| Battle of Carnifex Ferry | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAmerican Civil War | |||||||
 Patterson House | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States of America (Union) |  CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| William S. Rosecrans | John B. Floyd | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~5,000 | ~2,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 17 killed 141 wounded | unknown killed 30 wounded | ||||||
 | |||||||
TheBattle of Carnifex Ferry took place on September 10, 1861 inNicholas County, Virginia (nowWest Virginia), as part of theOperations in Western Virginia Campaign during theAmerican Civil War. The battle resulted in aUnion strategic victory that contributed to the eventualConfederate withdrawal from western Virginia, which in turn led to the creation of the State of West Virginia two years later.
The battle took its name from a former settlement, which was named after the local Carnefix family.[2]
In late August 1861, Confederate forces underBrig. Gen.John B. Floyd crossed theGauley River and surprised the7th Ohio Infantry underCol.Erastus Tyler atKessler's Cross Lanes.[3] Outnumbered, Tyler's inexperienced men were routed, and Floyd camped near Carnifex Ferry. The Confederates began throwing up entrenchments on the Henry Patteson farm (located on the rim of the Gauley River Canyon nearSummersville).
Concerned about Floyd's drive to reclaim theKanawha Valley, Union Brigadier GeneralWilliam S. Rosecrans led threebrigades ofinfantry southward fromClarksburg to support Tyler's regroupedregiment. Moving into position on the afternoon of September 10, Rosecrans advanced against Floyd's campsite and attacked. The Confederate lines repulsed the attacks and the Federal casualties were significantly higher than the defenders. The strength of Rosecrans'sartillery proved to be problematic however, and Floyd decided to retreat that night across the ferry to the south side of the Gauley River. He subsequently moved eastward to Meadow Bluff nearLewisburg.
Floyd, seeking to deflect the blame, placed the responsibility for the defeat on his co-commander Brigadier GeneralHenry A. Wise, furthering the dissension that marked the Confederate high command in western Virginia.
In October 1935, the battlefield was preserved asCarnifex Ferry Battlefield State Park.[4]
