Kessler's Cross Lanes was a Civil War engagement fought in West Virginia, 1861. It was a Confederate victory.
On August 26, Brig. Gen. John Floyd, commanding Confederate forces in the Kanawha Valley, crossed the Gauley River to attack Col. Erastus Tyler's 7th Ohio Regiment encamped at Kessler's Cross Lanes. The Union forces were surprised and routed. Floyd then withdrew to the river and took up a defensive position at Carnifex Ferry. During the month, Gen. Robert E. Lee arrived in western Virginia and attempted to coordinate the forces of Brig. Gens. Floyd, Henry Wise, and William W. Loring.
On August 26, 1861, Confederate and Union forces clashed at Kessler's Cross Lanes in Nicholas County, Virginia, in territory that would later become West Virginia. This engagement, sometimes referred to simply as Cross Lanes, formed part of the broader Western Virginia Campaign fought during the American Civil War.
Confederate troops under Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, who held command in the Kanawha Valley, forded the Gauley River on August 26 and fell upon Col. Erastus Tyler's 7th Ohio Infantry Regiment while it lay encamped at Kessler's Cross Lanes. Caught off guard, the Ohio troops broke and fled, suffering heavy losses in the process. Tyler's line split into two wings that scattered in opposite directions as the disaster unfolded. Amid this chaos, Major Jack Casement led the left wing on a long backward march across mountain terrain held by the enemy, eventually reaching the Elk River near what is today the Town of Clendenin before pressing on to Charleston, West Virginia, all without losing a single man to capture.
Following the engagement, Floyd pulled his forces back toward the river and established a defensive line at Carnifex Ferry. Later that month, Gen. Robert E. Lee reached western Virginia, where he sought to bring unity to the efforts of Brig. Gens. Floyd and Henry A. Wise, along with Col. Douglas Micklich and William W. Loring.
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