Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/73

Rh On the 29th of April, six days after he took command of the forces of Virginia, General Lee sent Lieut.-Col. John McCausland, a native of the Kanawha valley and a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, to muster into the service of the State ten companies of volunteers from the Kanawha region, take command of these, and direct military operations for strictly defensive purposes. On May 3d, Col. C. Q. Tompkins, a West Point graduate and former officer in the United States army, having his home in the Kanawha valley, was appointed colonel of volunteers in the Virginia service and directed to take command of the forces in the Kanawha region and carry out the orders already given to McCausland.

Colonel Tompkins reported from Charleston, May 23d, that he found some 350 men, in five companies, at Buffalo; that within two or three weeks he could probably raise fifteen or sixteen companies, but that the country was destitute of fabric suitable for uniforms.

McCausland, covering the front on the Ohio river, reported Federal troops concentrating at and about Gallipolis, Ohio, on the 26th, and Tompkins, hastening to Charleston from his post at Kanawha Falls, sent McCausland as a special messenger to Governor Letcher to inform him of the disaffection of the population of the Kanawha region, of the difficulty of procuring reliable troops, and the imminent danger of invasion. After sending this dispatch on the 28th, Tompkins issued a spirited appeal, calling the "men of Virginia—men of Kanawha, to arms."

On the 23d of April, ex-Gov. Henry A. Wise tendered his services to Virginia. Subsequently he was appointed brigadier-general and given authority to raise a force to be called "Wise's legion." While engaged in organizing this body, he was, on the 6th of June, ordered to take the force he had in hand and proceed, as speedily as possible, to the valley of the Kanawha and rally the people to resist the invading army reported to be already on the march. He was informed that he must rely upon the people for a supply of arms from those in their own hands, and upon their valor and knowledge of the country as a substitute for organization and discipline. Wise's popularity in western Virginia was very great, and it was supposed that his appearance in command on the Kanawha line would stem the tide of opposition to State