The Battle of Cheat Mountain

This week is the 157th anniversary of the Battle of Cheat Mountain in what is today West Virginia. The site is about 25 miles south of the Rich Mountain area , where McClellan's and Rosecrans' troops had waged a successful summer campaign.  That led to McClellan taking over the entire US Army, while Rosecrans was left in command of western Virginia. His subordinate Brig. Gen. Joseph Reynolds (not be confused with John Reynolds, who was killed at Gettysburg) had responsibility for the Cheat Mountain area, with Col. Nathan Kimball in command of the fort at the summit.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis gave Robert E. Lee his first field command with the idea of undoing the Union successes. Over several days of skirmishing with forces led by Reynolds and Kimball, Lee failed to accomplish anything.

These were hardly battles when compared to later engagements such as Antietam a year later, when Kimball's brigade suffered over 600 casualties at the Sunken Road, or Chickamauga in September 1863, where Reynolds' 4th Division in XIV Corps was heavily engaged.

Lee was sent to work on Confederate coastal defenses through the fall, winter and spring. He did not take command of the Army of Northern Virginia until June 1, 1862.