Questions about Battle of Philippi (1861)

Short answers, pulled from the story.

What happened during the Battle of Philippi on the 2nd of June 1861?

Union forces led by Col. Benjamin Franklin Kelley and Col. Ebenezer Dumont executed a double envelopment against Confederate troops at Philippi. The green Confederate volunteers failed to establish picket lines and fled in their bed clothes after Union artillery fire awakened them from their tents.

Who commanded the Union army at the Battle of Philippi in May 1861?

Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan assumed command of the Department of the Ohio on the 13th of May 1861 and ordered the advance into northwestern Virginia. He directed Col. Benjamin Franklin Kelley and Col. James Irvine to secure bridges over the Monongahela River and seize Grafton by May 30.

How did the Battle of Philippi get its nickname Races at Philippi?

Union journalists called it the Races at Philippi because some Confederate soldiers fled while still wearing their bed clothes. A Confederate sympathizer named Mrs. Thomas Humphreys sent her son to warn the Confederates, but Union pickets captured him and fired his pistol prematurely, starting the attack before dawn.

What happened to James E. Hanger after he was wounded at the Battle of Philippi?

James E. Hanger received a battlefield amputation believed to be one of the first such operations of the war and later returned home to Virginia. He crafted an artificial leg from barrel staves with a hinge at the knee that became so successful the Virginia State Legislature commissioned him to manufacture the Hanger Limb for other wounded soldiers.

Why did the civilian population flee Philippi following the engagement in June 1861?

The civilian population fled south with valuables in fear of the Federal advance because the village bore more ruinous effect than any other seen so far. Many houses were sacked and maliciously damaged, leaving not half of them occupied as inhabitants left women to care for families and property.