The Civil War In Greater Parkersburg
Written by Robert D. Crooks, M.D.
While there were no significant battles fought in Wood County during the Civil War, the county was greatly changed by this greatest event in American history.
When the war started, Parkersburg was a sleepy southern town. It lay at the junction of the Northwestern and Staunton turnpikes and also, the Ohio and Little Kanawha Rivers. It was on the mainline of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
It is a little wonder that when Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861 that the western counties, wanting to stay in the Union, formed a new state. Wood County provided more leaders for this cause than any other county and because of its strategic location became a dominant force in the establishment of West Virginia.
Union General George B. McClellan located his headquarters in Parkersburg on May 21, 1861, and Wood County remained under Union control throughout the war. It became a major troop transfer and supply center. In recognition of its vital military importance the Federal government constructed a fort on Mount Logan overlooking Parkersburg and the two rivers, naming it Fort Boreman honoring West Virginia’s first governor.
The only military action in the county was at Belleville on July 19, 1863, when Confederate General John H. Morgan attempted to cross the Ohio River after his raid through southern Ohio. Three hundred raiders successfully entered West Virginia while the remaining followed General Morgan into northern Ohio where they were captured.
The last Wood County Civil War veteran died in 1943. Wood County had given 3,000 soldiers to the Union army and 500 to the Confederacy. Out of this bloody conflict there emerged a new state - West Virginia. Parkersburg arose to become a bustling urban area whose newfound importance was symbolized by its wealth, civic pride and expanding population. Parkersburg had changed during the war from a sleepy, southern village to a prominent and progressive city.
