And just make up some stuff because jonerik cups to us from West Virginia and hes done some fantastic scholarship for us at the blog about those early months and the early year of the war in 1861, which really set the stage for what happens in 1861 and onward. A lot of people forget about how formative the action in West Virginia was and hes in there with his sleeves rolled up. Really working the material in a way that ive been impressed with. But now im going to read this really nice introduction. From mount pleasant, ohio. He studied history at Bethany College and received a masters of library and Information Science at kent state university. Where he focused his studies on archives and preservation. He started his career in the preservation at the library of copping and later worked for a congress and later worked for a pittsburghbased preservation firm, where he developed Preservation Strategies for libraries, archives and museums. In 2012 he was named director of archives and records for the diocese of wielding charleston, where he works today. He serves as a historic landmarks commissioner for the city of wheelie, West Virginia and has contributed to numerous books and publications. He joined emerging civil war in 2018, which has made it easier for him to justify all his book purchases to his wife. [laughter] he is a lifelong cleveland sports fan, and looks forward to the browns winning the super bowl this season. [laughter] thats where were getting into speculative history, right . Ladies and gentlemen, its my pleasure to introduce jonerik gilot. [applause] good morning, everyone. Before we get started, i have to tell you a little story. A few days ago i was talking to my oldest daughter, and i told her, i had to go away for a few days, i wouldnt be home, she asked where i was going, are you going away for work, i said, no im going to go talk to a group of people. Oh, its the civil war, isnt it . [laughter] am i transparent . I told her i was a little nervous, like chris said im a late edition and i didnt have long to prepare and told her i was kind of nervous, she said, daddy, just tell them a joke, she gave me one and i cant go home to her if i dont tell you this joke. The joke is, what did the ocean say to the beach . Nothing, it just waved. [laughter] so, well try to find some humor in this talk. I like these early battles of the war because, as much as you can, you can find some humor in this. When you get down here to spotsylvania, the campaign is just throwing men into a meat grinder but with these early battles you still have some pomp and pageantry and humor, so hopefully youll continue laughing a little bit today. For the next 45 minutes were going to talk about the battle of philippi. As it ranks as one of the first battles of the civil war, how about for the rest of the day, well call at this time war for West Virginias independence. Thats what we call it in the mountains. To even call philippi is generous. It lasted all of a few minutes. My talk today will last longer than the battle for philippi lasted. To be honest, every battle that youve heard or hear about this weekend, they look like gettysburg compared to philippi. This was a very small engagement, literally only a handful of shots fired but just because it was small does not make it insignificant. There were some important implications from this small battle and well talk about what those were and whats really a benefit to civil war historians and enthusiasts like us, is that for nearly 4,000 men north and south, philippi was their First Experience of the civil war. It was the first time seeing the elephant, and, you know, later in the war, Something Like philippi may not have even registered on their radars to record on their diary or to write home a letter to their family or local newspaper but for these guys in june 1861 this was a big deal and so they were all too happy to record their experiences. So we have a lot of really good one liners that ill throw in here. So to set the stage for how and why philippi happened we need to look briefly. Virginia was very much a divided state but not divide north and south like the country, virginia was divided east and west and many of the issues between these two sections were a microcosm of the larger issues that was facing the country. One of the biggest issues facing virginia were the allegheny mountains, separating virginia essentially in half. These mountains were a natural barrier for transportation and communication. They affected trade. The farmers in this burgeoning industry that you have in western virginia they found it much easier to get their goods to market on the ohio valley and take them west to ohio or up to pittsburgh in western pennsylvania. As such, western virginia felt much more closely aligned to the north add to the west than it did to tidewater, virginia. As an example, im from wheeling, which is up here in the northern panhandle. Were about 50 miles south of pittsburgh, and more than 300 miles away from richmond. Another major issue facing the two sections was slavery. The 1860 virginia census counted nearly 1. 6 Million People living in the state. And of that number, nearly 500,000 were slaves. Thats about 31 of the population. But if we break that number down, of that 500,000, only about 18,000 of those enslaved people were living in the we were counties of the state and most of them were concentrated down here in the valley around charleston. This is a newspaper rendering of what they thought the state of West Virginia might look like. We know, it goes over here to Harpers Ferry in the eastern panhandle and includes some of the potomac valley. This is an area that well kind of focus on over here. So that 18,000 number, the 18,000 slaves in West Virginia, that was only 4 of the population of those western counties. And because slaves in virginia were taxed at only 1 3 their market value, the rest of the property was taxed at full market value the western county saw this as an unfair advantage to the slave holders in tidewater, virginia. So we had differing economies between the two sections. We have agrarian in the east and tidewater, compared to more industrial in the west. You have a different ethnic makeup. Much more of the tidewater area is of english descent where as in the east you have a big number of Scottish Irish and in the 1840s and 1850s you see this influx of german immigrants. Also, a lack of foreign internal improvements, were talking roads, bridges, railroads, canals, this has frustrated the western counties for decades leading up to the were and as a as a to the war and West Virginia resident i think i can tell you that 160 years later our roads are still terrible. [laughter] the loudest voices that were arguing for this change were the northwestern politicians and this triangle between wheeling down to parkersburg and over to morgantown. Names like john carlisle, francis people had been clambering for some time for some better judgment in western virginia. Wheeling actually was the center of this. It was one of the largest cities in virginia at the outbreak of the civil war and i would argue second only to richmond in importance. It was a transportation hub. You had the ohio river sits on the national road, the railroad, a burgeoning Manufacturing Center but wheeling was also home to one of the most prominent newspapers in the state, the wheeling intelligence. It had championed lincoln in the 1860 president ial election and after South Carolinas succession the intelligence ran an editorial stating, there is very widespread and spreading sentiment in western virginia in favor of a division of the state at the blue ridge. The people of West Virginia know very well and its useless for demagogues to try to blind them or reconcile them to the fact that they have been used as so many vassals by eastern virginia. Weve been treated and regard as separate people and such indeed we are. There is no affinity between eastern and western virginia. There never was and while geography and climate hold sway there never can be. Geography and climate hold sway, i dont care what you say, thats poetry. Thats beautiful. So in april 1861, when the Virginia Convention passed the ordinance of succession, 55 votes, 48 came from the northwest counties and these guys risked their lives to cast these votes. They were not popular after the votes were cast. Guys tracked them down in hotels. They would go around reading the guests at the hotels. They had to leave for their lives. They would go up to wheeling and stage the First Convention where they determined if the referendum passed they would reconvene in wheeling and consider forming a provisional government loyal to washington and to lincoln. Im sorry, missed that slide. Thats the custom house in wheeling, Independence Hall today. Im on the Foundation Board there. Wonderful museum. If youre ever in wheeling please make a point to stop there the West Virginia battle flag exhibit is on display. An amazing building. So following the succession ordinance, robert lee would assume command of all the Virginia State forces and with the confederate capital on the move lee had began recruiting in earn. To shore up these potential avenues of invasion that. Would be norfolk to the eastsoutheast, washington, and the Shenandoah Valley to the north and the northwest from pennsylvania and ohio. So on may 4, robert e. Lee would dispatch colonel George Porterfield where he was taxed with establishing a recruitment camp and keeping an eye on the railroad. Porterfield was a bmi graduate, was a vmi graduate, a veteran of the mexican war. He had been in hampers ferry helping to organize the virginia troops there. He might not have been your first team guy, but he was no slouch but even still i like this quote from one of his men who would describe porter field as ale polished virginia gentlemen but is ignorant of war as a mule is of the 10 commandments. [laughter] im glad youre liking these. Ive got a bunch of them. So when he arrived, he had no one there to meet him on the railroad so they told him essentially, buddy, you better get out of here. If you go a few miles down the road there might be some confederate troops there but you need to leave. It was an Important Railroad hub with lots of irish immigrant workers, Irish Catholic who were much more loyal to the union. He went down to fedderman, he found a few companies this, he couldnt believe that this was all he had. Now, i dont want to make it out as though there was no cessation no secession sentiments in the northwest. That wasnt the case. Confederate companies had been forming in wheeling, fairmont and charleston, but that was also part of the problem. Lee was only recruiting enough men to fill companies where he needed to fill regiments. We have a tendency to idolize lee and rightfully so but its one area where lee kind of i got it wrong. He was anticipating, he was counting on much more support than he had received. Porterfield was begging on multiple occasions for more reinforcements, and lee was not inclined to provide those. Lee was quoted with saying that he didnt believe that any citizen of the state would betray his interests. But both lee and the governor had been receiving intelligence for weeks from the northwest about this kind of growing unrest. Lees own recruiting agent, wheeling, had sent a letter saying this area is on the verge of rebellion. I need to get out of here and that was right before they through in jail. What should have been a telltell sign, on april 20, the mayor was wired asking him to take possession of the custom house and post office, and all public buildings and documents in the name of virginia. The mayor shot the governor a wire back saying, i have taken possession of the custom house, the post office, and all public buildings and documents in the name of abraham lincoln, president of the united states, whose property they are. [laughter] i feel like i should go back and explain a little bit. When i say lee got it wrong, i dont mean he should have been sending he should have sent more force he shouldnt have sent more forces, mcclellan would eventually bring about 20,000 troops to bear in West Virginia. Those were troops the confederates just did not have at that point and lees more urgent concern was the north coming down from washington. Where i say he got it wrong, it was just in anticipating the kind of support that he had. So federal troops were also organizing on both sides of the ohio river. George mcclellan, who we all know and love, had been named major volunteer of the volunteers in april 1861. But he was tasked not only with organizing all of the hires and raw kreutz but with shoring up the borders of the state against invasion. The responsibility in ohio was just outstanding. Ohio in very short order, mcclellan mustered in 22 full regiments, thats more than they had arms or equipment for. And on may 3 mcclellan was given command of the department of ohio, including ohio, indiana, illinois, and a little later, western pennsylvania, western virginia and missouri. This was all done by the age of 34. He was second in command, to Winfield Scott, and, you know, im older than that, and i have to think what am i doing with my life if this guy at 34 has done all of that. But, you know, ohios governor denison was pushing mcclellan, pushing him to defend ohio beyond, rather than on her border, and mcclellan had attempted, he had contacted Winfield Scott in late april of 1861, and he propose add few different kinds of advances into s real interesting guy. I do not think he has gotten his due. Most of us studying the civil war, what do we know about him. He was captioned captured in bed. February 1865. He was captured in bed in cumberland had for much of the war he had an absolutely vital and thankless job of keeping the bno line open. That was links lifeline to the west for troops and supplies. He also up it advises the family troubles that would define the civil war. His fatherinlaw was a slave owner. His fatherinlaws family would be identified on the big ofadside list of traders wielding that work printed and pasted all over the city. Kellys brotherinlaw made National News when in october 1861 of the slaves would escape and go to cleveland. Her brotherinlaw or tracker to cleveland and her court case would have to return to slavery. Lucy would be the last slave returned to slavery under the fugitive slave act. That same brotherinlaw would spend much of the war at camp chase. Kelly had to grapple with this all throughout the war. Kelly was organizing the first virginia regiment. Having a heck of a time. Recruits were not the problem. Getting hundreds of recruits from the northern panhandle counties but he was also getting guys from aston pennsylvania and eastern ohio where the regimental quoteas had been filled. You have full companies of men from pennsylvania and ohio. Kelly had appealed to the government for arms and for equipment for his men because he had not, they said, no. We are not going to do that. This is a state of rebellion. They had to make an appeal to governor andrew in massachusetts. And he approved it. The first arms and equipment sent down to western virginia during the civil war came from massachusetts. They put them on the railroad i think i know some confederate regiments that have something to say. The room not enough arm. Some men left armed with clubs. The guys they did have arms stuffing them in their pockets. They were wearing their old work clothes. In fact, the only piece of regulation uniform really wouldve been this quasi military jacket that kelly was wearing. But in late may, things began to escalate. Killed nearrown was grafton, recognize as the First Federal soldier to be killed by a confederate soldier during the war. Acouple months ago, i wrote great article on that. Vote. Ia citizens would porterfield would occupy grafton the day after. When Winfield Scott hears this. Urging mcclellan to cross the ohio river and secure western virginia. What mcclellan did not realize is that porterfield with the telegraph agents had tapped into the line and he was getting his messages to and from mcclellan before anyone else was. He knew that he did not have the men to stop mcclellan. Instead he had to slow him down. From may 25 porterfield ordered a squad of men to burn two bridges near mannington and farmington. This was the act of war mcclellan had been waiting for kit he could send the troops across the ohio river without appearing to be the aggressor. Generalad of ordering a advance on grafton, mcclellan wires kelly and tells him boveify the hills a willing and prepare for an attack by the rebels. Kelly said, what . They are 90 miles away. We can stop them before they get here. Instead, kelly proposed let me take my men down to grafton. And secure the b o there, mcclellan agreed but he said thats fine. Let me give you two ohio regiments at bel air. Is that the . [inaudible] think my mike went out here. Thank you very much all right. [laughter] i can go without the mike. Is it on . No. Im sorry. Anyone here has an action mic. An extra mic. We have got one coming. All right. [applause] there we go. Was mcclellan. He heard me badmouthing him and he shut that down. But mcclellan would order two ohio regiments, the 15th and the 16th, order them across the river and order two additional ohio regimens and two guns of artillery to cross the ohio river at marietta and occupy parkersburg. And then move east on the Northwestern Virginia Railroad at link up with Kelly Grafton but mcclellan instructed these ohio troops removed in support of the virginia troops. This was not an outside invasion. They were moving in support of virginia troops when kelly went to the station and willing to arrange for the train to take his mentor grafting, the agent said, were not going to do this. Will remain a neutral railroad to which kelly said, what you talking about . They just burned your bridges. Kelly told the man, you are going to have these trains ready and have the engines ready to go. You are going to be ready at 4 a. M. If they are not, we will seize your railroad by military force and take possession of it. Those cars were ready at 4 a. M. Kelly started out on the morning of may 27 with two regiments following him and later captain roberts would be killed at a lineish on the rail between wheeling and fairmont. Roberts would be the first armed confederate casualty of the war. With news of these approaching troops, he ordered his men, 500 men at this point, to abandon grafted on may 28. They would move south to philippi, the seat of barber county. Kellys bridges would repair them as they went. The bridges were, similar to this ridge, they were iron bridges. He had to earned repair the decking and the crossties. They moved quick without firing a shot. The call from parkersburg would arrive a couple of days after that. Philippi,iving at porterfields command was reinforced with infantry and cavalry. Keep in mind, there are no full confederate regiments at philippi. Fullis a hodgepodge mix of and partial companies. A random mix of guys. On the way down they were reinforced by men with beautiful tents and no arms. Porterfield was happy to have them, he was very short on supplies. He established camp there. The porterfield command would found a much more welcoming populace. To be he was considered the most secessionist town in western virginia. The county had cast more than john cs for night breckenridge with no recorded ballots for abraham lincoln. After South Carolinas secession the palmetto flag secession, the palmetto flag was raised. Hey crossed the famed philip Covered Bridge here. Landmark from 1852 until it was built today. All was still not well with the confederates. Wasreported that philip he a pandemonium. No system of anything. Knew nothing of war, obeyed but little, expected but itll, and helped to increase general disorder. Porterfield disorder. Porterfields calls for reinforcements went unheeded. A brigade of 2000 indiana soldiers, the sixth seventh, and ninth indiana inch infantrys arrived under the command of general thomas morris. Mcclellan was no fan of morris. But who was mcclellan a fan of, anyway question mark in one letter to his wife, mcclellan called morris a timid old woman. Morris was a west point graduate, a railroad man. And now morris was mcclellans ranking officer in western virginia. Keep in mind that mcclellan would not arrive himself in western virginia for a few more weeks. When morris gets to grafton he finds kelly planning this movement. Kelly wanted to move on the troops down there and further secure the railroad. Morris said thats fine, we are going to do this but i am going to supplement your troops with some of my indiana troops and morris called for a twopronged assault. The first column of about 1500 infantry and artillery under colonel Ebenezer Dumont would assault philippi from the more from the north. Another column of 1500 or 1600 under kelly was to swing around and cut off the retreat to the south. Both of these columns were to arrive at philippi, converge atre at 4 a. M. On june 3, which point kelly would fire his pistol, the designated signal to open the battle, engaging the enemy. Virginiansanted the to engage first. Lets be real here. Under even the best conditions, this plan of attack didnt have a chance of going off without a hitch. There is a reason nighttime attacks were not common during the civil war. They were incredibly hard to manage. In philippi add to that inexperienced officers, untrained men, really unforgiving terrain, and no means of munication. There was a river between them. Once they started off in grafton , they had no communication. Its a wonder that things didnt go worse. Keep in mind, these federalist troops we are talking about work flatlanders, they were not prepared for the unforgiving terrain around philip he and the toll it would take on their bodies. Naturally, the conditions were far from ideal. Kellys column, including the first virginia, the ninth indiana and 16th ohio had a longer different distance to travel. Kelly actually headed east on the the and on the morning of june 2. He had told his men to whoop it up, that they were clearing out the rebels there, just to throw off any kind of spies left in grafton. But they got about 60 miles down the tracks to a stop called thornton. There the train stopped, the men detrained, and they would take up this circuitous march. This is where they were to cut off porterfields rot retreat. Dumont would leave grafton with the seventh indiana later that evening, taking cars to nearby webster. He would pick up the sixth indiana, the 14th ohio. And the two guns. Theyre all of the men would be trained to take up the 12 mile march to fill up the on the beverly fairmont road. Dumont would give the lieutenant , then rickets, this red railroad let lantern Railroad Lantern and say go in front of us so we can follow your lantern. Rickets was like, are you crazy . I dont know what is going to happen down here, but i will not be the first guy killed. [laughter] but dumont insisted, and ricketts carried the lantern, and he made it just fine. But as the column headed out of webster, it started to rain. What started as a drizzle really turned into a downpour. This was no spring shower. We are talking thunder, lightning, mud washing down from the hillside, washing out the roads. The march slowed to a crawl. You can imagine these guys bent over against the rain, threatening what had already been a strict timeline. What the federal troops didnt know was that porterfield had already determined to abandon philip b and move his command south to beverly. Several women had come into porterfields camp at philippi and warned him that troops were that some 5000 federal troops were headed this way. But with this storm, porterfield reasoned he needed to wait until the next morning before starting out. Porterfield was very short on equipment and supplies, particularly cartridges and percussion caps. The caps that he had been sent were four shotguns and they were too small for what he had. He could not risk losing this stuff in the crazy storm that was going on. He had wagons unloaded, pickets posted on the roads into town. Porterfield went to bed, reasoning that no troops would march through the storm and he would be safe for tonight. Unfortunately for porterfield, his officer of the day got drunk. Most of the scouts around town said heck with this, we are getting out of the rain. They abandoned their posts and went looking for cover. [laughter] one confederate soldier is even any army saying hell, marching tonight must be made up n set of fools. [laughter] dumonts men were running late because of this storm, but to his credit, he had them run the last five miles in the many five minutes. Thats a pretty good clip for soldiers at this stage in the war. He was saying close up, close up, if the rebels could see you, they couldnt hit a one of you. [laughter] that might make me slow down a little bit. [laughter] as the column closed in on philippi, the two of the ohio first artillery were placed on the hilltop above philippi known as talbot hill. We will go back here, they will be on talbot hill, right here. Well, wouldnt you know it . The first shot of the battle was filed fired by a woman. How many civil war battles could make that claim question mark as dumonts men are marching, they march past house and they wake up a woman who is leaving there, Matilda Humphreys. She realizes what is happening, so she wakes her younger son and put them on a horse to ride to philippi and tell the confederates there, her older son among them, that the federals were approaching. So dumonts men saw what was happening here, and they pulled the boy off the horse. Matilda humphreys is their is there throwing sticks and firewood and cursing at the soldiers. She puts her young son back on the horse and tries to send him away again. Dumonts men unhorsed him one more time. At this point, Matilda Humphreys would pull out a pistol and fire at the soldiers. She did not hit anyone, but unknowingly, she opened the battle of philippi. [laughter] knowing this, colonel frederick on hearing this colonel , frederick lander, he would direct the artillery to open fire on the camp at philippi. Beng lewis fairey here would credited with discharging the first gun. The sun was just starting to come up. Those new, pretty, white tents down in philippi made a nice target for the gunners. They would drop 16 total shots to the confederate camp. This was about 4 30 in the morning or so, a halfhour past the designated time. Lander probably knew this shot could not have been fired by kelly, but he took the opportunity to open the battle anyway, figuring kelly must be in place or pretty darn close to it. The problem with all of this is that kellys men were running late. To make matters worse, they were arriving on the wrong end of town, almost across the river from dumonts men. When kellys column had reached dantown, this is the end of this 22 mile march. When they reached dantown, the guide took him on the wrong road. Kelly claimed to have done it on purpose. Its hard to say. He took him on the wrong road and took him in here almost across from dumonts men. Kelly had actually he might have suspected something was wrong because he sent colonel robert melroy and the ninth indiana down the road he should have taken, down here. Bonnikag bono run run. He would have been in the Perfect Place for the retreat. That is where the confederates were supposed to rally. Instead, milroy would take his troops on the side road and end up here beyond the barbara county courthouse. You can see kellys men arriving on the wrong road. Dumonts men would be coming in down here under the cannons. Here are kellys men, here. You have the ninth indiana when everyone should have been down here to block the retreat. So as the guns on talbot hill continued to throw rounds into columnlage, dumonts converged into philippi as kellys column ran down the opposite bank. To say that the confederates were taken by surprise is an understatement. The gunners on talbot hill watched as confederates crawled out of their tent, one recalling that out they swarmed like bees from a hive. The calvary flew and scarcely knew which way to run. The famed newspaper correspondent, whitelaw reid, was there writing for a cincinnati paper and noted that the cannonballs were crashing into them, sending them out like hornets from a nest. There is the philippi bridge today. Frederick lander is watching this, and he is not happy. Landers is all but forgotten today. Mostly them even among historians. He died of disease on the battlefield. But lander was a National Celebrity at this time. He explored in the far west. He was an accomplished poet. He married an actress who was more renowned than him. When the war broke out, lander offered his services to general mcclellan for any capacity, at any time, and for any duty. This is without consideration for rank or pay. Lander was made an honorary colonel and sent over to western virginia. This was the latest adventure for him. Here he was on the hilltop watching the battle beneath him. He refused to be left out. Lander took his horse over the face of talbot hill, down to where dumonts men were planning to cross the bridge. The artillery men could not believe what they were saying. Were seeing. Sense would good ever attempt this ride. They ended up having to slide down on their butts for fear of falling on their faces. Having been to talbot hill, i can tell you it is a steep hill. And landers, as it became known, was the stuff of legend. As kellys column ran to catch up, kelly would actually outpaces troops on horse, and he galloped into town on his own, firing his pistol with the confederates. When a confederate quartermaster came out from behind a wagon with what is described as an old horse pistol and shot kelly in his chest. Kelly would topple from the horse and a group of federal soldiers would rush up to grab this confederate ready to execute him when lander road up and said this man is a prisoner of war, you will leave him alone. Kelly was carried to a nearby house, bleeding profusely. Anders peers saw kelly with a hole in his chest and said you could put two fingers in it. Bless my soul, how it bled. Kelly said, i expect i have to die. The earliest reports would indicate that kelly had been killed, then they revised it to mortally wounded. Not so fast, let me very quickly, i know im running out of time, let me brag here for a minute on dr. John frizzell. He was probably the most accomplished surgeon. He is the founder of wheeling hospital. Still there today. He had been wired by mcclellan in wheeling saying, get to grafton, do what you can to save kellys life. He took a special train. We found the general in comfortable quarters in a private house, guarded by soldiers but apparently in a dying condition. He had lost much blood, was pale and weak, and was still bleeding slowly. So, he dress the wound and had removed to grafton, 50 miles, with soldiers doing relays, carrying him on a litter. Mcclellan was so impressed with kelly that he recommended kelly for promotion to Brigadier General volunteer. Kelly would remain under frizzells care for most of the rest of the war, traveling with him to cumberland and washington. To make a long story short, i have more on him but i am running out of time. A few years ago i was able to acquire his instruments, his patient journals, his photo album, even his pocket watch. Its really a fantastic collection. When kelly recovered from his wound at philippi, the men presented him with a new horse, which he named philippi, and he would ride philippi for the rest of the war until his capture in 1865. Kelly would be exchanged. The horse would not. [laughter] there is no organized federal resistance,s resistance at philippi. They are not much for a fight, but a devil on the run. The run. Another soldier would say they did not retreat, they fled, they ran like sheep in every direction that promise safety. Safety. One confederate agreed, there was nothing for us to do but get out of town quickly. One civilian would say several confederates were begging at my door for britches to cover their nakedness. This was called the shirttail retreat. The name that stuck is the philippi races. Federal troops were in no condition to race after the confederates. That was a long march through a difficult storm, they were satisfied to rest on their laurels at philippi. One indiana soldier was truthful as he said in his boast that i dont think 10 guns could have been fired by us and it is just as well that the rebels retreated. The battle ended with no one killed, less than a dozen wounded, but the press exploded with this. This was really big news. This was a week before big bethel, more than a month before first bull run, so they ran with this for days. Early in the war you would not have seen later in the war you would not have seen this in the paper. The battle of philippi cast a long shadow for such a small affair. This unrelenting press coverage would push northern politicians, who would push abraham lincoln, who in turn would push irvin mcdowell, which resulted in the first battle of bull run. We all know how that turned out. Philippi and the resulting actions, these would help to launch mcclellans star. Even though these battles pale in comparison to what we see later in the war, these battles made cleland a hero when the north needed one. For all the good and bad that mcclellan would bring, and i would argue there was plenty of good, it was the result of his early successes in western virginia. Porterfield said, if they intended to sacrifice me, i could not expect less support than i had. That is a damning statement to your superior officer. Porterfield was found to have been negligent, but robert e leash stopped short of a courtmartial, and instead removed him, putting garnet in command. Garnet would be quoted as saying they sent me to my death when he saw the condition of his army. That would prove to be prophetically true. He was killed a month later. Just as the battle emboldened the press, it emboldened the soldiers on both sides. Union troops rode to victory through West Virginia. Mcclellan shower the men with praise on both sides. Even the confederates were emboldened, saying that they felt all right, feeling that they could go through any private nation, they had seen the elephant. Philippi helped propel West Virginia statehood. A week after the battle delegates would establish the restored government of virginia. With the confederates removed from virginia after philippi, any looming threat to the fledgling government was removed. Wheeling was never threatened again for the remainder of the war. Francis p or mont was named to the first governor. Later that year, statehood referendum passed. The statehood bill with clear would clear congress in 1862, be delivered to abraham lincoln, who signed it on new years eve. Paving the way for West Virginia statehood, which took effect in 1863. Still celebrated as West Virginia today. Finally in closing, for a surprisingly bloodless battle, philippi resulted in not just one, but the first two amputations of the civil war. James hanger had his leg crushed by a single shot cannon ball that have been fired from talbot hill and had his leg amputated just below the hip. He would later develop a new prosthesis for his missing leg, made out of pieces of barrel, and would manufacture them for wounded confederate amputees throughout the war. He would go on to found a company that is still in business today. The battle also resulted in the wounding of follow roy dangerfield, a graduate who had been sent to train the recruits. He escaped the beverly, where his leg was imitated. The surgeon used a common carpenters sought to take off the leg. It is still on display at beverly today. Hanger made the prosthetic leg for dangerfield to wear as well. These were the first two of some 50,000 amputations for the rest of the war. In closing, i will paraphrase a line that my friend likes to use in describing the battle, and it is that i would not stand up here and try to tell you that philippi is one of the most important battles of the war. No one would say that. But for guys like ben kelly, fauntleroy dangerfield, citizens of philippi, june 3, 1861 was the most important battle of the civil war for them. For West Virginia, philippi is this incredibly important, if not forgotten, battle. Thank you. [applause] we are going to do a little microphone switcheroo and take a couple of questions. Just a moment. Lost a fewl like i minutes with that microphone mishap. I could have gone on longer. I cut out some good stuff. You already spoke longer than the battle lasted. [laughter] please, just stand up and introduce yourself. Where was the heroic mcclellan . Cincinnati, ohio. [laughter] everyone here likes to dog on mcclellan. He was in cincinnati. He did go over to indianapolis to direct the brigade of indiana troops under morris to head east. But he was in cincinnati. He would get to West Virginia two weeks later, leaving in late july of 1861 to head to washington, d. C. Another question . Hold on. You have got to introduce yourselves. Todd sullivan. How many West Virginians served in the union and confederate armies . Debatedumber has been over the years, especially for the union. There were a lot of pennsylvania and ohio troops that would come fight in these regimens. Some of the more recent scholarship that has been out, mark snell has done some great work recently. The number has been revised to something to like 20,000 to 20 that 22,000 per side for West Virginia. They were one of the most divided states of the civil war. Any additional questions . One of them back here. Woody . Woody barefoot, fort mill, South Carolina. Its interesting to see the distribution of the sentiment, virginia being secessionist, West Virginia being anti secessionist going from agricultural to industrial. You see the same pattern in South Carolina. The fire eaters and these real strong secessionist were down in theagricultural area, mercury newspaper, charleston. The western part of the state, more industrial, was more favorable towards antisecession. There was one outspoken individual from greenville who was in charleston on december the 20th, 1861, when they read the orders of secession from the balcony down to the crowd. He turned around to someone and said you know, South Carolina is too small to be a republic and too big to be an insane asylum. [laughter] yeah, western virginians were peopleproud people, a set apart. People from West Virginia are some of the proudest people you will ever meet, so proud of their tech their state. I dont have to tell you the stereotypes about West Virginia. Theres a lot of stigma to being in West Virginia. We ranked dead last in a most everything. Usually its West Virginia, mississippi, louisiana, all for those last spots. But West Virginians are an extremely proud people, going back to the days of the civil war. I cant speak to some of those stereotypes, but i can say they produce fine historians. [applause] thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] American History tv is on social media. Follow us on cspan history. On the civil war, Lincoln Memorial University Professors talk about the intics to rain and trenches the 1864 atlantic campaign. He is the author of kennesaw mountain, schoen and cut sherman, johnson
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