Dry Run

Dry Run. Initial Contact. On the morning of July 19, 1863, Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan learned that the Union redoubt guarding the ford had been abandoned in the night. Colonel Basil Duke was ordered to send a force south to try to preserve the element of surprise while Morgan and the bulk of his troops prepared to cross the river. A Union force under Brigadier General Henry Judah, meanwhile, had disembarked from riverboats at Portsmouth and were marching east through Pomeroy and Racine. , As the sun rose, the valley was so thick with fog that the opposing forces did not realize they had moved to within 50 yards of each other. A sudden breeze swept through, and after staring at each other for a few seconds, the Confederates fired a devastating volley into the Union troops, who were forced to retreat. Major Danie McCook, patriarch of the "Fighting McCooks" who contributed six sons to the war, was mortally wounded in the volley., Confederate artillery fired on the reorganized and advancing Union troops, who pressed their enemy until the Confederate guns were captured. Duke, who realized how crucial the guns were to his position, made several vain attempts to recapture them. Facing his untenable position, Duke began to withdraw north. , [Photo captions] , [Map on left]: The Battle of Buffington Island began at 5:30 am when General Judah's Union advance guard unexpectedly collided with the battle line of Colonel Duke's 5th and 6th Kentucky Cavalry near the Williamson house, located 0.2 mile south of here. Duke's men broke the Union line, captured an artillery piece, and advanced as far as the first bend in the road. A counterattack under Judah slowly pushed the Confederates back toward Portland. After heavy fighting, the Confederates retreated further north when, around 6:15 am, Duke's artillery was captured on a low knoll 400 yards southwest of the state memorial. At about the same time, General Hobson's Union cavalry attacked Colonel Johnson's Confederates along modern County Road 31, and Lieutenant Commander Fitch's gunboat USS Moose bombarded the Confederate positions. General Morgan's cavalrymen faced triple threats. , [Top right]: The Williamson House served as a temporary field hospital for both Union and Confederate soldiers. , [Bottom right]: Fog obscured the Confederate and Union troop positions until the opposing sides were a mere 50 yards apart. As a result, the opening volley by the Confederate artillery was especially devastating. , Text: Edd Sharp and David L. Mowery , Illustration: Bev Kirk