Civil War    Battlefields

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Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike

     The Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike is an historic roadway built to provide transportation access from the upper Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to the Ohio River.

The Pike at Camp Allegheny is beautiful at all times of the year.

     Claudius Crozet engineered the main roadway which was completed in 1848. This road, traveling over the high mountains near the birthplace of rivers, was an engineering marvel, and opened large sections of western Virginia to settlement and commerce.
     The Mountain Campaign, one of the earliest of the Civil War, was fought for control of this turnpike, and the access it provided to the B&O Railroad. The battle of Rich Mountain gave the Federals control of the turnpike, of the Tygart Valley, and of all of the territory of western Virginia to the north and west, including the railroad. The Federals then fortified at Cheat Summit, and the Confederates established fortifications at Bartow and Allegheny.

Civil War trenches at Camp Bartow offer a commanding view of the Staunton - Parkersburg Turnpike and the Greenbrier River Bridge. Cheat Mountain looms in the background.

There they faced each other over the turnpike through the fall 1861 and winter of 1862. General Robert E. Lee’s attempt to attack Cheat Summit Fort, and Federal attempts to attack Camp Bartow and Camp Allegheny, all failed to dislodge the enemy. The Battle of McDowell ended the Federal Mountain Campaign and began the famous Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

More information about other Battlefields:

• Philippi Battle

• Rich Mountain Battle

• Cheat Mountain Summit
       West Virginia in the American Civil War September 12-15 1861 Gen. Robert E. Lee directed his first offensive of the war against Brig. Gen. Joseph Reynolds's entrenchments on the summit of Cheat Mountain and in the Tygart Valley.

• Camp Bartow Battle
       On October 3, 1861, General Joseph J. Reynolds and 5,000 Federal troops took the initiative by attacking 2,000 Confederates under the command of General H. R. Jackson. The Battle of Greenbrier River consisted of an artillery duel with two flank attacks. The Confederate troops maintained their defense position of the Staunton-Parkersburg Pike from hillside trenches remaining today on private property.

• Camp Allegheny Battle
       In November 1861, the Confederates abandoned Camp Bartow for Camp Allegheny, a stronger position on the top of Allegheny. 1,200 Georgia and Virginia regiments with two batteries of artillery built their camp on the Yeager farm at the turnpike pass. On December 12th, General Robert H. Milroy led a two-pronged attack on the camp. From the right flank Milroy’s main force prematurely engaged Confederate pickets, and a fierce close fight ensued. Due to the fortuitous timing, Confederate commander Colonel Edward Johnson was able to shift his troops against the second attack from his left flank. Once again the Confederate defenders held the Pike

• 1861 – 1862 Winter Camps:

  Imagine plodding through knee deep snow on a wagon rutted 'Turnpike' with worn-out ill-fitting footwear

  
       The two armies, Federals on the Cheat and Confederates on the Allegheny, huddled in their frozen mountain camps. These mountain heights were desolate places. The winter was especially severe. Both armies suffered terribly in their exposed positions. Measles, pneumonia and other illnesses took a higher toll than any of the battles. To the lowland soldiers, life in these mountains was an unbearable ordeal. When spring came, both armies were ready to push down the pike into the Shenandoah Valley, leaving behind the cold, desolate wilderness of that first winter of the war. Both Cheat Summit Fort and Camp Allegheny were abandoned in April of 1862.

• The Battle of McDowell

Greenbrier Valley

• Droop Mountain Battle

• Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park
  HC 64, Box 189 Hillsboro, West Virginia 24946 (304) 653-4254

 

Battle Maps

West Virginia Civil War Map of Battles

 

A map of battle sites along the Staunton - Parkersburg Turnpike

The Staunton - Parkersburg Turnpike provides transportation access from the upper Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to the Ohio River.

Partisans
      Confederate guerrillas, called "partisans" or "bushwhackers", depending upon one's point of view, conducted effective harassment raids throughout the area along the turnpike. Union troops were kept off balance responding to these partisan raids. Often the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike was used to launch larger raids by regular Confederate forces.
      One such raid commencing in April 1863 involved 4,700 Confederate troops under two independent commands. They were to destroy B&O railroad trestles and capture supplies needed for the Southern cause. They put the torch to "Oiltown" (or Burning Springs) burning up 150,000 barrels of oil, the first burning of an oil installation in the history of warfare. On the way back, they drove 3,000 cattle and 1,200 horses through Beverly over the mountains into Virginia. It was the largest drove of livestock ever to pass along the turnpike.

Historical Overviews

• Rich Mountain Battlefield
       In one of the earliest engagements of the Civil War, Union regiments under the command of General George B. McClellan attacked and defeated Confederate troops defending a strategic mountain pass on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike.

• The Battle of McDowell

• Barbour County History

• The Civil War was an integral part of Randolph County and West Virginia history.

• The Staunton - Parkersburg Turnpike ... is an historic roadway built to provide transportation access from the upper Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to the Ohio River.

Monongahela National Forest Civil War Site

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Eight Rivers Web Designs           Last update Sept. 2, 2003
by     Michael Condon                 mike@eightrivers.com