July 13, 1861 - Corrick's Ford

July 13, 1861

Corrick's Ford

Tucker County, WV


Union Gen. George B. McClellan (Capt. Henry W. Benham, Gen. T.A. Morris)

vs.

Confederate Gen. Robert S. Garnett


* Garnett is the first general to die in the Civil War ("Federal skirmishers splashed across the ford and found the general's body among the wildflowers.")

* This follow-up to Rich Mountain builds McClellan's reputation, and secures the state for the Union


I spent the night in Parsons, WV. It allowed me to engage in some pre-dawn historical tourism...but it still wasn't early enough to escape WV safely before the snow hit...


"They have not given me an adequate force. I can do nothing. They have sent me to my death."
Gen. Robert S. Garnet CSA

"I have made a very clean sweep of it."
Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan USA

"Confederate Gen. Robert S. Garnett took command of the Army of the Northwest in this region after the "Philippi Races," first land battle of the Civil War. By June 16, 1861, Garnett's 5,300 Confederates dug in at Rich Mountain and Laurel Hill, more than 25 miles south, to stop an invasion by Union Gen. George McClellan.

McClellan's victory at Rich Mountain on July 11 forced Gen. Garnett to abandon Laurel Hill. That night, Garnett and 3,500 Confederates marched south toward Beverly. Fearing a trap, they turned northeast in a daring bid to escape.

Union Gen. Thomas Morris' brigade gave chase. Slowed by muddy roads and river crossings, Gen. Garnett's army made a gallant stand to rescue their wagons less than on mile south on Shavers Fork.

Breaking off the fight, they retreated downstream to nearby Corricks Ford, where Garnett was killed on July 13, 1861 - the first Civil War general to fall. His Confederates fled in disarray to Highland County, Virginia. Events here made Gen. McClellan a national hero and bolstered West Virginia statehood in 1863."

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=159726

"In the spring of 1861, Union forces into northwestern Virginia to secure the vital Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, protect important turnpikes, and support Unionists against Confederates. The two sides fought numerous engagements between June and December. They included Philippi (the war's first land battle), Rich Mountain, Corrick's Ford, Cheat Summit Fort, Carnifex Ferry*, and Camp Allegheny. The many Union victories made Gen. George B. McClellan's reputation and damaged that of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee—a situation reversed in 1862. Despite later Confederate raids, today's West Virginia remained largely under Federal control for the rest of the war.

Here at Corricks Ford on July 13, 1861, Confederate Robert S. Garnett became the first general killed in the Civil War.

Two days earlier, in one of the first important Union victories of the Civil War, on July 11, 1861, Union Gen. George McClellan's forces defeated part of Garnett's command on Rich Mountain. Elements of Garnett's command had been holding the area around Beverly, the junction of two important turnpikes—the Beverly and Fairmont and the Staunton and Parkersburg. When Garnett learned of the Union victory, he and his 4,000 men abandoned their stronghold at Laurel Hill early the next morning. The Confederates first marched toward Beverly, but fearing that their escape route was blocked, Garnett gave the order to march northeast, to circle back to safety.

Garnett's army wagons labored over the narrow mountain traces of Pheasant Mountain in a driving summer rain with the Federals in pursuit. The Confederates threw away tents, camp furniture, and supplies to lighten their load and block the path. The retreat continued through the night and into the next day. On July 13, 1,800 Federals under Capt. (later Gen.) Henry W. Benham caught Garnett's rear guard here at Corricks Ford, a river crossing on the Shavers Fork of Cheat River.

Garnett was killed while attempting to delay the Federal pursuit. The Confederates scattered after this bloody engagement, leaving their dead, a cannon, and most of their wagons stalled in the river.

"The rain was pouring in torrents and the clayey road almost impossible in many places, the spirit of the troops … was such as to bear them most rapidly onward under all these trials, superadded to that of hunger … with the great part of them for the previous fifteen or twenty hours."
— Capt. Henry W. Benham"


Corrick's actual Ford

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=169577

"After the Confederate defeat in the Tygarts Valley early in 1861, Gen. R.S. Garnett, the Southern leader, withdrew. Here he was overtaken by Federals under his West Point classmate, Gen. T.A. Morris, his army defeated, and himself mortally wounded."

Parsons after dark...
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=23641

"John Crouch, pioneer settler, established "tomahawk rights" here in 1766, but the town was not incorporated until 1893. Here Shavers Fork and Blackwater unite to form the Cheat River. Hu Maxwell, the historian, lived near.

After the battles of Philippi, Laurel Hill, and Rich Mountain, Gen. R.S. Garnett, new commander of the Confederates, led his army southward through the Tygarts Valley. His force was overtaken at Corrick's Ford, July 13, 1861, defeated, and Garnett killed."



Tucker County Courthouse 
https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=74854

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=33621



From the museum in Beverly, WV

* Carnifex Ferry is a real pain in my completist ass! While technically part of the 1861 First Campaign, it is so far over the mountains to the west that it can not be considered part of the Eastern Theatre. Then again, all this stuff in WV is right on the line, but Carnifex Ferry is several additional hours west and I just can't handle it right now. Maybe some day...


See also:

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/corricks-ford

https://www.mycivilwar.com/battles/610713.html


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nov. 28, 1864 - Capture of New Creek

Image
Nov. 28, 1864 Capture of New Creek New Creek aka Keyser, WV Col. George R. Latham @ Fort Fuller  vs. Confederates under Gen. Thomas Rosser "On November 28, 1864, Confederates under Gen. Thomas Rosser rode to New Creek, where a sizeable Union force commanded by Col. George R. Latham occupied Fort Fuller . With several of the Confederates wearing enemy uniforms, the attack was a complete surprise. More than 700 Union soldiers were captured, along with horses and artillery. A vast amount of supplies was destroyed." https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=152788 Keyser. Between 1861–1865, Keyser, then New Creek, was sought by the North and South. It changed hands fourteen times. Fort Fuller, where Potomac State Collect stands, was supported by a series of forts girding the town. Averell’s Raid. Here in 1863 General W. W. Averell started the Federal cavalry raid to Salem, Virginia, and then back into this State. This is among the great exploits of the War. Many of his troopers were from Wes...
Read more

July 10-12, 1864 - Gilmor's Raid

Image
July 9-11, 1864  Gilmor's Raid  AKA The Magnolia Station Raid (though that's really a sub-set of the larger raid) Baltimore and Harford Counties, Maryland There's a lot going on here and I'm still piecing it together, so let's consider this entry (really, all of them) a work in progress. This could be my absolute favorite Civil War moment right here: the days the war came closest to where I live and work today. And Gilmor is a bastard of a villain just short of Lee. OK, maybe not on the same scale as Lee, but he's still an a-hole. Fittingly, though disappointingly, he becomes the Chief of Police in Baltimore after the war - and he fires on some striking railroad workers.  There is some irony in knowing that the street named for him is in West Baltimore's Sandown-Winchester neighborhood - epicenter of the 2015 Baltimore uprising. Gilmor Homes, an undeniably notorious housing project in the same area, also bore his name.  From Brett W. Spaulding's Last Ch...
Read more

The American Civil War Chronologically - Introduction

Image
Welcome, please allow me to explain what's going on here.  I started off trying to visit each Civil War battlefield in the Eastern Theatre in the order they occurred. That quickly spiraled out of control. Now, I'm just visiting every Civil War-related site I can, with an emphasis on the East (and especially my home state of Maryland), and then assembling my observations in chronological order. I try to minimize editorializing, and tend to just copypasta information directly from the sources I encounter- and credit. Sometimes though, I can't help it. My acute interest is compounded by the fact that I and my neighbors still live on sacred ground soaked with the blood of the American Revolution and Civil War. These events literally created the nation we have today. It's fascinating to see a fast-food place where a hero died - and so few care. I also agree with Grant who said the cause of the Confederacy was "one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for...
Read more