The Kanawha Valley Campaign of 1862 was Confederate Major General William W. Loring's military campaign to drive the Union Army out of the Kanawha River Valley during the American Civil War. The campaign took place from September 6 through September 16, 1862, although an important raid that had impact on the campaign started on August 22. Loring achieved success after several skirmishes and two battles (at Fayetteville and Charleston), and Union troops retreated to the Ohio River and the safety of the state of Ohio.
Although the Kanawha Valley was in the southwestern portion of the Confederate state of Virginia at the time of the battle, it became part of the Union state of West Virginia in 1863. Despite West Virginia's impending break away from the Confederacy, its citizens in the Kanawha Valley were divided in loyalty to the two causes. Confederate leadership desired to regain control of the region and its valuable salt mines, and the river valley was seen as a source for new army recruits.
During August 1862, Union Brigadier General Jacob Dolson Cox was ordered to move his Kanawha Division from southwestern Virginia to Washington as reinforcement for Major General John Pope's Army of Virginia. Cox left behind a small force of about 5,000 men, which was under the command of Colonel Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn and headquartered at Gauley Bridge. Confederate leadership found out about the depleted force, and sent Major General William W. Loring to drive the remaining Union soldiers out of western Virginia. Despite Loring's success, he was removed from command one month later because of his lack of cooperation with his superiors. Cox returned to Ohio, and organized troops to retake the Kanawha Valley. Confederate troops evacuated the valley, and the Union army entered Charleston on October 30.
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The KanawhaValleyCampaignof1862 was Confederate Major General William W. Loring's military campaign to drive the Union Army out of the Kanawha River...
District of the Kanawha, both of which were commanded by Cox. Cox and the brigade took part in the Battle of Princeton Court House in 1862. By 1862 the unit...
command of the Kanawha Artillery thereafter. The battery was captured at the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee on February 16, 1862. The Kanawha Artillery...
regiment fought in Major General William W. Loring's KanawhaValleyCampaignof1862 as part of a brigade commanded by Brigadier General John S. Williams...
the Department of Western Virginia and fought in Gen. Wm. W. Loring's KanawhaValleyCampaignof1862 and participated in the capture of Charleston, Virginia...
Williams' brigade then spent a short period of time fighting for William W. Loring in the KanawhaValleyCampaignof1862, skirmishing at Fayetteville and reaching...
Virginia on September 25, 1861, as part of the Western Virginia campaign. A column of Union soldiers from the Kanawha Brigade commanded by Col. Piatt and...
The Maryland campaign (or Antietam campaign) occurred September 4–20, 1862, during the American Civil War. The campaign was Confederate General Robert...
army advances to drive Union forces out of the Kanawha River Valley. Battle of Harpers Ferry (September 12–15, 1862), Jefferson County – Jackson surrounds...
first action as a unit came in the KanawhaValleyCampaignof1862. At that time, the battalion was part of the Army of Southwestern Virginia, which was...
1862 for refusing to take the oath of loyalty, but was rescued by Confederate forces when the KanawhaValley was briefly recaptured. Mason Mathews of...
Virginia Campaign early in the war. For much of1862 he commanded the 4th Brigade in the District ofKanawha. In the KanawhaValleyCampaignof1862, he was...
Operations in the KanawhaValley and New River Region, Virginia, October 19-November 16, 1861. Duty at Camp Platt, Va., until May 1862. Action at Chapmansville...
there until April 16, 1862. Operations in the KanawhaValley April to August. Moved to Washington, D.C., August 18–24. Pope's Campaign in northern Virginia...
District of the Kanawha, West Virginia, to March 1862. 1st Brigade, Kanawha Division West Virginia, Department of the Mountains, to September 1862. 1st Brigade...
Gallagher, Gary W., ed. The Shenandoah ValleyCampaignof1862. Military Campaignsof the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8078-2786-X...
District of the Kanawha, West Virginia, to March 1862. 2nd Brigade, Kanawha Division, Department of the Mountains, to September 1862. 2nd Brigade, Kanawha Division...
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