Princeton Court House was a Civil War engagement fought in West Virginia, 1862. It was a Confederate victory.
By early May 1862 Union forces in today's West Virginia were positioned to breach the Alleghenies and debouch into Virginia's Great Valley at two points more than 100 miles apart. Brig. Gen. Robert H. Milroy's column, its axis of march the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, advanced from Cheat Mountain and occupied in succession Camp Allegheny, Monteray, McDowell, and Shenandoah Mountain. Retreating before the oncoming Federals, Confederate Brig. Gen. Edward Johnson pulled back to Westview, six miles west of Staunton. Union soldiers of Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox's District of Kanawha threatened the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad. The Federals by mid-May, although ousted from Pearisburg, held Mercer County and braced for a lunge at the railroad. Confederate Brig. Gen. Humphery Marshall arrived from Abingdon, Virginia, with the Army of East Kentucky. Boldly seizing the initiative, Marshall bested Cox's two brigades during three days of fighting, May 15-17, in Mercer County centering on Princeton Courthouse. Breaking contact with the Confederates on the night of the 17-18, Cox withdrew 20 miles to Camp Flat Top. Col. George Crook, commanding Cox's 3rd brigade, marched via the James and Kanawha Turnpike and occupied Lewisburg, where on May 23 he defeated Brig. Gen. Henry Heth's brigade. Upon learning that Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's army had routed Maj. Gen. N.P. Banks' division at Winchester (March 25) and driven it across the Potomac, Crook evacuated Lewisburg and pulled back to Meadow Bluff.
Over three days, from May 15 to May 17, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed at Princeton Court House, located in Mercer County, Virginia, in territory that would later become West Virginia. This engagement unfolded alongside Stonewall Jackson's operations in the Valley Campaign. When the fighting ended, the Confederate States Army had secured a modest triumph.
By the start of May 1862, two Union thrusts stood poised to push into Virginia. One of these was a column under Brig. Gen. Robert H. Milroy, which moved along the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike after setting out from Cheat Mountain. In turn Milroy's men took possession of Camp Allegheny, then Monterey, then McDowell, and finally Shenandoah Mountain. Confederate Brig. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson fell back in the face of this advance, withdrawing his forces to Westview, a spot six miles west of Staunton.
Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox led Union troops from the District of Kanawha in a push toward the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Though driven out of Pearisburg by mid-May, the Federals still controlled Mercer County and were poised to strike at the rail line. Into this situation came Confederate Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshall, marching in from Abingdon, Virginia, at the head of the Army of East Kentucky.
Marshall moved first, taking the initiative and inflicting defeat on Cox's 1st and 2nd brigades over a three day span, from May 15 through May 17. The fighting unfolded across Mercer County and focused around Princeton Courthouse. When it ended, 129 men had fallen as casualties.
Under cover of darkness on May 17, Cox disengaged his forces from the Confederates and pulled back some 20 miles (30 km). Meanwhile, Col. George Crook, leading Cox's 3rd brigade, pushed forward and took control of Lewisburg. There, on May 23, his troops overcame the larger command of Brig. Gen. Henry Heth during what became known as the Battle of Lewisburg. Crook later pulled his men out after word reached him that Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson had crushed a Union division near Winchester on May 25.
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