150 years ago, hungry Confederates captured Union garrison, supplies at Beverly

[Omaha Steve]

My posts are not all over the map. I'm eclectic.


http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150111/GZ01/150119969/1419


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With a force of 300 volunteers, Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Rosser captured the Union supply depot at Beverly 150 years ago today.

by Rick Steelhammer, Staff writer

How do you motivate 300 battle-weary cavalrymen to voluntarily leave their encampment in the dead of winter, ride more than 75 miles across snow-covered mountains, and then attack an enemy garrison force more than three times larger?

Confederate Gen. Thomas L. Rosser faced just such a challenge 150 years ago this week at his brigade’s winter quarters near McDowell, Virginia, where food and warm clothing were in short supply following a successful Union sweep through the Shenandoah Valley the previous fall. Rosser began honing his leadership skills while a cadet at West Point, where his roommate was George Armstrong Custer, before dropping out two weeks before graduation, at the outset of the Civil War, to accept a commission in the Confederate Army, in which he rapidly advanced through the ranks. But on this occasion, hunger and discomfort likely trumped charisma in raising volunteers for the planned raid.

On Jan. 9, 1865, Rosser and 300 volunteers drawn from 9 Virginia regiments rode westward on the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike toward the Union supply depot at Beverly, guarded by two regiments of Ohioans -- a force totaling nearly 1,100 troops. After spending the first night in a church and a scattering of houses atop Allegheny Mountain, Rosser’s force rode on, crossing the Greenbrier River and Cheat Mountain, where rain changed to snow, causing the Confederates’ overcoats to freeze solid and “rattle like boards,” according to Thomas J. Arnold’s “A Battle Fought in the Streets: Rosser’s Beverly Raid of 1865.”

As the Confederates approached Beverly at the end of the second day of their trek, they stopped at the family home of one of Rosser’s volunteers to rest and gather information about the Union garrison, including the fact that the federal officers had spent much of the night at a dance in Beverly’s Leonard Hotel and should be fast asleep at the time of the raid, planned to take place just before dawn. The enlisted troops, Rosser was told, were housed in a series of log huts, and were also expected to be sleeping through the subfreezing night.


FULL story at link.

[dgibby]

1. My maternal g.grandfather

was a private in the WVa 12th, Co B. I have transcriptions of the letters he and my g. grandmother wrote to each other celebrating WVa's secession from Va. Later he participated in Hunter's Raid in Craig Co, Va. Both of my paternal g. grandfathers were from Craig Co. and fought for the Confederacy. Happily for me, they were fighting in other battles during the raid; otherwise, I might not have been here, especially considering the fact that one of my g.grandfathers and his son were sharpshooters! All survived the war, although both paternal g.grandfather's were wounded and suffered permanent disabilities, and my maternal g.grandfather almost died from Typhoid Fever.

Thanks for posting this-I love reading about the Civil War. Just hope and pray we never have another one.