Battle of Fayetteville

Battle of Fayetteville. Defense and Retreat. During the Civil War, Fort Scammon stood in front of you on the hill behind the courthouse. There, on September 10, 1862, Union Col. Edward Siber and the 1,500 men of his 37th Ohio Infantry defended Fayetteville against Confederate Gen. William Loring’s 5,000-man army. Loring planned to occupy this area after learning in August that Federal troops were being transferred to eastern Virginia. The Kanawha River Valley north of here was strategically important to each side for defending southern West Virginia and as a staging area for attacks into the Ohio River Valley and northern West Virginia., The action began at dawn two miles south on the Raleigh Road (present-day Nickelville Road) when Union pickets fired on Loring’s vanguard, then fell back fighting to Fort Beauford, half a mile south of here. Loring sent two regiments on a 13-mile flanking march to attack Fort Scammon from the west, and then continued the advance toward Fayetteville. Just short of Fort Beauford, and under a scathing artillery fire, he sent two other regiments against the eastern side of the fort., In mid-afternoon, Siber charged Loring’s left flank three times with half his force but failed to dislodge the Confederates. Ten miles northwest at Gauley Bridge, meanwhile, Union Col. Joseph A.J. Lightburn heard the cannons and sent three regiments as reinforcements, but they arrived as Siber retreated to the Kanawha Valley. By September 16, the Federals had retreated all the way to Ohio. Confederate forces remained here until mid-October, then marched to Virginia and never again occupied this area.