Philippi-The Federal Attack - Philippi WV - Civil War Discovery Trail Sites on Waymarking.com

Philippi-The Federal Attack— The First Campaign —On June 2, 1861, Federal troops advanced on Philippi from the Baltimore & Ohio rail hub at Grafton in two columns of about 1500 men each.

The left column, under Col. Benjamin Kelley, took the train six miles east to Thornton, and then marched south over poor roads on the east side of the Tygart Valley River toward Philippi.

The right column, under Col. Ebenezer Dumont, rode the train south to Webster and followed the Fairmount-Beverly Turnpike to Talbott Hill (College Hill) where they placed cannons overlooking Philippi. Both columns slogged through torrents of rain and total darkness. Kelley's men became lost and arrived too late to cut off the Confederate retreat from the town.

"Cannon balls [were] crashing into their huts and stirring out the rebels like a stick into a hornet's nest."
-Whitelaw Reed, Cincinnati Gazette

After the two Federal cannon were placed on Talbott Hill, other units of Dumont's column moving up tried to stop Mrs. Thomas Humphreys from sending one of her sons to warn the Confederates. She fired a pistol. The Federal cannoners, thinking it was the signal that Kelley's troops were in place to cut off the Confederates, opened fire.

It was the first time in world history that an army used the railroad to bring divergent columns to converge upon an opponent.

Type of site: Battlefield Address: College Hill Drive Located between Burbick Hall and Wilcox Chapel on the campus of Alderson-Broaddus College Philippi, WV USA 26416 Admission Charged: No Charge Website: [Web Link] Phone Number: Not listed Driving Directions: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/04/2021 Don.Morfe visited it