The Battle of Charleston (civil war)

     
Battle of Charleston marker
       The Battle of Charleston sign
Picture sourced from wikipedia.com
     

     The year was 1862, which was one year prior to the birth of West Virginia. As you should all know, West Virgina seceded from the Confederacy in 1863. This is why I don't understand why so many people here in WV choose to fly the rebel flag.🤦
     Anyway, the confederates under General William W. Loring decided to move into the Kanawha Valley of what was then Virginia and take the city of Charleston. This decision was made after general Cox's Kanawha Division left to go help the Union army in Maryland. Colonel Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn was left in charge of the Union forces that remained in Charleston.
     On September 6th, General Loring and his men headed out from Narrows, Virginia.
     On their way north to Charleston, they ran into union forces around Fayetteville on September 10th and fought several skirmishes over those next few days which drove the Federals north.
     On the morning of September 13th, the rebels set up on the hills east of Charleston and opened fire on the Federals, which were around where the Capitol currently sits according to americanhistorycentral.com.  The union forces fired back and this artillary engagement went on all morning until about 11:30am when the yankees gave up their positions and headed to the center of town. Colonel Lightburn (union) told civilians to evacuate, he then started burning down buildings just to keep them out of confederate hands.
     At about 3pm, the confederates had taken the union's flag. Lightburn's men crossed the Elk river and destroyed the bridge to slow down the confederates.
     The union Garrison moved on trying to protect their 700 wagon supply train while skirmishing with the confederates. Three days later the union troops crossed the Ohio River at Point Pleasant and Loring finally called off the chase.
     Now I know this all sounds like a big W for the confederates but Colonel Loring was soon replaced and general Cox  came back from Maryland. Loring's replacement, General John Ecnols, just couldn't hold them off. My personal belief is that even if Loring was still in command, it wouldn't have made a difference. By November, the Union was once again in control of Charleston.

     Theres a house still standing in Charleston today, that had a cannonball come through the roof durring the battle. I'm pretty sure they still have the cannonball too. 
     
Sources:
Www.americanhistorycentral.com, the battle of Charleston, Harry Searles, July 15th, 2020

Wikipedia.com, the battle of Charleston

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