Tag: 1st West Virginia Light Artillery’s Battery C

July 3, 1863: Union Army Wins Battle of Gettysburg, Confederates Surrender in Vicksburg, Miss.

July 3, 1863, was a pivotal day in the Civil War. On that day, the Union Army scored a key victory in the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg, and Confederates offered their surrender at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Battle of Gettysburg ended the Confederates’ last major invasion of the North and is viewed by some as the war’s turning point. The Confederate loss of Vicksburg was perhaps more important because it opened the way for the North to seize control of the entire Mississippi River, cutting the Confederacy in half.

West Virginians played important roles in both efforts. At Gettysburg, Union troops in the 1st West Virginia Cavalry participated in a charge against Confederate infantrymen during the battle’s waning moments on July 3. That same day, Confederate soldiers from West Virginia were part of General George Pickett’s disastrous charge, climaxing the battle. Union soldiers from the 1st West Virginia Light Artillery’s Battery C were on the opposing side of Pickett’s Charge.

Hundreds of miles to the southwest, seven soldiers in the 4th West Virginia Infantry earned the Medal of Honor for their heroism in the Union assault on Vicksburg’s defenses.

April 18, 1861: Federal Soldiers Set Fire to Harpers Ferry Armory

On April 18, 1861, U.S. Army regular soldiers and volunteers set fire to the U.S. Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. 

The day before, Virginia politicians had voted to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. Confederates quickly targeted the Harpers Ferry Armory and Arsenal for its stockpile of guns. On April 18, 360 Virginia militiamen began a 10-mile march from Charles Town to seize the Armory.

Outnumbered more than five to one, Lieutenant Roger Jones, the Army commander at the armory, decided to abandon the site but not before torching the buildings in an attempt to keep the weapons out of Confederate hands.

When the pro-Southern militiamen arrived, they extinguished enough of the blaze to salvage most of the weapon-making machinery, which was transferred to the Confederate Armory in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In July 1861, the Confederates abandoned Harpers Ferry after setting fire to the rest of the Armory. The federal government never rebuilt the Armory and Arsenal, ending 62 years of weapon making at Harpers Ferry.

Today, the only remaining Armory building is the engine house, better known as John Brown’s Fort.

July 3, 1863: Union Army Wins Battle of Gettysburg, Confederates Surrender in Vicksburg, Miss.

July 3, 1863, was a pivotal day in the Civil War. On that day, the Union Army scored a key victory in the Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg, and Confederates offered their surrender at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Battle of Gettysburg ended the Confederates’ last major invasion of the North and is viewed by some as the war’s turning point. The Confederate loss of Vicksburg was perhaps more important because it opened the way for the North to seize control of the entire Mississippi River, cutting the Confederacy in half.

West Virginians played important roles in both efforts. At Gettysburg, Union troops in the 1st West Virginia Cavalry participated in a charge against Confederate infantrymen during the battle’s waning moments on July 3. That same day, Confederate soldiers from West Virginia were part of General George Pickett’s disastrous charge, climaxing the battle. Union soldiers from the 1st West Virginia Light Artillery’s Battery C were on the opposing side of Pickett’s Charge.

Hundreds of miles to the southwest, seven soldiers in the 4th West Virginia Infantry earned the Medal of Honor for their heroism in the Union assault on Vicksburg’s defenses.

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