Museum Collections

Civil War Drawings Collection. The Battle of Philippi was fought on 3 June 1861 as part of a two-prong attack against the Confederate forces in Philippi, [West] Virginia. Federal forces under McClellan, planning to deceive the enemy into believing their objective was Harper's Ferry, departed by train to the east. They de-trained at the small village of Thornton and marched south on a back road. Meanwhile, the 7th Indiana combined with the 6th Indiana near Webster, with a total of 1,400 men, and marched directly south from Webster to execute a double envelopment of the Confederates. Before dawn on June 3, the two Union columns converged on Philippi, after an overnight march in rainy weather. Union forces began firing their artillery, which awakened the sleeping Confederates. After firing a few shots at the advancing Union troops, the Southerners broke lines and began running frantically to the south, some still in their bed clothes, which caused journalists to refer to the battle as the "Races at Philippi". The Union victory propelled the young General McClellan into the national spotlight, and he was soon in command of all Union armies. The battle also inspired protests in the western part of Virginia against secession. A few days later in Wheeling, the Wheeling Convention nullified the Virginia ordinance of secession, split the state, and named Francis H. Pierpont governor of West Virginia.