ENGAGEMENT AT CHAPMANSVILLE.
A brilliant affair took place at Chapmansville, Logan county, Virginia, on the 25th of September, when a body of the enemy under Colonel Davis, numbering about five hundred, was defeated and driven from behind their breastworks by five hundred and fifty men of the Thirty-fourth Ohio, under Colonel Piatt.
The want of men in Western Virginia had induced the Government to call this regiment into the field before its ranks were full, and they had been on duty but one week when the affair at Chapmansville took place. With only six hours notice they marched from Cincinnati, and on the 19th of September arrived at “Camp Enyard,” on the Kanawha, occupied by Colonel Enyard with three hundred of the First Kentucky and two hundred of the Home Guards of Virginia.
Three days subsequently they learned that the enemy were in force fifty miles distant, and marched, in company with Colonel Enyard’s command to Peytona, where they separated, Colonel Piatt proceeding to Boone Court-house. A march of about sixteen miles the next day brought them in contact with the advance cavalry guard of the enemy, who were quickly driven in. The force was immediately made ready for battle, and proceeded on for two hours, constantly skirmishing with the retreating foe. Though unable to ascertain the position or force of their opposers, they yet marched bravely, with Colonel Piatt in advance, until the dim outline of a breastwork became visible through the dense underbrush, situated on the slope of a hill between two mountain ridges on the right and a small ravine on the left. The brush had been cut down on the right and a force of the enemy, comprising about one hundred men, were stationed there to rake the advancing troops, and their fire was poured in incessantly. The Federals returned the fire and advanced fearlessly, in four columns, with company A, Captain Rathbone, deployed to the right, directly up the side of the mountain, for the purpose of outflanking the enemy on the left; company C, Captain Miller, dispatched for a similar purpose to the left; company I, Captain Anderson, marching up the ravine, and the centre moving directly up the road. When within about twenty yards of the breastworks they were suddenly fired upon from all quarters. The order from Colonel Piatt to storm the entrenchments was responded to with hearty cheers, and the men dashed on, regardless of the storm of bullets that tore up the earth around them.
Captain Anderson was the first to mount the breastworks, his men following steadily and with unflinching courage. Captain Miller on the left, and Captain Rathbone on the right, were impeded by obstructions, but quickly overcoming or dashing through them, joined in the charge. A few minutes sufficed to reach the inside and break the ranks of the enemy, who fled to the mountains. They left twenty-nine dead behind and had fifty wounded, among them Colonel Davis, of North Carolina, who afterwards died. The Federal loss was four killed and eight wounded.
Colonel Piatt marched into Chapmansville, the former headquarters of the enemy, encamped for the night, and then returned to Camp Enyard, almost without provisions, and forced to wade through swollen streams and surmount rugged mountains.