Bob Powell, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

July 20, 1910: College Founder Nathan Brackett Dies at 73

College founder Nathan Brackett died on July 20, 1910, at age 73. The native of Maine was a minister in the Free Will Baptist Church. In 1864, he joined the U.S. Christian Commission, which was providing assistance to Union and Confederate soldiers and to freed slaves in the Shenandoah Valley.

After the Civil War, Brackett dedicated himself to the Free Will Baptist mission of educating former slaves. He supervised 25 white female teachers from the North, scattered in Free Will Baptist schools from Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg to Lynchburg, Virginia. Brackett soon realized it’d be better for the African-American community if blacks taught other blacks rather than continuing to bring in white missionaries from New England. In October 1867, the Free Will Baptist Church opened Storer College at Harpers Ferry. Brackett was its first president and served 30 years, until his retirement in 1897.

Prior to the establishment of West Virginia State College in 1891, Storer was the only college open to African-Americans in the state. Brackett also played a role in founding another black teachers college: Bluefield State.

Storer College closed its doors in 1955.

July 17, 1861: Confederate Army Wins Early Civil War Victory in Putnam Co. Battle

On July 17, 1861, Confederates won one of their first victories of the Civil War at the Battle of Scary Creek in Putnam County. Union forces had been dispatched to dislodge Confederates, who had controlled the Kanawha Valley since the war began three months earlier. On July 17, about 1,300 Union troops under the direct command of Colonel John Lowe clashed at the mouth of Scary Creek with about 900 Confederates under Colonel George S. Patton of Charleston. Patton was the grandfather of General George S. Patton of World War II fame.

For nearly five hours, the two sides waged a heavy musket and artillery battle, with relatively few casualties. The Northern troops made several unsuccessful attempts to cross the Scary Creek bridge. After Patton was seriously wounded, Captain Albert Gallatin Jenkins of Cabell County took command and rallied the Confederates to victory.

However, the Southerners’ success was short-lived.

Pressed by Union successes to the north, the Confederates abandoned the valley two weeks later. Colonel Patton recovered from his wounds and went on to a distinguished career before being killed at the Thir

July 14, 1900: Gangster 'Big Bill' Lias Possibly Born in Wheeling

Gangster “Big Bill” Lias was born on July 14, 1900 in either Greece or Wheeling. The uncertainty over his birthplace would later derail the government’s efforts to deport him.

The Prohibition era in America began just before Lias turned 20. Seeing an opportunity, he quit his family’s grocery business in Wheeling to sell illegal booze. After Prohibition was repealed, Lias moved into illegal gambling. And in 1939, when the numbers racket was made a felony, he launched a string of casino-nightclubs in Wheeling. He also played a major hand in the city’s prostitution business and became influential in local politics. In 1945, Lias purchased Wheeling Downs racetrack. Three years later, the federal government charged him with income tax evasion and, in 1952, seized his racetrack and other assets.

Lias’s organized crime empire was rife with violence, including gang wars and the mysterious death of his first wife. Thanks in large part to Lias, Wheeling became known nationally as a gambling hub.

Despite his criminal activities, though, he was often admired locally for his charity work. Big Bill Lias died in Wheeling in 1970 at age 69.

July 13, 1899: Greenbrier Co. Methodist Preacher Sam Black Dies at 86

Methodist preacher Sam Black died on July 13, 1899, at age 86. The Greenbrier County native was a circuit riding minister who spread the gospel through Greenbrier, Clay, Fayette, Nicholas, Webster, and Kanawha counties. Affectionately known as ‘‘Uncle Sam,’’ he helped organize and build numerous churches with money earned by selling socks and deerskin gloves made by women from the congregations. Sam Black was an ordained deacon and a two-time delegate to the Methodist general conference. He also was one of the 16 charter members of the West Virginia Methodist Conference.

In 1844, the Methodist church split nationally, along North and South lines, over the issue of slavery. The two sides began competing for the hearts and minds of Methodists.

Black, who supported slavery, cast his lot with the Southern wing of the church. He supposedly won over all but two of his Western Virginia congregations to the Southern side.

A white frame structure named Sam Black Church was built in Greenbrier County in 1902 in memory of the Reverend Black. It’s listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and the community is named Sam Black Church.

July 10, 1769: Physician Jesse Bennet Born in Pennsylvania

Physician Jesse Bennet was born in Pennsylvania on July 10, 1769. He studied medicine in Philadelphia under Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In the early 1790s, Bennet settled in Rockingham County, Virginia. In 1794, he successfully performed a Caesarean section on his wife—the first operation of its kind in U.S. history. The emergency procedure, although primitive by today’s standards, saved the lives of both his wife and infant daughter.

Three years later, Bennet and his family moved to present Mason County on the Ohio River, about five miles north of Point Pleasant. There, he established one of the earliest medical practices in Western Virginia and was influential in forming Mason County in 1804. That same year, Bennet was appointed major of the Mason County militia. He went on to serve in the Virginia General Assembly and as an Army surgeon in the War of 1812.

Jesse Bennet died in Mason County in 1842 shortly after his 71^st birthday. It was only after his death that the world learned of the pioneering Caesarean section he’d performed nearly 50 years earlier.

July 7, 1861: Battle of Laurel Hill Begins in Barbour County

The Battle of Laurel Hill, also known as the Battle of Laurel Mountain or Belington, began on July 7, 1861. A month earlier, Southern troops had retreated south after their loss at the Battle of Philippi. Confederate commander General Robert S. Garnett had seized a key mountain pass and set up his defenses at the foot of Laurel Mountain, located in eastern Barbour County. Beginning on July 7, Union troops under General Thomas Morris attacked Garnett’s men in a series of skirmishes. The two sides fought for the next five days. In the end, the Confederates were overrun.

On July 12, Garnett learned of another Confederate defeat at nearby Rich Mountain in Randolph County and pulled his men back to the Cheat River. Garnett was killed the following day at the Battle of Corrick’s Ford. He was the first Civil War general on either side to die in combat.

The Union Army’s victories at Laurel Hill, Rich Mountain, and Corrick’s Ford in July 1861 helped place Western Virginia in Northern hands for the rest of the war and allowed the West Virginia statehood movement to unfold.