Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

June 3, 1861: 'Philippi Races' Takes Place as One of Civil War's Opening Acts

On June 3, 1861, one of the opening acts of the Civil War unfolded in the town of Philippi. At daybreak, the roar of Union cannons shook some 800 slumbering Confederate soldiers from their tents. The routed Confederates made a hasty retreat, derisively remembered as the “Philippi Races.” The brief engagement was the first land battle of the Civil War involving organized troops. And it probably was the first time in history that railroads had been used to bring together troops for battle.

Philippi was a small skirmish compared to later battles in the war. However, the Union victory was important because it helped deny Confederates access to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the region. And it bolstered the spirits of West Virginia statehood leaders, who were about to establish a pro-Union government of Virginia in Wheeling.

The battle also provided an interesting footnote to history. A wounded Confederate soldier, James Hanger, had his leg amputated after the battle and later crafted an artificial leg for himself. He went on to found Hanger Prosthetics, which is now the nation’s leading producer of artificial limbs.

July 18, 1877: Governor Matthews Assesses National Railworker's Strike in Martinsburg

On July 18, 1877, Governor Henry Mathews arrived in Martinsburg—on the scene of the first nationwide strike in U.S. history. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers had walked off the job in response to a pay cut. The strike soon spread along the rails from Baltimore to Chicago.

The strike’s first violence occurred at Martinsburg, where workers stopped the trains from running. Mathews had dispatched the state’s militia to put down the strike, but most of the militiamen were friends or family of the strikers. At one point, a striker fired at the militiamen, who shot back and mortally wounded the railroad worker. The militia then withdrew and refused to take further action.

Mathews sent another militia unit from Wheeling, but it also failed to stop the strike. The day after Mathews arrived, federal troops ended the work stoppage in Martinsburg, although violence continued elsewhere in the nation for weeks, with some 100 people losing their lives.

The strike showed that West Virginia authorities were ill-prepared to handle unrest among laboring groups and led to calls for developing a professional national guard to control labor disturbances.

July 16, 1891: General Benjamin Kelley Dies

Civil War General Benjamin Kelley died in Maryland on July 16, 1891, at age 84. The New Hampshire native had moved to Wheeling in 1836, working as a merchant there for more than two decades. In 1851, he became freight agent for the newly arrived Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

When the Civil War began, Kelley formed and became colonel of the pro-Union 1st Virginia Infantry. Leading his troops into battle on June 3, 1861, he was severely wounded at Philippi and then promoted to brigadier general. Kelley’s principal duty throughout the war was to guard the vital B&O line in Maryland and West Virginia, particularly from Confederate raiding parties, such as those led by the famed McNeill’s Rangers from the Moorefield area.

In August 1863, federal authorities, acting on Kelley’s orders, arrested the wife and four-year-old son of Captain McNeill. Seeking revenge a year and a half later, McNeill’s Rangers kidnapped Kelley and his superior, General George Crook, in Cumberland, Maryland—one of the most embarrassing Union incidents of the war.

After the war, Benjamin Kelley served in numerous government posts. He’s buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

March 11, 1916: Politician and Industralist Henry Gassaway Davis Dies at 92

Politician and industrialist Henry Gassaway Davis died on March 11, 1916, at age 92. As a young man, he’d been a brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He invested his savings and his wife’s inheritance in cheap, undeveloped land in what is now West Virginia. The timber and coal resources on that land eventually made Davis one of the state’s richest men.

Realizing that political power could lead to even more wealth, he ran successfully for the legislature, serving first in the House of Delegates and then in the state senate. In 1870, he helped lead the Democratic Party to power in West Virginia. Legislators repaid the favor by electing him to the U.S. Senate, where he served two terms, occasionally backing legislation that benefitted him financially.

In 1904, he was named the Democratic candidate for vice president. But, Davis and his running mate lost the election badly. At age 80, he was the oldest presidential or vice presidential candidate ever nominated by a major party. He is also remembered for his philanthropy—in particular, giving money and land to establish Davis and Elkins College.

December 24, 1852: B&O Railroad Completed Near Moundsville

On Christmas Eve 1852, the last spike was driven on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad between Baltimore and the Ohio River. The event occurred at Rosbys Rock near Moundsville.

The Baltimore and Ohio—known as the B&O—changed the course of West Virginia history. It produced the first coal boom in the northern part of the state and led to the rapid growth of towns like Harpers Ferry, Martinsburg, Grafton, Parkersburg, Wheeling, and Clarksburg. During the Civil War, it played into the military strategies of both sides, and its tracks were repeatedly damaged and then repaired. When West Virginia statehood leaders carved out the new state’s borders, the eastern panhandle counties were included primarily to keep the B&O in West Virginia and outside of Confederate Virginia.

After the war and well into the 20^th century, the B&O was a major force in the economies of West Virginia and the nation. By midcentury, though, it was suffering economically. In 1973, the B&O name disappeared when it was merged with the Chesapeake and Ohio and Western Maryland railways to form the new Chessie System, which is now CSX Transportation

James Edward Watson Born: August 2, 1926

Businessman James Edwin Watson died in Fairmont on August 2, 1926, at age 67. He was the son of James Otis Watson, one of the first coal operators in northern West Virginia.

In 1852, James Otis Watson and future West Virginia founder Francis Pierpont opened a mine near Fairmont and shipped the first coal from Western Virginia on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

James Edwin Watson took over his father’s coal interests in 1885, at age 26. Over the next decade, he and his in-laws from the Fleming family acquired several more coal companies and renamed the enterprise Fairmont Coal Company.

In 1903, Fairmont Coal was bought out by the Consolidation Coal Company. The Watson and Fleming families soon acquired a majority interest in Consolidation Coal, which became one of the nation’s largest corporations. James Edwin Watson is also remembered for building High Gate in Fairmont. Erected in 1910, it’s one of West Virginia’s largest and most luxurious mansions. The house was sold to the Sisters of St. Joseph after Watson’s death to be used as a nursing home, and it was later a funeral home.