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap.”

336
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 59.

337
. Ibid., 63.

338
. Ibid., 55.

339
. Ibid., 56.

340
. Patton,
The Pattons
, 48. Shortly after his eleventh birthday, George William Patton changed his name to George Smith Patton to honor his father, who was killed in action at the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864. That's why his son was named George Smith Patton Jr., who became a legendary hero of World War II.

341
. Robertson,
Soldier of Southwestern Virginia
, 180; Weaver,
Virginia Home Guards
, 134–35.

342
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 43 and 45. Jones wrote in his report, “If Wharton's brigade had moved by railroad to Millborough, as I supposed it would, it would have reached Callaghan's on the evening of the 26
^th
or morning of the 27
^th
. With that force at Callaghan's and the First Brigade pressing in the rear, the country is such that I scarcely think that General Averell's command could have escaped destruction.” Ibid., 45.

343
. Ibid., 50.

C
HAPTER
6

344
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 36–37.

345
. For a detailed discussion of the Battle of Kelly's Ford, see Wittenberg,
Union Cavalry Comes of Age
, 71–110.

346
. Knox, “Ed. Leader,” 10.

347
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 42.

348
. Ibid., 61.

349
. Davis, “At Rocky Gap, W. Va.”

350
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 63.

351
. Ibid., 61.

352
. Ibid., 31.

353
. Ibid., 55.

354
. Ibid., 59.

355
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

356
. The
Official Records
do not indicate precisely where or what Scammon's troops were doing during the Battle of White Sulphur Springs, but it does not appear that they ever left their base camp near Charleston in the Kanawha River Valley and never made any real effort to come to Averell's assistance. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, the future president who commanded one of Scammon's regiments, wrote on August 5, “We shall go up to Lewisburg, I guess, in two or three weeks to see after the Rebels in that quarter.” Williams,
Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes
, 2:428. Hayes continued to send letters home, all of which indicated that the command was still at its base outside Charleston, even after the great law book raid ended.

357
.
OR, vol
. 29, part 1, 59.

358
. Lyda, “General Averill's Brigade.”

359
. Reader,
Fifth West Virginia Cavalry
, 206.

360
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 59.

361
. Knox, “Ed. Leader,” 10.

362
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry
, 93.

363
. Mathers, “The War in West Virginia.”

364
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 61.

365
. Ibid., 45.

366
. Ibid.

367
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Cavalry
, 225–26. Wilson was initially imprisoned at Libby Prison and then was transferred to South Carolina. He escaped once and was then imprisoned in Charleston. Along with a lieutenant of a New Jersey regiment, he escaped again but, owing to starvation, was unable to make it out of Charleston. An unknown African American man hid him in his cabin, where Wilson died on November 24, 1864. He was buried in the yard of the cabin and then, after the war, removed to the National Cemetery in Charleston, where he rests today. Ibid., 226.

368
. Groft, “Averell's Queer Skirmish at Rocky Gap.”

369
. Slease,
14
^th
Pennsylvania Cavalry
, 249–50.

370
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 1, 55.

371
. Ibid., 57.

372
. Stevens, “Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

373
.
OR
, vol. 29, part 2, 677.

374
. Ibid., part 1, 46.

375
.
Richmond Daily Dispatch
, August 31, 1863.

376
. McKinney,
Civil War in Greenbrier County
, 267.

377
. James Steel McClung war memoirs, Terry Lowry collection, Charleston, West Virginia.

378
. The family cemetery on the grounds of the Greenbrier is difficult to locate, as it is tucked in amongst expensive rental cottages. There are no signs denoting it, and it does not appear on maps of the resort. It took the author and West Virginia historian Terry Lowry nearly an hour of searching to locate the cemetery, even though they had a general idea of where it could be found. The graves overlooking the CSX Railroad (the modern successor to the Virginia Central) tracks are even more remote and are more difficult to locate. There are undoubtedly a good number of battlefield graves that remain undisturbed to this day.

379
. Stevens, “Reminiscences of the Battle of Dry Creek.”

380
. Ibid.

381
. Johnson, “The Battle of Dry Creek.”