BATTLE OF RICH MOUNTAIN.
On the 23d day of June, General McClellan assumed command of all
the Federal forces in Western Virginia, and immediately began a series
of movements which met with no successful resistance until the Confederates
were compelled to retreat beyond the mountains. He at once
marched against General Pegram, who, with a force of 4,000 infantry,
had taken up a strong position on Rich Mountain. McClellan, after
reconnoitering the position, sent General Rosecranz with two Indiana
regiments, and one from Ohio, together with a body of Cincinnati
cavalry, to take position in their rear. The Federals intended to keep
the Confederates in ignorance of the movement, but a messenger with
dispatches and a copy of the diagram of the route was captured, and
the plan of attack thus revealed. Pegram sent 2,500 men and a battery
of artillery to resist the advance of Rosecranz. They were the
first to reach the summit of the mountain, and here the Federals were
![Click to Enlarge No Page Number](https://iiif.lib.virginia.edu/iiif/uva-lib:402942/full/!200,200/0/default.jpg)
greeted by a discharge of artillery, and their advance checked. Soon,
however, they were reinforced by an Indiana regiment, a charge was
made along the entire line, the Confederates fell back, and at once began
a hasty retreat. The mountain was strewn with the dead and wounded,
150 being buried on the field. Pegram, finding no way of escape, a few
days later surrendered his entire force prisoners of war.