Robert E. Lee and the 35th Star
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Robert E. Lee and the 35th Star
By Tim McKinney
Paperback, 152 pages
In slightly more than one hundred pages, including a profusion of maps and photographs, this book takes the reader on a fast-paced retelling of primarily military events in Civil War western Virginia during the campaigns of 1861. "For decades prior to the advent of the American Civil War there existed differences between eastern and western Virginia that would ultimately contribute to the addition of West Virginia as the 35th star on our nations flag," the reader is informed on the first page. Although a good portion of his narrative is devoted to Robert E. Lee's abortive attempts to hold the area for the Confederacy at Cheat Mountain and along the roadways connecting the Kanawha Valley and eastern Virginia, Tim McKinney deals with other aspects of the war in present West Virginia. Commendably, the author has sorted through numerous regimental histories, memoirs, and archival collections to uncover new insights about the men in both armies that fought and died during the western Virginia campaigns.
By the time Lee arrived in August 1861, most of the region had been overrun by Federal troops, and the "Reorganized Government" of Virginia under Governor Francis H. Pierpont had been ensconced at Wheeling with the help of Union bayonets. On the military front, former governor Henry A. Wise and the Wise Legion had been driven from the Kanawha Valley following the indecisive fight at Scary Creek. Robert W. Garnett, an early Confederate commander, had been killed near present Elkins. Wheeling and much of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had been abandoned, and George Porterfield had been hurled out of Grafton and Philippi. Abraham Lincoln's generals in western Virginia, led by George B. McClellan and with superior numbers, quickly bested the lackluster Confederates.
The early strategy of Jefferson Davis and Lee, his military advisor in tramontane Virginia, McKinney correctly observes, was "flawed."
In fairness, the Confederates faced nearly insurmountable obstacles in what became West Virginia after much of the area was occupied by forces under McClellan during the first months of war. Wise probably captured it best when he wrote to his Richmond superiors: "The Kanawha Valley is wholly disaffected and traitorous. It was gone from Charleston to Point Pleasant before I got there. . . . You cannot persuade these people that Virginia can or ever will reconquer the northwest, and they are submitting, subdued, and debased." Lee not only encountered hostile terrain with insufficient troops to defend it but also a population more likely to help the enemy than himself.
Before his return to Richmond, Lee traveled to Sewell Mountain in Greenbrier County to sort out a nasty dispute between commanders John B. Floyd and Henry A. Wise, both former governors of the Old Dominion. Animosities between the two had reached the breaking point. Although Davis ordered Wise to another theater, Lee, was never able to exercise much control over the disparate Southern forces throughout western Virginia.
In fairness, the Confederates faced nearly insurmountable obstacles in what became West Virginia after much of the area was occupied by forces under McClellan during the first months of war. Wise probably captured it best when he wrote to his Richmond superiors: "The Kanawha Valley is wholly disaffected and traitorous. It was gone from Charleston to Point Pleasant before I got there. . . . You cannot persuade these people that Virginia can or ever will reconquer the northwest, and they are submitting, subdued, and debased." Lee not only encountered hostile terrain with insufficient troops to defend it but also a population more likely to help the enemy than himself.
Before his return to Richmond, Lee traveled to Sewell Mountain in Greenbrier County to sort out a nasty dispute between commanders John B. Floyd and Henry A. Wise, both former governors of the Old Dominion. Animosities between the two had reached the breaking point. Although Davis ordered Wise to another theater, Lee, was never able to exercise much control over the disparate Southern forces throughout western Virginia.
Following an impasse between Federal commander Rosecrans and himself, Lee and Davis decided to abandon the region, even though Floyd had advanced to Cotton Hill overlooking Gauley Bridge. "There can be no doubt that General Lee and others in roles of leadership for the Confederacy, seriously, fatally, miscalculated both the Federal Government's resolve to hold West Virginia, and the strong division among its populace, McKinney reasons. Lesser-known Confederates remained, but Lee's departure and the military collapse that followed pointed the way to West Virginia statehood without challenge. Yet the author finds merit in the efforts of Lee and his compeers: "They were able to prevent the Federal forces from advancing west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, or south of Lewisburg. Had the northern army done either in force, it would have spelled disaster for the Confederacy early in the conflict."
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