Battle of Bulltown

The Battle of Bulltown was a small skirmish fought during the American Civil War near Bulltown in Braxton County, West Virginia on October 13, 1863.

Battle of Bulltown
Part of the American Civil War
DateOctober 13, 1863 (1863-10-13)
Location
Braxton County, West Virginia
38°47′24″N 80°33′51″W
Result Union victory
Belligerents
 United States of America  Confederate States of America
Commanders and leaders
William Mattingly William Lowther Jackson
Strength
est. 400 est. 800
Casualties and losses
a few minor wounds (including Mattingly) 8 killed, same number wounded

Background

In the fall of 1863, William Lowther Jackson, the cousin of "Stonewall" Jackson, led a raiding party of 800 men into central West Virginia to capture the strategic "fort" at Bulltown which overlooked an important crossing of the Little Kanawha River. The goal was to cut Federal communications between the Greenbrier and Kanawha Valleys.

The Union garrison of roughly 400 men was commanded by Captain William Mattingly. The Union troops manned a "fort" of makeshift log barricades and shallow trenches which can still be seen today.

Battle

Jackson approached Bulltown secretly. He divided his forces in an attempt to converge on the Union position from two different directions. The Confederates advanced at 4:30am on October 13. They quickly captured the Federal pickets but failed to take the main garrison by surprise.

The Confederates advanced against the fort and a drawn out skirmish lasted until about 4:30pm, almost twelve hours after the battle began. Twice, Jackson sent a flag of truce with a demand to surrender to Captain Simpson, asking him to surrender, but Simpson answered back that "he would fight them until Hell froze over, and if he had to retreat he would retreat on ice."[1]

Jackson eventually retreated back towards the Greenbrier Valley. Casualties were very light considering the length of the battle. On the Union side there were no fatalities. Captain Mattingly was wounded in the thigh and there were some other slight wounds in the Federal camp. The Confederates suffered eight casualties and a like number wounded.

One civilian, Moses Cunningham, who owned the farm on which the majority of the battle took place, was wounded when he ran out of his house shouting "Hurrah for Jeff Davis."[2]

Aftermath

The battle was the last significant Confederate offensive in West Virginia and the Confederate goals of disrupting the Federal communications were thwarted.[3]

See also

References
  1. History of Braxton County Central West Virginia, John Davis Sutton, pg.174 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/History_of_Braxton_County_and_Central_West_Virginia.pdf
  2. Battle of Bulltown. WVCulture.com. Accessed April 4, 2012.
  3. Battle of Bulltown. USACE. Accessed April 4, 2012.
  4. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.

Bibliography
  • Hardway, Ronald V. On Our Own Soil: William Lowther Jackson and the Civil War in West Virginia's Mountains Quarrier Press. October 3, 2003, ISBN 978-1891852275
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