Clash at Corricks Ford

Clash at Corricks Ford. Death of Garnett. , In the spring of 1861, Union forces into northwestern Virginia to secure the vital Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, protect important turnpikes, and support Unionists against Confederates. The two sides fought numerous engagements between June and December. They included Philippi (the war's first land battle), Rich Mountain, Corrick's Ford, Cheat Summit Fort, Carnifex Ferry, and Camp Allegheny. The many Union victories made Gen. George B. McClellan's reputation and damaged that of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, a situation reversed in 1862. Despite later Confederate raids, today's West Virginia remained largely under Federal control for the rest of the war., Here at Corricks Ford on July 13, 1861, Confederate Robert S. Garnett became the first general killed in the Civil War., Two days earlier, in one of the first important Union victories of the Civil War, on July 11, 1861, Union Gen. George McClellan's forces defeated part of Garnett's command on Rich Mountain. Elements of Garnett's command had been holding the area around Beverly, the junction of two important turnpikes, the Beverly and Fairmont and the Staunton and Parkersburg. When Garnett learned of the Union victory, he and his 4,000 men abandoned their stronghold at Laurel Hill early the next morning. The Confederates first marched toward Beverly, but fearing that their escape route was blocked, Garnett gave the order to march northeast, to circle back to safety., Garnett's army wagons labored over the narrow mountain traces of Pheasant Mountain in a driving summer rain with the Federals in pursuit. The Confederates threw away tents, camp furniture, and supplies to lighten their load and block the path. The retreat continued through the night and into the next day. On July 13, 1,800 Federals under Capt. (later Gen.) Henry W. Benham caught Garnett's rear guard here at Corricks Ford, a river crossing on the Shavers Fork of Cheat River., Garnett was killed while attempting to delay the Federal pursuit. The Confederates scattered after this bloody engagement, leaving their dead, a cannon, and most of their wagons stalled in the river., "The rain was pouring in torrents and the clayey road almost impossible in many places, the spirit of the troops … was such as to bear them most rapidly onward under all these trials, superadded to that of hunger … with the great part of them for the previous fifteen or twenty hours." , , Capt. Henry W. Benham