The Battle of Droop Mountain occurred in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, on November 6, 1863, during the American Civil War. A Union brigade commanded by Brigadier General William W. Averell defeated a smaller Confederate force commanded by Brigadier General John Echols and Colonel William L. "Mudwall" Jackson. Confederate forces were driven from their breastworks on Droop Mountain, losing weapons and equipment. They escaped southward through Lewisburg, West Virginia; hours before a second Union force commanded by Brigadier General Alfred N. Duffié occupied the town.
The Battle of Droop Mountain was one of the largest engagements in West Virginia during the war. Although Averell had a sound victory at Droop Mountain, he did not achieve his objectives of eliminating the Confederate army in Lewisburg and damaging the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The pro-Confederate community of Lewisburg was captured, but the Confederate army escaped and returned weeks later. No serious attempt was made to attack the railroad. After the expedition, Averell moved north to near the West Virginia–Maryland border, and Duffié moved back toward Charleston.
Some historians claim the battle ended organized Confederate resistance in West Virginia. Post battle, most of the region's fighting shifted east to the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia's eastern panhandle region. Other historians believe that the battle was a tactical victory for Echols and Jackson, since Averell did not eliminate the Confederate army in Lewisburg; and more importantly, did not disturb the railroad.
Background and plans
On April 17, 1861, representatives of the Commonwealth of Virginia held the Virginia Secession Convention, and passed an Ordinance of Secession that declared secession from the United States. The ordinance was ratified by popular referendum on May 23, and Virginia later joined the Confederate States of America. Many people in the northwestern portion of the state preferred to remain loyal to the United States, and delegates from that portion of the state met in June at the Second Wheeling Convention. On June 19, they approved a plan to establish an alternative loyal state government that would be located in Wheeling. Although loyal Virginians approved their own statehood on October 24, 1861, West Virginia did not become a state in the United States until June 20, 1863. After the creation of West Virginia, regular Confederate Army soldiers still operated within the state. Residents of the new state were not all loyal to the union, and the state continued to be plagued by bushwhackers and Partisan rangers practicing guerrilla warfare. Historians estimate that residents of West Virginia provided 20,000 to 22,000 soldiers to each side in the American Civil War. Lewisburg, located in West Virginia near the border with Virginia, was one of the communities that supported the Confederacy. Five skirmishes occurred at Lewisburg during the war, plus a small battle in 1862 and the town's capture and brief occupation in 1863.
The new state had rugged terrain, few good roads, few settlements, and its people were poor. One important asset for the Union Army was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (a.k.a. B&O Railroad), which had rail line in the northern part of the West Virginia that was often targeted by the Confederate Army and its sympathizers. Army resources were needed for the railroad's protection. Union Army leaders normally considered troops in West Virginia to be a defensive force that should handle Confederate raids and confront guerrillas and bushwhackers. Troops were typically scattered in small detachments.
A significant portion of the fighting in West Virginia was related to railroads. While the Union had an important railroad in the northern part of West Virginia; the Confederacy had the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, which was located in Virginia close to West Virginia's southern border. This railroad was used by the Confederacy for moving troops and supplies between those states, and connected to more railroads at Lynchburg, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee. It also had telegraph wires along its line, and important salt and lead mines were located along its route near Wytheville, Virginia. The lead mine was the source for an estimated one third of the lead used by the Confederacy to produce bullets for its armies. Multiple raids on the railroad originated from West Virginia. A mid-July 1863 raid by Union cavalry and mounted infantry, known as the Wytheville Raid or Toland's Raid, failed to inflict permanent damage to the railroad and did not reach the mines. An August 1863 planned raid on Lewisburg, which Confederate leaders worried was a raid on a railroad, ended when Brigadier General William W. Averell was "handsomely repulsed" by a brigade commanded by Colonel George S. Patton in the Battle of White Sulphur Springs.
Kelley's orders
Brigadier General Benjamin Franklin Kelley was commander of the Union Army's Department of West Virginia. Kelley reported to General-in-Chief Henry Halleck. Through his chief-of-staff, Brigadier General George W. Cullum, Halleck let Kelley know that he wanted the Confederates out of Lewisburg and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad disabled. On October 23, 1863, Kelley ordered Averell to move his command south from Beverly, West Virginia, and attack a Confederate force stationed near Lewisburg in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Droop Mountain was not part of the plan. The objective was to capture, or drive away, Confederate forces at or near Lewisburg. A second Union force, which was from Brigadier General Eliakim P. Scammon's Third Division, would move southeast from Charleston to meet Averell in Lewisburg and provide assistance. The Charleston force would consist of two regiments of infantry and two regiments of cavalry, plus artillery.
After Lewisburg, Averell was to attack the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad if practicable. Union infantry that was not mounted would remain in Lewisburg while mounted troops (cavalry and mounted infantry, including Duffié's) would proceed further south to Monroe County and cross into Virginia. Their objective was to destroy the railroad bridge over the New River, which was less than 10 miles (16 km) from the railroad's Dublin Station near Newbern, Virginia. One historian considers the destruction of the railroad bridge and line to be the principal goal of Averell's expedition. At the time, Confederate Lieutenant General James Longstreet was in Tennessee with two divisions of the Army of Northern Virginia—serious damage to the railroad would disrupt his ability to communicate with army leadership and make it difficult to return his troops to the east. If Averell determined that an attack on the railroad bridge was impracticable; he was to send his infantry and one battery back to Beverly. The remaining portion of his command would move to New Creek and get resupplied. New Creek, originally known as Paddytown and later as Keyser, was a stop on the B&O Railroad near the West Virginia–Maryland border. With no attack on the railroad, Duffié's command would hold Lewisburg or fall back to Meadow Bluff, West Virginia.
Opposing forces
Confederate army
In November 1863, the Confederate Army controlled much of the Greenbrier Valley in West Virginia. Confederate Major General Sam Jones commanded the Department of Western Virginia and East Tennessee, and his headquarters were about 75 miles (121 km) south of Lewisburg, West Virginia, at the Dublin Rail Depot for the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad in Virginia. Although Jones did not participate directly in the battle, the men and territory were his responsibility, as were the railroad and bridge near his headquarters that were targeted by the Union. He was in eastern Tennessee when Averell began his expedition, and returned to Dublin around November 6. Brigadier General John Echols commanded a brigade that was headquartered in Lewisburg, and Colonel William L. "Mudwall" Jackson had a small cavalry brigade that patrolled in the Huntersville-Hillsboro region of West Virginia. Further east, Brigadier General John D. Imboden commanded the Shenandoah Valley District. Brigadier General Albert G. Jenkins, who was a Cabell County, West Virginia native, was recovering from a wound received at the Battle of Gettysburg—but two regiments and a battery from his brigade were detached in the Greenbrier County area of West Virginia. Colonel Milton J. Ferguson temporarily commanded Jenkins' brigade.
Union army—Averell
Beginning Union Army commander Kelley's plan, Averell's 4th Separate Brigade departed from Beverly on November 1, 1863. Many of his men were already familiar with the territory and opposition because they had been defeated a few months earlier during August in the Battle of White Sulphur Springs. The brigade consisted of two infantry regiments, three mounted infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment, a portion of an independent cavalry battalion, two light batteries, and a signal corps detachment. The two infantry regiments were the 10th West Virginia and the 28th Ohio, while the mounted infantry regiments were the 2nd West Virginia, 3rd West Virginia, and 8th West Virginia. The infantry was often led by Colonel Augustus Moor, and Colonel John H. Oley usually led the mounted infantry. Moor was a veteran of Florida's Second Seminole War, and colonel of his regiment in the Mexican–American War. Averell's cavalry was the 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment and a battalion of six companies from West Virginia, Illinois, and Ohio. The cavalry was led by Colonel James M. Schoonmaker, and was armed with carbines. The infantry, mounted or not, had muzzle-loader Enfield muskets. Based on earlier reports, Averell's brigade had a maximum of 3,855 officers and men present for duty.
Union army—Duffié
The mounted portion of Scammon's force, commanded by Brigadier General Alfred N. Duffié, departed from Charleston for Lewisburg on November 3. It numbered 970 officers and men with 1,025 horses, and initially consisted of the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry Regiment, the 34th Ohio Mounted Infantry Regiment, and Simmonds' Battery. Most of the men were familiar with Lewisburg, which was about 110 miles (180 km) away—one soldier from the 2nd West Virginia Cavalry described this excursion as the "Third Expedition to Lewisburg". Both regiments were involved in a July 1863 raid on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, where they captured the town of Wytheville but inflicted little permanent damage to the railroad—and lost both of their colonels. On November 4, after crossing the Gauley River at Gauley Bridge, Duffié was delayed by blockades in the road that were so numerous that a new road had to be dug around them in some instances. Two infantry regiments, commanded by Colonel Carr B. White, joined Duffié's mounted men on November 5 at Tyree's Tavern in Fayette County.
Initial movements
In the first few days of the expedition, Averell's Brigade traveled south over the most direct route, and encountered a few bands of guerrillas and small detachments of Confederate Army soldiers. They reached the summit of Cheat Mountain at noon on November 2, and camped that evening in the Greenbrier Valley in Pocahontas County. On November 3, a squadron of the 8th West Virginia Mounted Infantry, which Averell had sent on a different route, was discovered near Green Bank, by a detachment of about 350 men from the 19th Virginia Cavalry Regiment commanded by Lieutenant George W. Siple. After a small clash, the squadron of West Virginians continued south and reunited with Averell's main force near Green Bank and Arbovale, which was about 20 miles (32 km) north of Huntersville.
Siple reported the encounter to Colonel Jackson, who was headquartered with the main body of the 19th Virginia Cavalry just northwest of Hillsboro in Mill Point. Jackson warned Colonel William W. Arnett, who was 8 miles (13 km) north with the 20th Virginia Cavalry Regiment near the Greenbrier River in Marling Bottom. Jackson also sent the news to nearby detachments and Brigadier General John Echols in Lewisburg. Siple's detachment became cut-off and did not rejoin the 19th Virginia Cavalry until days later—depriving Jackson of much needed manpower. While Jackson repositioned his small brigade, Averell moved further south and went into camp. His advance camped about 15 miles (24 km) north of Huntersville. Averell and Jackson were now aware of each other's proximity, and Jackson needed reinforcements for his small brigade. Jackson's brigade consisted of the 19th and 20th Virginia Cavalry Regiments, a cavalry battalion consisting of four companies commanded by Major Joseph R. Kessler, and a battery that consisted of two 12-pounder howitzers. Only 750 men were available to Jackson three days later at Droop Mountain.