165 YEARS AGO: Robert E. Lee returns to Richmond after his three-month campaign in western Virginia that many southerners consider a miserable failure.
Tag: Benjamin F. Kelley
The Battle of Philippi
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: Federals win a minor victory that clears Confederates out of the Kanawha Valley of western Virginia and secures the railroad line between Washington and the West.
The Western Virginia Incursion Begins
OTD 165 YEARS AGO: George B. McClellan orders Federal troops across the Ohio River to begin anticipated incursion into predominantly Unionist western Virginia.
The Moorefield Engagement
Federal cavalry intercepts a Confederate detachment that had just finished raiding through Maryland and Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Philip Sheridan takes command of Federals in the Valley and starts planning to take on Jubal Early’s Confederates.
Confederates Forage in West Virginia
Confederate forces scour the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia to feed the armies despite severe winter conditions, while Federals in the region begin panicking at their presence.
The Battle of Droop Mountain
An engagement occurs as part of William W. Averell’s Federal raid on Confederate supply lines in West Virginia.