Robert E. Lee Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Sept. 12, 1861: The Battle of Cheat Mountain is Fought Near the Randolph-Pocahontas County Line

On September 12, 1861, the Battle of Cheat Mountain was fought near the Randolph-Pocahontas County line. Taking place just five months into the Civil War, the battle was a significant loss for the Confederacy.

General Robert E. Lee—at the time commander of the Department of Northwestern Virginia—was trying to protect railroad lines in Western Virginia while keeping what would become northern West Virginia in Confederate hands, thereby thwarting the young statehood movement.

Before the battle, Lee’s subordinate, William Loring, gathered his forces on Valley Mountain. Brigadier General Joseph Reynolds, commander of the U.S. forces, had his headquarters at Elkwater and a strongly fortified post atop Cheat Mountain in Randolph County.

Continual rainfall bogged down the Confederate attack, which was foiled further by the discovery of Southern troops by Union pickets. Lee abandoned his original plan and ordered an advance against Elkwater. The Confederate troops, who were described as being “too wet and too hungry to fight,” were easily repelled.

Colonel John A. Washington, Lee’s aide-de-camp and the last owner of Mount Vernon, was killed while scouting for Lee at Elkwater.

April 9, 1872: West Virginia Constitutional Convention Adjourns

The 1872 West Virginia Constitutional Convention adjourned on April 9, 1872. The day was chosen specifically because it was the seventh anniversary of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. The convention had selected former Confederates to all offices, including the convention president, who had been the lieutenant governor of secessionist Virginia.

After the Civil War, ex-Confederates had initially been denied key political rights in West Virginia. They weren’t allowed to vote or hold office. In 1870, though, the legislature flipped to the Democrats, who restored rights to former Confederates and called for a new state constitution. The original constitution had been written by pro-Union Republicans during the war.

The convention, which was held in a Methodist church in Charleston, started with threats to throw out the original 1863 constitution and start from scratch. In particular, Democrats opposed the constitution’s free public school system and various other measures. In the end, though, moderates prevailed. The free school system remained intact—while still segregated.

The narrow results of the convention referendum and the later ratification of the new constitution reflected how closely state politics were divided shortly after statehood.

September 16, 1862: Union Clashes with Retreating Confederates near Shepherdstown

It was the morning of September 19, 1862, and two days after the Battle of Antietam. The bulk of Robert E. Lee’s retreating Confederate Army had already crossed the Potomac River at Shepherdstown.

Lee left behind a rear guard at the Potomac to defend against an anticipated attack from Union General George McClellan.

Over the next two days, Union and Confederate forces clashed off and on in the Shepherdstown vicinity. When all was said and done, nearly 700 soldiers had been killed, wounded, or captured, making Shepherdstown the bloodiest battle ever fought in what would become West Virginia.

Antietam and its aftermath convinced both commanders that the Maryland Campaign was over. On the Union side, McClellan decided that his army didn’t have the strength to keep pursuing Lee, while Lee abandoned his plans to reenter Maryland. With the Confederate Army driven south of the Potomac, President Abraham Lincoln claimed a Union victory and, on September 22, issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Despite his claims of victory, though, Lincoln was incensed by his commander’s ongoing foot-dragging in pursuing Lee. He dismissed McClellan two months later.

September 14, 1862: Confederate Artillery Launches Opening Barrage in Battle of Harpers Ferry

On September 14, 1862, Confederate artillery launched the opening barrage in the Battle of Harpers Ferry, initiating perhaps the most important Civil War conflict in present West Virginia.

Harpers Ferry was key to Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee’s strategy in invading Maryland. Union forces stationed at Harpers Ferry stood in the way of Lee’s supply line. Lee dispatched “Stonewall” Jackson to capture Martinsburg, which fell without a shot, and then take Harpers Ferry.

Jackson positioned his artillery on mountain heights that towered above Harpers Ferry. Union commander Dixon Miles had haphazardly allowed his troops to be trapped in a bowl in the middle of the heights. By the next morning, Jackson had pounded the Union garrison into submission. Miles was killed by a blast shortly after the surrender.

Jackson’s capture of nearly 13,000 Union forces was the largest surrender of a Northern army during the Civil War and the third largest surrender of a United States army in history.

Two days later, Confederate troops arrived from Harpers Ferry just in time to save the day for Robert E. Lee in the waning moments of the Battle of Antietam.

Sept. 14, 1862 – Confederate Artillery Launches Opening Barrage in Battle of Harpers Ferry

On September 14, 1862, Confederate artillery launched the opening barrage in the Battle of Harpers Ferry, initiating perhaps the most important Civil War conflict in present West Virginia.

Jackson’s capture of nearly 13,000 Union forces was the largest surrender of a Northern army during the Civil War and the third largest surrender of a United States army in history.

Two days later, Confederate troops arrived from Harpers Ferry just in time to save the day for Robert E. Lee in the waning moments of the Battle of Antietam.

October 29, 1861: General Lee Ends Three-Month Campaign

On October 29, 1861, Confederate commander Robert E. Lee departed present-day West Virginia, near the end of his ill-fated western Virginia campaign. The rest of his Civil War career would rank Lee among the greatest generals in history. However, his first campaign was a total calamity.