University of Virginia Library

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

LARGE PENDANT, OR BROAD SEAL OF THE COLONY

of Virginia, in the reign of Queen Anne, 1710

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.