On Guard in the Kanawha Valley
April-May 1863

By the spring of 1863, Union leaders were concerned with protecting the reorganized state government and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.²⁵The Thirteenth Regiment spent the first part of April strengthening its fortifications at Hurricane Bridge. By April 20, Companies E and H were located at Point Pleasant, Companies B and G were at Coalsmouth, and Companies A, C, D, and F were at Hurricane Bridge. On April 30, Companies B and G were transferred from Coalsmouth to Mud Bridge in Cabell County, where, along with other troops, they spent their time constructing earthworks.²⁶

Meanwhile, Confederate leaders put more energies into destructive raids into Union territory, particularly on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. On April 20, Confederate General Imboden, with 3,400 men, entered West Virginia and drove back Union forces from Beverly and Buckhannon, places he then occupied. At the same time, Confederate General William E. (Grumble) Jones and 2,500 cavalry inflicted serious damage on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, forced the surrender of Morgantown, defeated Union troops at Fairmont, and met up with Imboden at Buckhannon on May 2. Imboden then moved south toward Summersville, destroying Union barracks and blockhouses at Bulltown, Sutton, and Big Birch Mountain. On May 12, his advance units forced Scammon's troops out of Summersville and occupied it the next day. In the meantime, Jones destroyed railroad tunnels and bridges along the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike and moved to the recently discovered oil fields at Burning Springs, where he burned all available equipment and approximately 150,000 barrels of crude oil.²⁷ Jones and Imboden, exhausted and out of supplies, returned to the safety of Virginia. (See Figure 4 below.)

Figure 4 - Confederate Movement, Spring 1863

On May 9, the Thirteenth's detachments were ordered to leave their posts and report to Hayes at Camp White. On May 17, Hayes wrote that his whole brigade, except for two or three detached companies, was with him at Camp White.²⁸ The Thirteenth, among others, he said, had been ". . . sent for during the recent scare."²⁹ He also wrote about being "most agreeably disappointed" with his Virginia Regiments. "The Thirteenth," he wrote, "is new and composed of West Virginians, but it has capital officers and they promise well in all respects. I reviewed them this Sunday morning. Their appearance would be creditable to an old regiment."³⁰

Next: Fayetteville, West Virginia, May 1863
Back: Skirmishes at Hurricane Bridge and Point Pleasant, March 28-30, 1863
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Copyright © Kimberly Ball Hieronimus Brownlee, 1998-2003. All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in any manner for any media without the express written agreement of the author.