| West Virginia (Berkeley County), Martinsburg — Belle Boyd House | | | Isabelle “Belle” Boyd, the Confederate spy, lived here during part of her childhood. The ten-year-old and her family moved here in 1853 and left in 1858 for a dwelling (no longer standing) on South Queen Street. According to Boyd, when Union Gen. Robert Patterson’s army occupied Martinsburg in July 1861, she escaped prosecution after
she shot
dead a soldier who invaded the Queen Street house and insulted her mother, Mary Glen Boyd.
In the spring of 1862, Belle Boyd paid a . . . — Map (db m1884) | | West Virginia (Berkeley County), Martinsburg — Gettysburg Campaign — Invasion & Retreat | | | After stunning victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Virginia, early in May 1863, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee carried the war through Maryland, across the Mason and Dixon Line and into Pennsylvania. His infantry marched north through the Shenandoah Valley and western Maryland as his cavalry, led by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, harassed Union supply lines to the east. Union Gen. Joseph Hooker, replaced on June 28 by Gen. George G. Meade, led the Army of the Potomac from the Washington . . . — Map (db m1975) | | West Virginia (Berkeley County), Martinsburg — Martinsburg Roundhouse — Jackson and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad — Antietam Campaign | | | In April 1861, as the Civil War erupted, Confederate forces seized the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Harpers Ferry west. On May 24, Gen. Joseph
E. Johnston ordered Col. Thomas J. (later “Stonewall”) Jackson to destroy
the rolling stock here at Martinsburg, a Unionist stronghold. Jackson began
his task on June 13, soon burning 300 cars and destroying 42 locomotives.
“It was sad work,” Jackson wrote his wife Anna, “but I had my orders and
my duty was to . . . — Map (db m1200) | | West Virginia (Jackson County), Ripley — Ripley — Jackson County Courthouse — The Blue and Gray Trail | | | Jackson County was created by an act of the Virginia Assembly on March 1, 1831, and named in honor of President Andrew Jackson.
The first courthouse on this site was a brick structure. The land for the courthouse square was donated by Jacob and Ann Starcher. The second courthouse, a cut stone and brick structure, was completed in 1856 and was in use at the time of the Civil War. During the War Between the States, the people of Jackson County were divided in political opinions. Some wanted . . . — Map (db m11439) | | West Virginia (Jefferson County), Bakerton — A.P. Hill’s March — “Not a moment too soon” — Antietam Campaign 1862 | | | About two o’clock in the afternoon of September 17, 1862, Confederate Gen. A.P. Hill’s 3,000-man division began crossing the Potomac River at Boteler’s Ford about two miles northwest of here, en route to the battle raging at Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. Two days earlier, Stonewall Jackson had captured Harpers Ferry. When Jackson’s command was ordered to rejoin Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in Maryland, Hill’s division remained behind to parole Federal prisoners and . . . — Map (db m1955) | | West Virginia (Jefferson County), Harpers Ferry — Harpers Ferry — Prize of War | | | “It may be said with truth that no spot in the United States experienced more of the horrors of war.” – Joseph Barry, Harpers Ferry resident Trapped on the border between North and South, Harpers Ferry changed hands eight times during the Civil War. Because of its position on the Potomac River—an international boundary for four years from 1861 to 1865—the town’s industries were destroyed, its buildings were abandoned, its mountains were raped, and the . . . — Map (db m23188) | | West Virginia (Jefferson County), Shepherdstown — 1862 Antietam Campaign — Lee Invades Maryland | | | Fresh from victory at the Second Battle of Manassas, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia crossed the Potomac River on September 4-6, 1862, to bring the Civil War to Northern soil and to recruit sympathetic Marylanders. Union Gen. George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac pursued Lee, who had detached Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s force to capture the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry. After the Federals pushed the remaining Confederates out of the South Mountain . . . — Map (db m1957) | | West Virginia (Jefferson County), Shepherdstown — Shepherdstown — “The Whole Town was a Hospital” — Antietam Campaign 1862 | | | In September 1862, after the Maryland Battles of South Mountain and Antietam, Shepherdstown became a scene of indescribable suffering. “The whole town was a hospital,” wrote resident Mary Bedinger Mitchell. “There was scarcely a building in town that could not with truth seek protection under that plea.” The wounded Confederates streaming into Shepherdstown after the South Mountain actions of September 14 became a flood totaling 2,000–3,000 by the 18th, the day . . . — Map (db m1939) | | West Virginia (Marion County), Fairmont — A. Brooks Fleming House — A Role in the Action — Jones-Imboden Raid | | | On April 20, 1863, Confederate Gens. William E. “Grumble” Jones and John D. Imboden began a raid from Virginia through present-day West Virginia against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Taking separate routes, they later reported that they marched 1,100 miles, fought several engagements, captured 100 Federals, seized about 1,200 horses and 4,000 cattle, and burned 4 turnpike bridges, more than 20 railroad bridges, 2 trains, and 150,000 barrels of oil. Most bridges were soon . . . — Map (db m21232) | | West Virginia (Marion County), Fairmont — Attack on Fairmont — Watching from the Kearsley House — Jones-Imboden Raid | | | On April 20, 1863, Confederate Gens. William E. “Grumble” Jones and John D. Imboden began a raid from Virginia through present-day West Virginia against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Taking separate routes, they later reported that they marched 1,100 miles, fought several engagements, captured 100 Federals, seized about 1,200 horses and 4,000 cattle, and burned 4 turnpike bridges, more than 20 railroad bridges, 2 trains, and 150,000 barrels of oil. Most bridges were soon . . . — Map (db m21205) | | West Virginia (Marion County), Fairmont — Battle for the Bridge — The Foundry Fight — Jones-Imboden Raid | | | On April 20, 1863, Confederate Gens. William E. “Grumble” Jones and John D. Imboden began a raid from Virginia through present-day West Virginia against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Taking separate routes, they later reported that they marched 1,100 miles, fought several engagements, captured 100 Federals, seized about 1,200 horses and 4,000 cattle, and burned 4 turnpike bridges, more than 20 railroad bridges, 2 trains, and 150,000 barrels of oil. Most bridges were soon . . . — Map (db m21136) | | West Virginia (Randolph County), Beverly — Beverly — Crossroads of Conflict — The First Campaign | | | Situated at a crossroads on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, Beverly was a strategic location and proved to be a focal point during the Civil War. There were no large plantations here and political opinions were split, yet the majority of Beverly's citizens favored the South. From the beginning of the Civil War, Beverly was a staging area for local militia and troops send from eastern Virginia to serve the Confederacy. Following Federal success at Rich Mountain, Gen. George McClellan led . . . — Map (db m24559) | | West Virginia (Randolph County), Beverly — The First Campaign — Civil War Begins in the Mountains of (West) Virginia — The First Campaign | | | West Virginia, born of a nation divided, was the setting for the first campaign of America's Civil War. Although still part of Virginia in 1861, many citizens of the west remained loyal to the Union, rather than the Confederacy. By late May, Union General George B. McClellan, commanding the Department of the Ohio, launched the first campaign, ordering troops to cross the Ohio River and secure "Western" Virginia for the Union. Here, during June-July 1861, McClellan's army won the inaugural . . . — Map (db m24550) | | West Virginia (Randolph County), Elkins — War in West Virginia — "That Remarkable Campaign" — The First Campaign | | | You are standing at the heart of the first campaign of America's Civil War, looking west toward Rich Mountain. Late in May 1861, Gen. George B. McClellan moved troops across the Ohio River "to secure Western Virginia for the Union" and to protect the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Confederates wanted to secure the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike, a vital road from the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio River. The turnpike crossed Rich Mountain through the notch to the left of the radio towers. . . . — Map (db m23238) | | West Virginia (Roane County), Spencer — Spencer — The Siege of Spencer — The Blue and Gray Trail | | | In August 1861, a Union militia unit led by Capt. William Pell of Spencer was stationed in Spencer and charged with the area's protection. The first armed conflict consisted of three incidents over 11 days:
1—Confederate guerillas fired on the town from Tanner’s Hill (Schoolhouse Hill). Union troops returned fire and the Confederates fled. Pell ordered the Court House fortified with two-inch lumber and made preparations for siege. An estimated 400 Confederate “Moccasin . . . — Map (db m11447) | | West Virginia (Roane County), Spencer — Spencer — Major Civil War Events Impacting Spencer and Roane County — The Blue and Gray Trail | | | April 12, 1861—Confederates attack Fort Sumter.
April 17, 1861—Virginia Secession Ordinance adopted.
June 19, 1861—Statewide vote on ordinance confirmed. Roane County voted in favor of secession, although majority of future West Virginia counties voted against it.
June 11, 1861—Second Wheeling Convention adopted resolution to organize pro-Union Restored Government of Virginia.
June 24, 186l—Large assembly of Roane Countians . . . — Map (db m13900) | | West Virginia (Tucker County), Parsons — Corricks Ford — Retreat Becomes Disaster — The First Campaign | | | Federal victory at Rich Mountain on July 11, 1861, forced Confederate Gen. Robert S. Garnett's 4,000 troops to retreat from Laurel Hill in Barbour County. Garnett, fearing that his escape route was blocked, struck northeast. His goal was to circle back to safety. Garnett's army wagons labored over narrow mountain traces. His Confederates were further slowed in crossing the rain-swollen Shavers Fork of Cheat River. On July 13, a force of 1,800 Federals under Capt. Henry W. Benham caught . . . — Map (db m23746) |
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