Battle of Philippi (1861)
The Battle of Philippi formed part of the Western Virginia Campaign of the American Civil War and was fought in and around Philippi, Virginia, on June 3, 1861. A Union Army victory, it was the first organized land action of the war, though generally viewed as a skirmish rather than a battle.
Position of McClellan's Advance on the Heights Round Philippi. (This contemporary soldier's sketch shows the disposition of some of Morris's troops just northwest of Philippi on the threshold of the battle.)
Richmond Enquirer June 11, 1861, Confederate troops at Grafton, Va.
James Edward Hangar
"Return of a Foraging Party to Philippi, Virginia", Harper's Weekly, August 17, 1861
Western Virginia campaign
The western Virginia campaign, also known as operations in western Virginia or the Rich Mountain campaign, occurred from May to December 1861 during the American Civil War. Union forces under Major General George B. McClellan invaded the western portion of Virginia to prevent Confederate occupation; this area later became the state of West Virginia. West Virginians on both sides would fight in the campaign while a Unionist convention in Wheeling would appoint their choice for a Unionist governor for Virginia, Francis H. Pierpont, and promote the creation of a new state in western Virginia. Large scale Confederate forces would gradually abandon the region, leaving it to small local brigades to maintain hold on southern and eastern sections for much of the war.
George B. McClellan, Union commander in western Virginia from May to June 1861
Civil war campaigns in Western Virginia in 1861
Robert E. Lee would be blamed for the Confederate defeats in western Virginia