Nov. 3-5, 1863 - Mudwall Jackson anticipates Averell; Battle of Mill Point; Union Camp before Droop Mountain

Nov. 3-5, 1863

"Mudwall" Jackson anticipates Averell's Raid

Hillsboro, West[ern] Virginia, Pocahontas County

* Far from home and completely out of context: I wasn't looking for this sign when I was tracing The First Campaign in West Virginia (2024) - and I can't even read it, but here we are. My own trip was also characterized by rumors of Averell's Raid. I hope to return for more....but one year at a time. 

* I stopped short of Droop Mountain because I was in unfamiliar territory and running out of daylight, but this is some of the farthest-from-home I have ever driven to. Actually, the map tells me this is even further West than Buckhannon, WV, which I thought was the winner. But no, my point furthest West is actually here: the Union camp at the Pearl S. Buck house - not quite Droop Mt. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=34333

William L. "Mudwall" Jackson
19th & 20th Virginia Cavalry C.S.A.
—November 3-5, 1863—

William L. "Mudwall" Jackson and the main body of the 19th Virginia Cavalry were in camp near Mill Point on November 3, 1863, when they received a message from Lt. George W. Siple, a Pocahontas County native in Capt. William L. McNeel's Company F, 19th Virginia, concerning a confrontation with Gen. William W. Averell near Green Bank.

Rumors abounded that Averell was planning to strike Lewisburg. Col. Jackson sent messages to Col. William W. Arnett, 20th Virginia Cavalry at Marlins Bottom; General John Echols at Lewisburg; Capt. Jacob W. Marshall, Company I, 19th Virginia Cavalry at Edray; and Lt. Col. William P. Thompson, 19th Virginia Cavalry, to proceed toward the Lewisburg and Beaver Lick Pike.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=159701

Close to, but not quite, Droop Mountain - see it in the distance? Pearl S. Buck lived here. And her ancestors  witnessed the war.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=34143

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=59356

Union Camp
Prelude to Battle of Droop Mountain

 

On November 5, 1863, Union Gen. William W. Averell established his command post and camp on the wide plain in front of you known as the Little Levels. Averell came here with his combined force of infantry and cavalry while conducting a raid on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. He also hoped to cut off and defeat Confederate Col. William L. Jackson’s 750-man force in the area. After a skirmish at Mill Point three miles north of here, Jackson and his men fell back through here to the summit of Droop Mountain and began to construct defensive works as Averell pushed south on the Lewisburg road to this point. Confederate Gen John Echols arrived on the mountain with reinforcements and took command.

While camped here, Averell developed his plan of attack. Under cover of artillery fire on November 6, he sent one column to climb the northern flank of Droop Mountain and demonstrate against the Confederate center. Meanwhile the remainder of his force made its way along a little-known route that passed west of Hillsboro and struck the flank. The Confederate line collapsed after an hour and a half of fighting, and the men fled down the south slope of Droop Mountain. The Union victory broke the Confederates’ hold on the area; they never again conducted a significant campaign there. It also made Federal railroad raids into Virginia and the railroad more likely.

"Around 6 o'clock, we were all sitting around the breakfast table unaware of there being any soldiers in our neighborhood, when we heard the firing of army guns just outside the house." - County resident Calvin L. Stulting, then eight years old, and later the uncle of noted writer Pearl S. Buck

The house of Col. Paul McNeal, who had been a county delegate in the Virginia Secession Convention in 1861 and whose son was a Confederate officer, stood within sight of the camp.

Not in China. 

And here's where I spent the night in Dailey, WV. A previous marker on the Jones-Imboden Raid of 1861 mentions that here in Dailey is where Imboden divided his column before attacking Beverly, just a few miles North.