General Floyd’s army withdrew from Carnifex Ferry along the Sunday Road where he met General Wise near present day Hico. Floyd was angry that Wise had not sent more than one regiment to reinforce him during the battle at Carnifex Ferry. Wise argued that he was protecting Floyd’s rear from attack by the Union keeping open a line of retreat, which in fact he did since Union skirmishers probed the area during the battle. General Lee still at Cheat Mountain received a dispatch from Richmond on the 12th from Leroy Pope Walker the Confederate Secretary of War stating, “I am instructed by the President to say that you have authority to transfer General Wise’s Legion proper to any other command than that of General Floyd it being clearly evident that the commands of Generals Floyd and Wise cannot cooperate with any advantage to the service. Walker went on to say that he would replace Wise’s men with the 20th MS and a regiment of troops from GA. Floyd and Wise continued their retreat to Sewell Mountain arriving on the 14th. The MS and GA regiments joined Floyd along the way.

During this time because of poor roads Rosecrans decided to transfer his supply base from Clarksburg to Gallipolis, OH at the mouth of the Kanawha River. Rosecrans and Cox met at Kesslers Cross Lanes on the 15th where he ordered Cox to follow Floyd down the James River Kanawha Turnpike from Gauley Bridge as far as Spy Rock about 14 miles west of Sewell Mountain. Cox complied and had his 5,000-man army there by the end of the next day. He established Camp Lookout with his headquarters at George Alderson’s home. Alderson was an elderly Confederate sympathizer who operated a stagecoach stop and inn there.

Floyd and Wise met at Floyd’s headquarters on the night of the 16th where they agreed to remain in their current location. Later that same night Floyd broke camp and marched his men past Wise’s army 17 miles down the Turnpike to Meadow Bluff. Wise infuriated at the deception refused to follow Floyd and remained on the mountain changing the name of his camp to “Camp Defiance”. A prominent resident of the area and former Virginia Legislator, Mason Mathews, wrote to President Davis, “I allude to the unfriendly relations between the two generals Floyd and Wise, from their course and actions I am fully satisfied that each of them would be highly gratified to see the other annihilated. It would be just as easy to combine oil and water as to expect a union of action between these two gentlemen.”

Wise, learning that the Union was advancing toward his position, went on a scouting mission with 250 men on the 20th and encountered an advanced Federal party with which he skirmished until the 21st when Wise returned to camp. On arriving, there was a dispatch awaiting him from General Lee who had now arrived at Floyd’s camp at Meadow Bluff. Lee explained his desire to see the two forces united. Wise took offence and requested that General Lee examine his position, which Lee did the next day. They spent several hours together with Lee impressed by the natural defenses of the position but concerned that it could be easily flanked. He returned to Meadow Bluff without committing to a decision.

In the meantime, Cox had thoroughly scouted the area and now knew that Floyd and Wise’s forces were split. On the 23rd Cox broke camp and headed for Big Sewell arriving on the western summit. Wise’s “Camp Defiance” was on the eastern summit, one mile away. On the 24th General Lee left Meadow Bluff with four regiments to reinforce Wise leaving behind with Floyd about 1,000 men. He would have preferred to defend Meadow Bluff rather than Sewell Mountain. Before leaving he sent a dispatch to General Loring in Marlinton to send reinforcements to Meadow Bluff. Lee would spend the 24th and 25th studying Cox’s position. Each side launched probes and counter-probes looking for areas of weakness. That afternoon Wise received a letter from Jefferson Davis relieving him of command, ordering him to turn his force over to General Floyd and report immediately to the Adjutant General in Richmond. Wise left the next day, the 26th, in a rainstorm. That same day Rosecrans arrived at Cox’s camp. It rained heavily for three straight days.

On the 28th General Loring arrived at Meadow Bluff with two regiments of reinforcements from Marlinton. The rain stopped on the 29th as each side received additional reinforcements. Disease was rampant in both camps. By October 1st there were now over 16,000 troops in an area with poor roads that was difficult to resupply. Each side continued to probe with daily skirmishing. Late during the night of October 5th under the cover of darkness Rosecrans withdrew back toward Gauley Bridge.

Lee moved Floyd to the south side of the Kanawha River with orders to head for Cotton Mountain opposite Gauley Bridge. Lee left Sewell Mountain on October 21st for Meadow Bluff. That same day Floyd reached Fayetteville about 10 miles from Gauley Bridge, after a 10-day march. On Monday the 28th Floyd was on Cotton Mountain under the mistaken impression that Lee would be joining him. Lee would arrive back in Richmond on October 31st. Floyd had with him the 15th, 21st, 36th, 45th, and 51st VA, 13th GA, 20th MS, cavalry and artillery. What ensued was a 10-day artillery duel without much consequence. By mid-November Floyd was low on supplies and retreated back into winter quarters in Dublin Depot, VA by December 5th.

Lee and Rosecrans were attacked heavily in the press for the battle that never occurred. This ended Lee’s disastrous tenure in western Virginia. Nothing had gone well. His complicated plan for the capture of the Cheat Summit Fort was beyond the capability of his “green” men and “green” commanders. Subsequently, he was sent into an impossible situation at Sewell Mountain with two Generals who despised each other and refused to cooperate. The only thing positive that came out of the experience was that while at Sewell Mountain he saw a horse that he became enamored with and eventually purchased. The gray horse was sired by the racehorse Grey Eagle in 1857 in Greenbrier County and was named Jeff Davis. After he purchased him, Lee renamed him Traveller.

Source

Lee at Sewell Mountain: The West Virginia Campaign by Tim McKinney