Rebels take Charleston: A WV Sesquicentennial Moment
By Beth Vorhees and the Division of Culture & History
September 10, 2012 ·
On September 13, 1862, Confederates seized control of the city of Charleston and the Kanawha County saltworks.
Nearly 5,000 Confederate soldiers captured
the city after what Confederate General William W. Loring described as “a stout
resistance from the enemy.”
In a September 14th dispatch to Secretary
of War George W. Randolph in Richmond, Loring said that besides inflicting
great loss to the enemy, his troops captured wagons and horses worth at least
$1 million.
His troops also found a huge stockpile of
salt, which was a valuable commodity during the war because it was used to
preserve food and cure leather.
Despite that
coup, though, the Confederacy was unable to sustain its stronghold in the
Kanawha Valley. Six weeks after taking the city, Loring's troops were forced to
withdraw under the threat of 12,000 Union soldiers approaching from the
northeast.