Camp Northwest

Camp Northwest. Jackson’s Huntersville Line. Huntersville (three miles northwest of here) in January 1862. Camp Northwest became Confederate Col. William L. Jackson’s headquarters and a supply depot for the outposts under Jackson’s command. Called the Huntersville line, it stretched from the northern end of Pocahontas County to the southern end. On August 23, 1863 Union Gen. William W. Averell’s forces captured and burned Camp Northwest prior to his march toward Lewisburg and his defeat at the Battle of Dry Creek at White Sulphur Springs. In his official report, Averell wrote. “Camp Northwest was burned and destroyed, with commissary buildings and stores, blacksmith shops, several wagons, a number of Enfield rifles, gun equipments, and a quantity of wheat and flour at a mill near by. A large number of canteens, stretchers, and hospital supplies fell into our hands.” Jackson soon reoccupied the area, where he remained until ordered to the Shenandoah Valley in 1864., (sidebar) , Early in June 1865, one of the last encounters between armed Federal and Confederate forces occurred a short distance southeast of here. A Federal cavalry detachment had ridden into Pocahontas County from Clarksburg to reclaim any Federal property they might find, to make sure there were no Confederate forces still active, and to parole all who laid down their arms. The Federal cavalry ran headlong into several Confederate cavalrymen, formerly of Col. William L. Jackson’s command, who had learned of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia and all other forces under his command. After a brief clash, the Confederates abandoned their horses and escaped by fleeing up the hillsides and through the dense woods.