Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 1 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the warStephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
History
Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 1 (of 2) : $b A complete and reliable history of the war from its commencement to its close ... together with a complete chronological analysis of the war
Stephens, Ann S. (Ann Sophia)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
The want of men in Western Virginia had induced the Government to call
this regiment into the field before its ranks were full, and they had
been on duty but one week when the affair at Chapmansville took place.
With only six hours notice they marched from Cincinnati, and on the 19th
of September arrived at “Camp Enyard,” on the Kanawha, occupied by
Colonel Enyard with three hundred of the First Kentucky and two hundred
of the Home Guards of Virginia.
Three days subsequently they learned that the enemy were in force fifty
miles distant, and marched, in company with Colonel Enyard’s command to
Peytona, where they separated, Colonel Piatt proceeding to Boone
Court-house. A march of about sixteen miles the next day brought them in
contact with the advance cavalry guard of the enemy, who were quickly
driven in. The force was immediately made ready for battle, and
proceeded on for two hours, constantly skirmishing with the retreating
foe. Though unable to ascertain the position or force of their opposers,
they yet marched bravely, with Colonel Piatt in advance, until the dim
outline of a breastwork became visible through the dense underbrush,
situated on the slope of a hill between two mountain ridges on the right
and a small ravine on the left. The brush had been cut down on the right
and a force of the enemy, comprising about one hundred men, were
stationed there to rake the advancing troops, and their fire was poured
in incessantly. The Federals returned the fire and advanced fearlessly,
in four columns, with company A, Captain Rathbone, deployed to the
right, directly up the side of the mountain, for the purpose of
outflanking the enemy on the left; company C, Captain Miller, dispatched
for a similar purpose to the left; company I, Captain Anderson, marching
up the ravine, and the centre moving directly up the road. When within
about twenty yards of the breastworks they were suddenly fired upon from
all quarters. The order from Colonel Piatt to storm the entrenchments
was responded to with hearty cheers, and the men dashed on, regardless
of the storm of bullets that tore up the earth around them.
Captain Anderson was the first to mount the breastworks, his men
following steadily and with unflinching courage. Captain Miller on the
left, and Captain Rathbone on the right, were impeded by obstructions,
but quickly overcoming or dashing through them, joined in the charge. A
few minutes sufficed to reach the inside and break the ranks of the
enemy, who fled to the mountains. They left twenty-nine dead behind and
had fifty wounded, among them Colonel Davis, of North Carolina, who
afterwards died. The Federal loss was four killed and eight wounded.
Colonel Piatt marched into Chapmansville, the former headquarters of the
enemy, encamped for the night, and then returned to Camp Enyard, almost
without provisions, and forced to wade through swollen streams and
surmount rugged mountains.
RECONNOISSANCE AT GREEN BRIER, WESTERN VIRGINIA.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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