[BATTLE OF PHILIPPI.]
Telegraph Bulletin! Latest News! Fight at Phillippa [sic] confirmed.
THE FIRST LAND BATTLE OF THE CIVIL WAR
An early report from the first months of the Civil War.
“The first land engagement of the Civil War took place on June 3, 1861 at Philippi (West) Virginia. Little remembered in light of later events, the action was hailed at the time as a great Union victory. For George B. McClellan it marked the beginning of a successful western Virginia campaign which would result in his promotion to the command of the what would later become the Army of the Potomac” (Snell).
The report reads as follows: “The route of the evening was complete. The rebels who were two thousand strong and fully able in regard to numbers to cope with the attacking force were completely suprised and fled after a faint struggle. Their whole camp equipage with most of their ammunition and guns were left behind in consequence of their hurried departure.”
There’s additional news anticipating the arrival Senator Stephen A. Douglas’s remains for interment in the Congressional burying ground plus reports of the evacuation of Harper’s Ferry.
Very rare: we find a single copy at LoC only.
Snell, M.A. ed., Civil War: The Early Battles … Civil War Regiments, Vol. V, No. 4 (Savas Publishing, 2022), p. 1.
