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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
The Battle of Corricks Ford saw the first general officer killed in the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Robert S. Garnett. Cut off by the Rich Mountain defeat of Col. John Pegram on July 11, 1861, General Garnett first withdrew to the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike at Leadsville (now Elkins, West Virginia). There Garnett was mistakenly informed that the town of Beverly, just ahead, was held by Union forces and turned his troops northeast to avoid them.
Union Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Morris, on July 12, directed pursuit of Garnett’s troops into Tucker County, down Pleasant Run to Shavers Fork. The Southerners were overtaken on July 13, bivouacked at Kalers Ford. A running battle down Shavers Fork to First and Second Corricks Ford ensued. The Confederates’ wagons bogged down in mud and sand at the second crossing. From a bluff overlooking First Corricks Ford, skirmishers tried to hold off the Union soldiers. At the second crossing, Gen. Garnett was shot and killed. Gen. Morris captured a large number of Confederate soldiers and their baggage train, then saw to it that his former West Point classmate’s body was transported to his family in eastern Virginia. The remnants of Garnett’s Southern troops, reorganized at Parsons Ford, eventually found their way to Monterey, Virginia.
Written by R. F. Hendricks
Moore, George E. A Banner in the Hills. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1963.
Cohen, Stan. Civil War in West Virginia. Charleston: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1979.