Lightburn's Retreat

— Jenkins's Raid —

(Preface): Confederate Gen. Albert G. Jenkins led 550 cavalrymen on a 500-mile raid from Salt Sulphur Springs, Aug. 22-Sept. 12, 1862, attacking Federal forces and destroying military stores. He captured and paroled 300 Union soldiers, killed or wounded 1,000 others, destroyed about 5,000 small arms, and seized funds from a U.S. paymaster. At Ravenswood, he forded the Ohio River and raised the Confederate flag in Ohio on Sept. 4. He captured Racine, recrossed the river, and ended the raid at Red House on the Kanawha River.

As Confederate Gen. Albert G. Jenkins conducted his raid through western Virginia, Union Col. Joseph A.J. Lightburn began consolidating scattered Federal forces to defend important positions and resources. Not only Jenkins, but also Confederate Gen. William W. Loring, acting in concert with Jenkins, threatened Union positions. Leading a combined command of infantry, cavalry, and horse artillery, Loring struck at Federal forces in the Kanawha River Valley.

On September 13, 1862, part of Loring's force caught up with Lightburn here as the Federals withdrew through Charleston and down the valley. A Confederate detachment under Col. John McCausland occupied the high ground across the river from here and posted cannons on the heights west of the present I-64 bridge. Under artillery fire, Lightburn's men crossed the Elk River Suspension Bridge that stood to your left rear and then cut the cables to obstruct a Confederate pursuit. Lightburn's column, which included not only soldiers, but also a 700-wagon supply train and hundreds of loyal Unionists and slaves on foot and in boats, retreated fighting west to the Ohio River. His successful fifty-mile retreat kept a vast quantity of supplies from falling into Confederate hands.

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