Military officer; born in
Cameron, N. Y., Nov. 5, 1832; was graduated at
West Point in 1855.
Entering the Mounted Rifles.
he distinguished himself in
New Mexico by the surprise and capture of a body of
Indians.
In that warfare he was severely wounded.
Soon after the breaking out of the
Civil War he was chosen colonel of a regiment of
Pennsylvania cavalry, and became brigadier-general of volunteers in September. 1862.
He had taken an active part in the battles on the
Peninsula and in
Pope's campaign in July and August, 1862.
He reinforced
Pleasonton in the advance after the
battle of Antietam, and was afterwards very active in
Virginia, especially in the mountain regions, in 1863.
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There had been comparative quiet in that region after the close of 1861 until the
summer and
fall of 1863, when
General Averill, with a cavalry force, made extensive raids in that mountainous country.
Before the close of that year he had nearly purged
western Virginia of armed Confederates, and seriously interrupted railway communication between the
armies of
Lee and
Bragg.
Col. John Tolland had led a cavalry raid in these mountain regions in July, 1863.
He made a descent upon
Wytheville, on the Virginia and Tennessee Railway, where his force was roughly handled by Confederates.
Tolland was killed, and his command returned to the
Kanawha.
In a ride of about 400 miles, during eight days. they had suffered much, and lost eighty-two men and 300 horses.
A little later
General Averill started from
Tygart's Valley: passed through several counties southward: drove Confederates over Warm Spring Mountains; destroyed saltpetre-works: menaced
Staunton; and was confronted by a large force of
Gen. S. Jones's command.
near
White Sulphur Springs, where a conflict for
Rock Gap occurred, and lasted a greater part of Aug. 26 and 27.
Averill was repulsed.
and made his way back to
Tygart's Valley, having lost 207 men and a Parrott gun, which burst during the fight.
The Confederates lost 156 men. Much later in the year
Averill made another aggressive movement.
He left
Beverly early in November with 5,000 men of all arms, and moved southward, driving Confederates under
Gen. “Mudwall” (W. S.)
Jackson to a post on the top of
Droop Mountain, in Greenbrier county; stormed them (Nov. 6, 1863), and drove them into
Monroe county, with a loss of over 300 men, three guns, and 700 small-arms.
Averill's loss was about 100 men.
West Virginia was now nearly free of armed Confederates, and
Averill started, in December, with a strong force of
Virginia mounted infantry,
Pennsylvania cavalry.
and
Ewing's battery, to destroy railway communications between the armies of
Lee in
Virginia and
Bragg in
Tennessee.
He crossed the mountains amid ice and snow.
and first struck the Virginia and Tennessee Railway at
Salem, on the headwaters of the
Roanoke River, where he destroved the station-house, rolling-stock, and Confederate supplies.
Also, in the course of six hours his troops tore up the track, heated and ruined the rails, burned five bridges, and destroyed several culverts over the space of 15 miles. This raid aroused all the
Confederates of the mountain region, and seven separate commands were arranged in a line extending from
Staunton to
Newport to intercept the raider.
He dashed through this line at
Covington in the face of some opposition, destroyed the bridges behind him, and one of his regiments, which had been cut off from the rest, swam the stream and joined the others, with the loss of four men drowned.
Averill captured during the raid about 200 men. “My command,” he said in his report (Dec. 21, 1863), “has marched, climbed, slid, and swam 340 miles since the 8th inst.” He reported a loss of six men drowned, five wounded, and ninety missing.
He performed gallant service under
Hunter,
Sigel, and
Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864; and was brevetted major-general of volunteers in March, 1865.
The same year he resigned his commission of captain in the regular army.
He was consul-general at
Montreal in 1866-69.
In 1888, by special act of Congress, he was reappointed a captain in the army, and soon afterwards was retired.
He died in
Bath, N. Y., Feb. 3, 1900.
