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Such a record of courage, of expedient and of endurance, has no known parallel in the war. It settled forever the question of
Missouri manhood.
It did more than this: it proved that the spirit of the native and true population of
Missouri was strongly Southern, and that it needed nothing but organization and opportunity for its triumph.
The Western Virginia campaign.
The campaign in
Western Virginia, which was mostly contemporary with that of
Missouri, and very similar to it in its discursive character, unfortunately did not partake of its brilliancy.
With but little compensation, either in the prestige of arms, or in the fruits of single victories, it surrendered to the enemy a country of more capacity and grandeur than perhaps any other of equal limits on the
American continent; abounding in immense forests, possessed of almost fabulous mineral resources, offering to the manufacturer the vastest water-power in the world, and presenting in its deposits of coal and salt, fields of inexhaustible enterprise and wealth.
In the month of June,
Brigadier-General Wise of
Virginia was sent into the
Kanawha Valley; it being supposed that by his rare and characteristic enthusiasm he would be able to rally the people of this region to the support of the
State.
He established his headquarters at
Charleston, and succeeded in raising a brigade of twenty-five hundred infantry, seven hundred cavalry and three batteries of artillery.
With subsequent reinforcements his command amounted to four thousand men. It was obvious enough that with this small force, his situation was extremely critical.
The enemy had already landed considerable forces at
Parkersburg and
Point Pleasant on the
Ohio River, and was rapidly using his superiour facilities for raising troops in the populous States of
Ohio and
Indiana, and his ample means of transportation by railroad through those States and by the navigation of the
Ohio and
Kanawha Rivers, to concentrate a large force in the lower part of the
Kanawha Valley.
After some desultory movements, and a brilliant affair on
Scary Creek, in Putnam County, where
Col. Patton with a small force repulsed three Federal regiments,
Gen. Wise prepared to give battle to the
Federal forces, which, under the command of
Gen. Cox, had been largely increased, and which were steadily advancing up the
Valley, both by land and water.
But the conflict was not to occur.
A more formidable danger, from a different direction, menaced the
Confederates.
The disaster at
Rich Mountain — the surrender of
Pegram's force, and the retreat northward of
Garnett's army, had withdrawn all support from the right flank, and, indeed, from the rear of
Gen. Wise.
He was in danger of being cut off in the rear by several roads from the northwest, striking the
Kanawha road
