Confederates in Virginia

THE gathering of Confederate troops at Manassas, under Beauregard, required prompt and vigorous action on the part of the Government. The main Confederate army was there. Johnston was at Winchester, with a large body, ready to reinforce Beauregard at any moment, unless prevented by General Patterson, who was at Martinsburg early in July, with eighteen thousand Nationals, keenly watching the movements of the Confederates. From their grand encampment at Manassas, the latter had sent out detachments along the line of the Upper Potomac from Georgetown to Leesburg, menacing various points, and foraging. At Vienna they had a severe skirmish (June 17) with an Ohio regiment, and were repulsed; and there the flag of the ''Sovereign State of South Carolina'' was first seen on a battle-field. The Confederates soon returned and took possession of Vienna and Falls Church Village, and the latter became famous for stirring scenes afterward. It was ten days after this event that Captain Ward of the Freeborn, was killed at Matthias Point.

The Confederates now put forth all their available strength to hold the mountain regions of Virginia. The Baltimore and Ohio Railway was guarded by National troops; and about twenty thousand of these from Ohio, Indiana and Virginia, were at Grafton, under the command of General George B. McClellan, at the beginning of July. Porterfield had been superseded by General R. S. Garnett, in command of the Confederate forces in Western Virginia, with his headquarters at Beverly and outlying posts at Bealington, Philippi, Buckhannon, and Romney. In the Great Kanawha region, a considerable body of Confederates were led by Ex-Governor H. A. Wise, where he was confronted by Ohio troops under General J. D. Cox. At the same time McClellan began offensive operations. He led ten thousand men to attack Garnett at Laurel Hill, near Beverly; and sent four thousand men under General T. A. Morris toward the same point, by way of Philippi. Another body under General Hill was sent to a point eastward of Philippi, to prevent the escape of the insurgents over the Alleghany Mountains to join Johnston at Winchester.

When the Nationals approached Garnett's position, it was ascertained that Colonel John Pegram, with a considerable body of Confederates, was strongly intrenched in Rich Mountain Gap in the rear of his chief. McClellan immediately dispatched Colonel (afterward General) W. S. Rosecrans, with a body of Ohio and Indiana foot soldiers and a troop of cavalry, in light marching order, to dislodge Pegram. By a circuitous and perilous mountain march in the darkness, and under a heavy rain-storm, they made their way to the top of a ridge of Rich Mountain, above Pegram's camp and only a mile from it (July 11, 1861); but they were not unobserved. Pegram had discovered their approach, and now attacked them furiously with nine hundred men armed with muskets and cannon. A severe engagement ensued. The Confederates were repulsed; and for his gallantry on that occasion Rosecrans was commissioned a brigadier-general.

The National troops were in a perilous situation on Rich Mountain, for Pegram confronted them with an overwhelming force. McClellan had heard the sounds of battle, and pushed forward with troops for their relief. Pegram did not wait to be attacked, but stole away in the night, and so uncovered Garnett's rear. Advised of this fact, Garnett also withdrew in the darkness, leaving most of his cannon, tents and wagons behind, and fled toward Huttonsville. Headed off by McClellan, his forces were scattered in the mountains of the Cheat River region. Meanwhile Pegram and six hundred of his followers had surrendered (July 14) to McClellan. The other fugitives were pursued by General Morris, accompanied by Captain H. W. Benham (McClellan's chief engineer), and were overtaken at Carricksford, on a branch of the Cheat River. There a sharp engagement occurred, when Garnett was killed and his forces were dispersed. Another portion of Garnett's troops had fled toward Staunton, pursued to the summit of the Cheat Range, where an Indiana regiment established an outpost. Meanwhile Cox had driven Wise out of the Kanawha region, and at the middle of July (1861) the war in Western Virginia seemed to be at an end. On the 19th, McClellan said, in a despatch to the War Department, ''We have completely annihilated the enemy in Western Virginia. Our loss is about thirteen killed and not more than forty wounded; while the enemy's loss is not far from two hundred killed; and the number of prisoners we have taken will amount to at least one thousand. We have captured seven of the guns of the enemy, in all."

The Confederates were not disposed to abandon the granary that would supply Eastern Virginia, without another struggle. General Robert E. Lee succeeded Garnett in the chief command in that region. John B. Floyd, the treacherous National Secretary of War, had succeeded Wise as a leader; but he, too, was now superseded by a better man, and after awhile the war in the mountain region of Virginia was renewed. McClellan had been called to the command of the Army of the Potomac, and was succeeded in Western Virginia by General Rosecrans.