On May 22, 1861, Thornsberry Bailey Brown became the first Union soldier killed in battle during the Civil War. It occurred during a brief stand-off at Fetterman in Taylor County.
At the beginning of the war, both Union and Confederate forces were scheming to control the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which had arrived in Taylor County in 1857. The railroad would be a key to moving troops and supplies.
Like much of present West Virginia, Taylor County’s loyalties were divided early in the war. Most residents backed a local Union militia unit, known as the Grafton Guards. However, there was also strong support for the Confederate Letcher’s Guard. On May 22, just more than a month into the war, Thornsberry Bailey Brown and another member of the Grafton Guards surprised three of Letcher’s Guards, who were on picket duty. In a quick exchange of fire, Brown was killed.
Brown is considered the first combat fatality of the Civil War. Following the capture of Fort Sumter, two Union soldiers had died during a cannon salute. Brown is buried in the Grafton National Cemetery, which was established after the war.
There’s a group based in Jefferson County, West Virginia focused not only on improving health and wellness but also on incorporating the local community and history into that health experience.
How Does Running Impact Our Health?
West Virginia is one of the top four states in the nation where the obesity rate makes up more than 35 percent of the adult population; that’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, between 2011 and 2015, the obesity rate in both West Virginia adults and high school-aged kids increased by 3 percent.
But in Jefferson County there’s a group trying to combat those numbers by hosting events focused on running.
Dr. Mark Cucuzzella is a professor of Family Medicine at West Virginia University, a runner, and the force behind the Freedom’s Run Series of Events.
Cucuzzella’s spring race was held last Saturday. It was a rainy, cold morning, but still hundreds of people came out for the Harpers Ferry Half Marathon, 5k, and Kids Run.
Cucuzzella started his running series eight years ago, in part, to help encourage healthy living and exercise in West Virginians.
“Physical activity is just good for your brain, good for your body, does good for everything,” Cucuzzella explained.
“Really, if we’re gonna tackle obesity, we’ve gotta look at what people are eating and what we’re feeding folks,” he noted.
History in the Race
There’s another theme to Cucuzzella’s races that he hopes will help get people out and moving – and that’s by incorporating the local Civil War history in the courses, and, at the same time, help boost tourism in the state.
“If you talk to people, they’ve come from all over the country, because this is a special place,” he said, “There’s history on almost every step of this course. This goes through Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, by John Brown’s Fort, pretty much touches every area of Harpers Ferry Park, and historic Bolivar, so they get to see things from the Civil War era.”
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
(left to right) Dubem, Ike, & Uche Akunyli. The Akunyli family is originally from Nigeria but moved to Frederick, Maryland two years ago. Dubem ran in Saturday’s Kids Run, and Uche ran in the 5k.
Of the 658 registered runners from Saturday’s event, 68 percent were from 23 other states and Canada. Some of the racers traveled from far away, but some live closer like Dubem Akunyli who lives in Frederick, Maryland.
Akunyli ran in the Kids Run, which is one mile, and he says he loves visiting Harpers Ferry.
“It’s really cool, and it’s really cool about knowing about John Brown and his raid, so it’s very interesting here, and it’s really nice, like with the trees, and all of the mountains,” Akunyli said.
Cucuzzella says a big part of his spring race is that any child under 17-years-old can run for free.
“Running is a sport that’s accessible to the entire world, in developed and developing countries. There should be no barriers to letting a kid line up and run, and some of the best runners in the world have been raised, you know, with countries where the gross domestic product would be less than our entire state of West Virginia,” he noted, “Running is the way out for a lot of kids.”
Community Involvement
The local community also plays a large role in Cuccuzzella’s races. Restaurants, coffee shops, and others come out on race day to provide food and drinks. Local groups volunteer their time to cheer on the racers and help with registration.
Even the medallions awarded to the runners who participated in the Harpers Ferry Half Marathon and the Freedom’s Run in the fall are made locally.
That local potter is Joy Bridy. She lives in Shenandoah Junction, which is a few miles from Shepherdstown.
Credit Liz McCormick / West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Local potter Joy Bridy presses wet clay into a mold that says, “Freedom’s Run.” She also made the 500 medallions for the “Harpers Ferry Half Marathon.”
Bridy says it’s an honor to be part of the races, and she hopes by awarding handmade medals, it adds a little something extra.
“I think that it makes the race a unique experience, and people are looking for authenticity and unique experiences that really reflect the place where they’re going,” Bridy said, “so being able to run the C&O Canal and run up through Antietam, the battlefields, it really gives you a sense of where you are, and I think for West Virginia, we are in a very unique area, especially this panhandle; it’s not like anywhere else in the state, and it’s not really like Maryland or Virginia either, so we have a really unique, little place here.”
Bridy made 500 medallions for the Harpers Ferry Half Marathon. She will make 1500 for the Freedom’s Run. Bridy makes each medallion by hand and says making them is her “own marathon.”
Even though only a third of Saturday’s racers were West Virginia residents, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella hopes as his race series enters its ninth year, it will spark even more community involvement and continue to promote health in the state.
The 26.2 mile Freedom’s Run will be held on September 30, 2017.
Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.
The Civil War Battle of Pigeon Roost occurred at Princeton in Mercer County on May 17, 1862. The battle ended a month-long series of engagements in which Union forces under General Jacob Cox aimed to destroy a strategic railroad at Dublin, Virginia, which was defended by Confederates under General Humphrey Marshall. Under Cox’s command were two officers who’d later become presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley.
Several weeks before the battle, a Union advance guard had been attacked near Camp Creek. The Confederates then retreated south and burned Princeton on May 1.
Federal troops moved through the ruins of Princeton; advanced to Pearisburg, Virginia; but then fell back to Princeton, where they skirmished with pursuing Confederates on May 16. As evening fell, the Confederates spread out on a ridge overlooking Princeton known as Pigeon Roost.
On the morning of May 17, Union troops were approaching Princeton quite noisily, unaware that Confederates were lying in ambush. The attack left an estimated 18 Union troops killed and 38 wounded. That evening, the Yankees pulled north, ending their campaign to destroy the railroad at Dublin.
The Braxton County seat of Sutton was nearly burned to the ground on December 29, 1861. During the first year of the Civil War, western Virginia was besieged by Union and Confederate troops vying for control of the region. Most fighting centered on important transportation routes.
Suttonville, as it was known then, was strategically located on the Elk River, which ran south all the way to Charleston. It was also located on the Weston and Gauley Bridge Turnpike, which connected the town with other key roads.
Realizing the strategic importance of Sutton, the Union army built a small fort to guard the town. Around 10 a.m. on December 29, some 80 Confederate soldiers attacked the fort, which was being garrisoned by about 100 Union cavalry forces. The Union soldiers fought back for six hours before retreating in defeat.
Soon after the battle, the entire town was ablaze. Nobody is certain who lit the first spark, but the inferno destroyed the courthouse and left only six buildings standing.
Sutton began rebuilding, but it would not fully recover until the timber industry arrived in the late 1800s.
Former Confederate General John Echols died in Staunton, Virginia, on May 24, 1896. In 1843, the Lynchburg, Virginia, native had moved to Union in Monroe County to practice law. He remained in Union until the Civil War began in 1861.
At the Virginia Secession Convention that year, Echols represented Monroe County and voted for secession. He then organized and led a Confederate military company. As a brigadier general, Echols fought in the battles of First Manassas and Kernstown, where he was wounded. In 1862, he served in the Kanawha Valley and, the following year, commanded Confederate forces in their losing effort at the Battle of Droop Mountain. In 1864, he led the Confederate right wing at the Battle of New Market and was with Robert E. Lee at Cold Harbor. Reluctant to surrender after Appomattox, Echols joined General Joseph Johnston in North Carolina and then accompanied Confederate President Jefferson Davis in his flight to Georgia.
After the war, Echols was a founding director of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and served as the railroad’s vice president and general manager when it was completed to Huntington.
On May 9, 1863, Confederate raiders set fire to the prosperous oil works at Burning Springs in Wirt County. Just two years before the Civil War, Burning Springs had become the birthplace of Western Virginia’s oil industry. When the war began, it was one of only two oil-producing fields in the world.
The destruction of Burning Springs was the culmination of a month-long raid through Western Virginia led by Confederate generals William “Grumble” Jones and John Imboden. When their men arrived at Burning Springs, they set fire to the oil, tanks, engines for pumping, engine houses, wagons, and boats filled with barrels of oils. The boats exploded and sent burning oil into the Little Kanawha River, which became a sheet of flame, emitting thick clouds of jet-black smoke into the air. In his report to General Robert E. Lee, Jones described the fiery sight as a ‘‘scene of magnificence that might well carry joy to every patriotic heart.’’
After the war, hundreds of new wells were drilled in the Burning Springs area until the oil industry declined in the late 19th century.
