Qualla: Battle of Carnifex Ferry

Battle of Carnifex Ferry: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors)., Public domain. On the afternoon of September 10, 1861, three Union brigades under Brigadier General William S. Rosecrans crested a ridge on the Patteson farm above the Gauley River and saw what they had marched all night from Clarksburg to find: Confederate breastworks, freshly thrown up, manned by John B. Floyd's troops. Rosecrans attacked. The Federals lost more men than the Confederates that afternoon, but when night fell, Floyd made a decision that determined more than just the day's outcome. He ordered his soldiers to slip down the ferry road to the Gauley River and cross to the south bank. By dawn the Confederate position on the rim was empty. Carnifex Ferry became a strategic Union victory that helped clear western Virginia of Confederate forces and set the stage for the creation of West Virginia two years later.

Read more: Battle of Carnifex Ferry on Qualla

Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). | Public domain

Battle of Carnifex Ferry: The Setup

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Signed "W.L.S after W.D. Washington., Public domain. The summer of 1861 was the Confederacy's first attempt to hold the western counties of Virginia, where Unionist sentiment ran strong. In late August, Brigadier General John B. Floyd - a former Secretary of War whose departure from Buchanan's cabinet had embittered Northerners - l...

Read more: Battle of Carnifex Ferry on Qualla

Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Signed "W.L.S after W.D. Washington. | Public domain

Battle of Carnifex Ferry: Rosecrans Comes South

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Signed "W.L.S after W.D. Washington., Public domain. William S. Rosecrans, a 42-year-old West Pointer who would later become one of the most prominent Union commanders in the western theater, was concerned that Floyd's drive aimed at the Kanawha Valley itself. He gathered three brigades of infantry at Clarksburg and marched them ha...

Read more: Battle of Carnifex Ferry on Qualla

Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Signed "W.L.S after W.D. Washington. | Public domain

Battle of Carnifex Ferry: The Night Crossing

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Signed "W.L.S after W.D. Washington., Public domain. On the field itself, the day belonged to Floyd. Union casualties exceeded Confederate. But Rosecrans had brought a significantly larger army, and crucially he had brought artillery that the Confederates could not match. As darkness settled in, Floyd realized that the next morning...

Read more: Battle of Carnifex Ferry on Qualla

Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (Book authors). Signed "W.L.S after W.D. Washington. | Public domain

Battle of Carnifex Ferry: What It Set in Motion

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jrob456321789, CC BY-SA 3.0. Carnifex Ferry did not end the war in western Virginia, but it broke the Confederate offensive of 1861. By the end of October, Federal forces had pushed Confederate units back across the mountains toward the Shenandoah Valley. With the western counties firmly in Union hands, the ...

Read more: Battle of Carnifex Ferry on Qualla

Image: Jrob456321789 | CC BY-SA 3.0