The Battle of White Sulphur Springs, also known as the Battle of Rocky Gap or the Battle of Dry Creek, occurred in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, on August 26 and 27, 1863, during the American Civil War. A Confederate Army force commanded by Colonel George S. Patton defeated a Union brigade commanded by Brigadier General William W. Averell. West Virginia had been a state for only a few months, and its citizens along the state's southern border were divided in loyalty to the Union and Confederate causes. Many of the fighters on both sides were West Virginians, and some were from the counties close to the site of the battle.
The battle was a turning point for the first of three mounted expeditions into Confederate-held territory led by Averell in the latter half of 1863. The expedition had multiple targets, including a saltpeter works, a Confederate cavalry force in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, and the law books from the law library of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals in Lewisburg, West Virginia. Confederate leaders feared Averell's mission was to destroy sections of a railroad—either the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad or the Virginia Central Railroad. Both railroads were important to the Confederacy for moving materials and men, and one served a lead mine used for the army's bullets. Defending against Averell was a force of four Virginia regiments and an artillery battery at Lewisburg, temporarily commanded by Patton in the absence of Brigadier General John Echols, who was over 200 miles (320 km) away in Richmond.
Patton's Confederate force stopped Averell's Union brigade near White Sulphur Springs—about 10 miles (16 km) east of Lewisburg. Both sides made numerous charges in the battle, but neither gained much ground. The Union force was prevented from reaching its objective in Lewisburg, and was forced to make a difficult retreat north while being pursued by Confederate forces. The Confederate victory proved that Patton could ably command a large force of over 2,000 men, and (unknown to the Confederacy) saved the law library in Lewisburg. Confederate leaders mistakenly believed they had saved the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and a lead mine. Averell achieved the first two of his three objectives, and his newly-mounted men also gained valuable experience in cavalry tactics in the mountains of West Virginia. The books from the law library were never captured, and they were eventually moved to Richmond, Virginia. As of 2011, the battlefield has not been preserved. Three small monuments are side by side near a fast food restaurant, and across the street on the other side of a small creek is a historical marker that calls the clash the "Dry Creek Battle".
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
This page covers Skirmish at Sulphur Springs (1863). A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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