Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

Rosecrans supposed his movements were unknown to the insurgents. He was mistaken. A courier sent after him by McClellan had been captured by Pegram's scouts, and the march of Rosecrans was revealed.¹ Pegram immediately sent about nine hundred men, with two cannon, up the mountain road in his rear, to meet him. They hastily cast up works of logs and earth near Hart's, and masked their cannon, and from these came the unexpected volley.

Rosecrans had no cannon, but he had men eager for conflict. He formed the three Indiana regiments in battle order, held the Ohio regiment as a reserve, and sent forward his skirmishers. They engaged in desperate fighting while the main body lay concealed in the grass, the shot of the insurgents passing over them. Finally, Pegram's men came out from their works and charged across the road. The Indianians sprang to their feet, and at a given order they fired, fixed their bayonets, and with a wild shout charged upon the foe. A sharp conflict ensued, when the latter gave way and fled in wild confusion down the declivities of the mountain to Pegram's main camp. Re-enforcements sent from Garnett's reserves at Beverly, then on their way, hearing of the disaster to their friends, fell back. Rosecrans recalled his men in pursuit of the fugitives, and prepared for another encounter.

This engagement, known as the battle of rich mountain, commenced at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and occupied less than an hour and a half. The Union troops in action numbered about eighteen hundred, and those of the insurgents about nine hundred. The loss of the former was eighteen killed, and about forty wounded. The latter lost about one hundred and forty killed, and a large number wounded and made prisoners. Their entire loss was more than four hundred, including several officers. For his gallantry on this occasion, Rosecrans was commissioned a brigadier-general.

The position of Rosecrans was now perilous. Pegram was immediately before him with an overwhelming force, and he was separated from the main army by the rough mountain over which he had passed with the greatest difficulty. Fortunately for him, McClellan, who, at his camp at Roaring Run, had heard the cannonading, advanced that evening to a position directly in front of Pegram's main camp, and prepared to assail it in the morning with twelve cannon. Pegram did not wait for the assault, but stole off during the night, and tried to make his way with the remnant of his troops to Garnett's camp. This movement exposed Garnett's rear, and he, too, under cover of the night, abandoned his camp and all in it — cannon, tents, and many wagons — and in light marching order pushed on toward Beverly, hoping to pass it before McClellan could reach it, and so escape over the mountains by Huttonsville, toward Staunton. He was too late. McClellan had moved rapidly on Beverly, and fugitives from Pegram's camp informed him that his advance was already there. Garnett turned back, and taking the road toward St. George, through a gap near Leedsville, he plunged into the wild mountain regions of the Cheat Range, taking with him only one cannon. His reserves at Beverly fled over the mountains, by