The weekend of July 11-12 will once again see the biannual reenactment of the Battle of Rich Mountain near Beverly, WV. In June, 1861, Major General George B. McClellan took command of Union troops in Western Virginia and on the 27th of that month, set out for Randolph County to engage the Confederate forces there. On July 11, part of McClellan’s force, under the command of Brig. General William S. Rosencrans flanked Lt. Colonel John Pegram’s Confederates on Rich Mountain and forced their retreat. Confederate General Robert Garnett, commanding Confederate forces on Laurel Hill, north of Rich Mountain, heard of the defeat and abandoned the positions there. The Union forces vigorously pursued and Garnett was killed in fighting near Corrick’s Ford in Tucker County. He was the first General officer to die in the American Civil War. Although his subordinates had done most of the field command during these fights, McClellan was able to use these victories to propel himself within a month to command of the largest army in the land – the Army of the Potomac. *
The reenactment will be held on part of the original battlefield on the old Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike just west of Beverly, West Virginia. See the links below for details:
http://www.richmountain.org/reen2009a.htm
http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/20-5/20-5-13.pdf
*Wikipedia
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