Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

These passes were defended by abatis and earthworks furnished with artillery. Garnett had stationed Colonel Pegram with 2000 men in the first of these passes, and had himself taken a position in the second with the rest of his forces, amounting to about 3000 men.

This position, naturally very strong, had the disadvantage of lying parallel with the road it had to cover; to pierce it at a single point, therefore, sufficed to cut off the retreat of the troops who occupied it. This was what McClellan determined to do as soon as he had gathered around him a sufficient force to take the offensive.

Toward the end of June he found himself at the head of five brigades, composed, it is true, of entirely new troops, whose organization left much to be desired. It was, however, necessary to act; Cox's brigade was sent to the lower Kanawha to watch the enemy massed on that side, with whom it only had some trifling engagements; Hill's brigade remained to guard the railways and the posts which connected West Virginia with the troops stationed along the upper Potomac; finally, McClellan divided the forces with which he intended to attack Garnett and Pegram into two columns. The first, composed of Morris's brigade, occupied Philippi, on the road leading to Leedsville by way of Laurel Hill: it was determined that this column should make a demonstration against that position so as to draw Garnett's attention, while the other was to cut off his retreat by taking possession of Rich Mountain, where he had committed the error of not concentrating the bulk of his forces. McClellan intended to conduct this operation in person with the brigades of Schleich and Rosecrans; these brigades were posted at Buckannon, a village where the road running from Beverly through the defile of Rich Mountain crosses that branch of the Monongahela which lower down waters the town of Philippi. This small army, numbering about 10,000 men, took up its line of march on the 6th of July, and on the 10th, after some insignificant encounters, McClellan, whose troops were ranged along the slopes of Rich Mountain, found himself before the works occupied by Pegram.