Robert E. Lee’s “Forlorn Hope” – A Lecture
The sixth lecture in the Randolph County Community Art Center’s first annual Spoken Word Series will be on Wednesday, April 25th at 7PM in the Great Hall of the Arts Center.
Hunter Lesser will present Robert E. Lee’s “Forlorn Hope”, Cheat Mountain, 1861, narrating the drama of Lee’s Cheat Mountain campaign.
Hunter Lesser, a resident of Elkins, has had a twenty-five year career as an archaeologist and historical interpreter. His writings on America’s past span topics from ancient Native Americans to Kentucky moonshine stills. The discovery of a dirt-encrusted Civil War bullet in his youth triggered a quest to uncover the military and political drama that created West Virginia. He is the author of “Rebels at the Gate: Lee and McClellan on the Front Line of a Nation Divided” (Sourcebooks, 2004) a History Book Club main selection.
On the 200th anniversary of his birth, General Robert E. Lee survives as an icon of American leadership and his Civil War exploits are legendary. Yet his first campaign remains shrouded in mystery, largely ignored and misunderstood. Lesser notes that during the summer of 1861, Lee’s mettle was put to the test in the mountains of “West” Virginia where he found a witch’s brew of intrigue, misfortune, wild weather, and death. But this “forlorn hope” campaign laid the groundwork for Lee’s stellar career. On the rugged slopes of Cheat Mountain, costly lessons in leadership were learned.
According to Lesser, failure can teach more than success. General Robert E. Lee, one of America’s greatest military leaders, got that lesson during his first campaign of the Civil War in “West” Virginia. Lee came to the mountains in 1861 with high expectations. Confederate President Jefferson Davis hoped he might “strike a decisive blow” at Union troops in the region. Lee found nearly 11,000 Confederate volunteers at hand in the counties of Randolph and Pocahontas. He also found wild weather and political intrigue.
On August 3, 1861, Lee reached Huntersville, the headquarters of Confederate General W.W. Loring, commander of the Army of the Northwest. Lee proposed an assault, but Loring dug in his heels, angered by Lee’s presence. While Loring dallied, Lee rode north to Valley Mountain, near present-day Snowshoe Resort, to scout the rugged terrain. Lee eyed a strong Federal fortress on Cheat Mountain that blocked the vital Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. By August 12, General Loring joined Lee at Valley Mountain. But as the two generals readied for battle, the weather intervened.
Lesser adds that rain fell constantly as the generals prepared their troops. “We were camped on Valley Mountain 43 days,” wrote one Confederate, “and it rained 37 days out of the number.” Endless showers turned the roads into quagmires. The army could not move. August brought a bitter chill. “The cold has been greater than I could have conceived,” Lee wrote. Ice formed in buckets, and on August 13th, snow fell on the mountaintops! An epidemic of measles and typhoid fever ravaged the Confederate camps.
Mercifully, the clouds lifted by early September and the army regained its strength. Lee and Loring launched an attack. Three Confederate brigades hiked through the wilderness to surround the Cheat Mountain fortress. By the morning of September 12, all were in place for a surprise assault. But the battle never came off. An overawed Arkansas colonel failed to storm the Cheat Mountain fortress. Lee’s assault fizzled.
In an attempt to salvage the effort, Lee was nearly captured. On Friday the 13th of September, he was almost killed by a cannon shot. Later that day, Lee’s aide-de-camp, John A. Washington of Mount Vernon, was shot dead at Elkwater. Lee’s own son dodged a similar fate.
The Cheat Mountain campaign ended in failure. By late October 1861, Lee left West Virginia to the Unionists. Southern newspapers called him “Granny” Lee. But Lee’s first campaign shaped his legacy. Here he grew his trademark beard and acquired the famous warhorse “Traveller.” On the rugged slopes of Cheat Mountain, costly lessons in leadership were learned.
The 2006-2007 Spoken Word Series at the Randolph County Community Arts Center is presented with financial assistance from by the West Virginia Humanities Council. Any views findings, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment of the Humanities.
The RCCAC invites you to enjoy this free lecture. The RCCAC, a non-profit organization promoting and supporting the arts in Randolph County and the surrounding areas, is located at the corner of Randolph Avenue and Park Street in Elkins. For more information, please call 637-2355 or log onto www.randolpharts.org.