American Civil War Timeline: West Virginia

1861

17 April

Virginia convention votes to secede from the Union.

May

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad blocked by Confederate militia at Grafton, West Virginia

26 May

George B. McClellan sends troops from Ohio into West Virginia, to reopen the railroad.

3 June

Battle of Philippi: A Union army surprises the Confederate troops who had been blocking the railroad and force them into a rapid retreat.

11 June

Convention that leads to creation of state of West Virginia meets for the first time at Wheeling

21 June

McClellan arrives at Grafton and takes direct command of operations in West Virginia

2 July

A Union force under General Jacob Cox is ordered south into the Kanawha Valley to deal with a Confederate force commanded by Henry A. Wise, a former governor of Virginia

11 July

Kanawha Valley expedition gets under way.

12 July

Battle of Rich Mountain: The Confederate army at Beverly is outflanked and forced into another retreat.

13 July

Skirmish at Corrick's Ford: Action during the pursuit of the army defeated at Rich Mountain, in which the Confederate commander General Garnett becomes the first civil war general to be killed in action.

13 July

West Virginia's senators seated in the House.

22 July

General McClellan called east to command the Union armies around Washington in the aftermath of the defeat at First Bull Run. Replaced by his second in command, General Rosecrans.

24 July

Confederate forces retreat from Charleston, the most important town in the Kanawha Valley

25 July

Union forces occupy Charleston

20 August

The Convention at Wheeling adopts an 'ordinance of dismemberment' to create a new state, initially to be called Kanawha

3 September

Confederate attack on the Union position at Gauley Bridge repulsed with some ease

10 September

Battle of Cheat Mountain: Robert E. Lee's first battlefield command, and a Confederate defeat caused in part by the over-complexity of his plan (to 15 September)

Battle of Carnifex Ferry: Confederate forces in the south of West Virginia defeated by General Rosecrans

15 September

Battle of Cheat Mountain ends.

24 October

Referendum ratifies the create of the new state of West Virginia

12 November

The last Confederate force in West Virginia begin to retreat from the state

1862

23 May

Official creation of the State of West Virginia

20 June

West Virginia accepted into the United States

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How to cite this article: Rickard, J (17 January 2007), American Civil War Timeline: West Virginia , http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/timeline_west_virginia.html

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