The First Land Battle of the War- Philippi, WV

On April 17 a group of delegates met in Virginia and voted 88 to 55 to approve an ordinance of secession from the Union. The state militia moved quickly to seize the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry and the Gosport Navy Yard near Norfolk. The overwhelming majority of delegates from the western part of the state voted against secession. On May 13th a group of Unionists held their own convention in Wheeling, WV to discuss the possibility of leaving the state of Virginia. Two days later they agreed to wait until a state-wide referendum on May 23rd that would decide whether Virginia would remain in the Union. If Virginia seceded, they would meet again on June 11th. Meanwhile, Virginia governor John Letcher was busy working to secure the western part of the state for the Confederacy. On May 14th Letcher sent Colonel George A. Porterfield to Grafton on the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad to organize the militia there. Porterfield had been told that he would be greeted by 5,000 Virginians ready to enlist but on arriving at the station there was no one there to meet him. A Unionist company under Captain George R. Latham, a Grafton attorney, already occupied the town. Porterfield moved south to Philippi where he found some poorly equipped cavalry and militia. On May 24th he marched about 400 men to Fetterman just outside Grafton.

Two main avenues of invasion into Virginia from the west were the B&O Railroad and the Kanawha River valley shown below. On May 3rd the Union formed the Department of Ohio (included Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and parts of Pennsylvania and Western Virginia) under the command of George McClellan.

On May 22nd Union Private Thornsberry Bailey Brown became the first soldier killed in the Civil War. Brown and Lieutenant Daniel Wilson were returning to Grafton, at the point where the tracks of the B&O crossed the Northwestern Turnpike, when members of the Letcher Guards called out to them to halt. During the ensuing confrontation Brown fired on Private Daniel S. Knight striking and cutting off his right earlobe. Knight returned fire striking Brown in the chest killing him. Captain Latham decided to move his small force from Grafton to a safer location at nearby Valley Falls and on March 25th Porterfield marched into and occupied Grafton.

**Thornsberry Bailey Brown’s grave- Grafton National Cemetery- 39.3369000, -80.0302333**

**Thornsberry Bailey Brown Memorial- 39.3530667, -80.0433667**

Virginia citizens voted to secede from the Union on May 23rd with many of the western counties voting to remain in the Union. Three days later McClellan ordered his troops to invade western Virginia. Colonel Benjamin Kelley leads the 1st (West) VA and part of the 2nd (West) VA southeast from Wheeling along the B&O Railroad to Grafton. He is supported by the 15th OH under Colonel George W. Andrews and the 16th OH under Colonel James Irvine. The 14th OH crossed the Ohio River at Parkersburg followed by the 18th OH under Colonel T.R. Stanley. Brigadier General Thomas Morris was ordered to move from Indianapolis to Grafton with the 9th IN. In a skirmish at Glovers Gap, northwest of Mannington, Captain Christian Roberts becomes the first Confederate officer killed in the Civil War.

On May 28th Porterfield learns that the Federals have advanced to Fairmont about 20 miles from Grafton and decides to retreat 15 miles south to Philippi. He is reinforced there by a company of infantry from the Upshur Grays commanded by Captain John Higgenbotham. Porterfield now has nine companies of the 9th VA, the 11th and 14th VA cavalry, and the 25th and 31st VA infantry, a total of less than 900 men. Philippi was on the important Beverly Fairmont Road and the site of a large, covered bridge known as the Monarch, built by Lemuel Chenoweth, that crossed the Tygart’s Valley River. On May 30th Kelley enters Grafton unopposed. On June 1st the 14th OH commanded by Colonel Lander is nearing Clarksburg. Lander will act in concert with Kelley to move on Philippi in two converging columns. Brigadier General Thomas A. Morris of Indiana was in overall command of the mission.

Preparations began in earnest on June 2nd. Kelley with 1,600 men from the 1st (West) VA, the 9th IN led by Colonel Robert Milroy and the 16th OH under Colonel James Irvine board a train east to Thornton. From there they will march 22 miles on the eastern side of the Tygart’s Valley River south through Moatsville, Nestorville, and Tacy. They are to arrive at 4:00 AM the following day and attack Philippi from the east. Commanding the second column Colonel Ebenezer Dumont will take the 7th IN five miles west by rail to Webster. He will be joined there by the 6th IN (Colonel T.T. Crittenden), the 14th and 15th OH, and 2 companies of the OH Light Artillery, a total of 1,450 men. They will proceed south down the Beverly Fairmont Road for 12 miles to arrive at 4:00 AM on the west side of town where they will wait for Kelley to open the attack. The Confederates were warned of the plan on June 2nd when a local woman, Mrs. Whitescarver, rode into town and informed Porterfield the Yankees were marching on Philippi. On the same day two Fairmont women, Abbie Kerr and Mollie McLeod, also informed Porterfield that they had observed at least 5,000 Union soldiers on railroad cars moving east toward Grafton. Porterfield planned to retreat south at midnight unless it rained in which case, he would leave the following morning for Beverly. Heavy rains began around 8-9 PM. The Confederate pickets believing no one would attack them in a downpour moved back to the comforts of their tents in camp. Kelley and Dumont’s approach would be completely undetected.

Dumont and his men arrived on time on the west side of town at Talbott’s Hill (now College Hill), however, Kelley was behind schedule. His guide a woodsman named Jacob Baker, had led the column astray at a narrow crossroads east of Philippi. As Baker turned the column right Kelley suspected treachery and directed Robert Milroy and his men to take the left fork, hoping that he would come out on the Beverly Fairmont Road about a mile south of Philippi blocking Porterfield’s escape route. Kelley was to open the attack and then Lander’s cannons would fire on Porterfield’s camp from Talbott’s Hill. Mrs. Thomas Humphreys was awakened by Federal soldiers from Dumont’s column marching past her home. She had a son in Porterfield’s army and sent her 12-year-old Oliver on horseback to warn his brother. Oliver was unhorsed twice by Union soldiers. Matilda Humphreys then shot at the Federals with a pistol. She missed but Colonel Lander on Talbott’s Hill interpreted these shots as the start of the battle and opened fire with his cannons before Kelley was in position. Thus, Mrs. Humphreys fired the first shot of the first land battle of the Civil War. Lewis Fahrion fired his cannon and the shot landed 500 yards below in the middle of the Rebel camp. They were caught completely by surprise. Both Kelley and Milroy had taken roads that brought them into Philippi in such a way that the road south to Beverly was still open. Kelley actually came into town from the north down current day Pike Street not the east. The Confederates fled in disarray and panic down the Beverly Fairmount Road (Main Street today) in the battle that would come to be known derisively as the “Philippi Races”.

The Confederates suffered six casualties (1 wounded, 1 wounded and captured, and 4 captured). Five Union soldiers were wounded including Colonel Kelley who was shot in the right chest by William Sims. Kelley would recover and return to service 60 days later as a newly promoted Brigadier General. The only Union soldier killed during the campaign was Private Charles Degner of the 7th IN who died on the march when he slipped on a log and accidentally shot himself in the leg and bled to death.

One of the Confederate wounded 18 year-old James E. Hanger left Washington College in Lexington to enlist in the Churchville Cavalry. When Federal cannons opened fire a six-pound solid shot hit the ground, ricocheted, and struck him in the leg. When the Confederates fled, he was left behind and Surgeon James D. Robison of the 16th OH performed an amputation seven inches below the left hip in what was the first amputation of the Civil War. Hanger had lost so much blood that his surgery was carried out without anesthesia, a rare occurrence in the Civil War.

**Site of the McClasky House 39.1518744, -80.03908**

**38.2259667, -79.1635333, Churchville, VA**

After his surgery Hanger was brought to the homes of William McClasky and then Thomas Hite. From Philippi he was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp (Camp Chase in Ohio). In August Private Hanger was exchanged and returned to the Staunton, VA area. Over the next three months he fashioned himself an artificial wooden leg from barrel staves. He then made more “Hanger limbs” for other Confederate amputees in Richmond. Hanger patented his prosthetic limb and developed a thriving business in both the United States and Europe which still exists today! The other wounded Confederate Fauntleroy Daingerfield, a former cadet at V.M.I., was shot in the knee and evacuated to Beverly where his leg was amputated the next day at the Logan house by Dr. John Huff, making him the second amputee of the war and the first to be performed by a Confederate physician.

The Confederates fled through Beverly all the way to Huttonsville on June 4th, 45 miles from Philippi. Porterfield telegraphed his superiors in Richmond from the base of Cheat Mountain that he had been driven from Philippi by a large force and needed to be reinforced immediately or northwest Virginia would need to be abandoned. The response was that a board of inquiry was convened to investigate his defeat at Philippi. The board consisting of Colonel William B. Taliaferro 23rd VA, Captain Julius A. de Langnel Richard Garnett’s Chief of Artillery and Lieutenant Colonel John Pegram 20th VA met on June 20 in Beverly and delivered their report on July 4th. Porterfield was blamed for not taking proper defensive measures, failure to withdraw before a superior force, and the pickets coming in from their positions in the storm leaving the post vulnerable to attack. He was replaced with Brigadier General Robert S. Garnett. George McClellan received credit for the victory even though he was over 300 miles away in Cincinnati and had not as of yet set foot in the state of Virginia.

The following pictures were taken on a trip to Philippi, links are included to the Historical Marker Database for the tablet markers.

Talbott’s or College Hill

The building with the columns on it, near the top of the picture below, is on Talbott’s Hill. The picture was taken from the center of town giving one an idea of the commanding position the cannons occupied with respect to the town.