Battle of Kessler's Cross Lanes

The Battle of Kessler's Cross Lanes, also known as the Battle of Cross Lanes, took place on August 26, 1861 in Nicholas County, Virginia (now West Virginia) as part of the Western Virginia Campaign during the American Civil War.<ref name="CWSAC Kessler's Cross Lanes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Battle

File:Kessler's Cross Lanes Battlefield West Virginia.jpg

Map of Kessler's Cross Lanes Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.

On August 26, Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, commanding Confederate forces in the Kanawha Valley, crossed the Gauley River to attack Col. Erastus Tyler's 7th Ohio Infantry Regiment encamped at Kessler's Cross Lanes. The Union forces were surprised and routed and the regiment was defeated with severe loss. The two wings of Tyler's line retreated in opposite directions.<ref name="Upton">Upton, H. Taylor. (1910). History of the Western Reserve. Chicago, New York: The Lewis publishing company. Vol II, page 805 Template:PD-notice</ref> Throughout the rout and carnage Major Jack Casement, at the head of Tyler's left wing, commenced a retrograde march through Confederate territory over mountain ranges to the Elk River and what is now the Town of Clendenin and then on to Charleston, West Virginia without the capture of a man.<ref name="Upton"/>

Floyd then withdrew to the river and took up a defensive position at Carnifex Ferry. During the month, Gen. Robert E. Lee arrived in western Virginia and attempted to coordinate the forces of Brig. Gens. Floyd, Henry A. Wise, Col. Douglas Micklich and William W. Loring.