Battle of Cloyd ' s Mountain The Battle of Cloyd ' s Mountain was a Union victory in western Virginia on May 9 , 1864 that allowed the Union forces to destroy the last railroad connecting Tennessee to Virginia . Background . Brigadier General George Crook commanded the Union Army of West Virginia , made up of three brigade s from the Division of the Kanawha . When Ulysses S . Grant launched his spring offensive of 1864 , two Union armies marched towards Richmond and a third moved into the Shenandoah Valley . Crook ' s troops were also involved in the offensive and began to march through the Appalachian Mountains into southwest Virginia . His objective was to destroy the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad , working in conjunction with William W . Averell ' s offensive , which had similar objectives . Brig . Gen . Albert G . Jenkins was in command of a few scattered Confederate units protecting the rail lines . Jenkins had only assumed command a day before Crook ' s army began to approach the railroad . During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign , Jenkins ' Brigade formed the cavalry screen for Richard S . Ewell ' s Second Corps . Jenkins led his men through the Cumberland Valley into Pennsylvania and seized Chambersburg , burning down nearby railroad structures and bridges . He accompanied Ewell ' s column to Carlisle , briefly skirmishing with Union militia at the Battle of Sporting Hill near Harrisburg . During the subsequent Battle of Gettysburg , Jenkins was wounded on July 2 and missed the rest of the fighting . He did not recover sufficiently to rejoin his command until autumn . He had spent the early part of 1864 raising and organizing a large cavalry force for service in western Virginia . By May , Jenkins had been appointed Commander of the Department of Western Virginia with his headquarters at Dublin . Battle . Jenkins , having decided to make a stand at Cloyd ' s Mountain , set up a strong defensive position . When Crook arrived he decided against a frontal assault , concluding that the Confederate works were too strong and such an attack would decimate his army . The surrounding area was heavily forested so Crook used this as cover and swung his brigades around to the Confederate right flank . Crook began the battle with an artillery barrage , then sent in his brigade of green West Virginians under Colonel Carr B . White . Crook ' s remaining two brigades under Colonel Horatio G . Sickel and future president Colonel Rutherford B . Hayes were to launch a frontal assault as soon as the West Virginians had gotten under way . Serving as a major under Hayes was another future U . S . President named William McKinley . White ' s brigade , in its first fight ever , advanced to within 20 yards before heavy casualties in its exposed position forced it back . Crook , moving with Hayes ' Ohio brigade , had to dismount and traverse the slopes on foot because they were so steep . Still wearing his jack boots , he sank in a small stream the troops were crossing and his boots filled with water . Nearby soldiers rushed back to their general and pulled him out . Hayes ' brigade spearheaded the main assault around 11 a . m . The troops fought their way to the Confederate works and severe hand - to - hand fighting ensued . Sparks from the musket fire ignited the thick blanket of leaves on the ground and many men from Sickel ' s and Hayes ' brigades were pinned down and burned alive . The two brigades began to fall back when Crook sent in two fresh regiments into Hayes ' front . The West Virginians finally advanced against the cannon that had plagued them throughout the battle and overran its crew . Now the Ohio troops began to overwhelm the Confederate center . Jenkins tried desperately to shift troops to the threatened areas , but fell mortally wounded and was captured by Union soldiers . His second - in - command , John McCausland , took command and conducted a rear - guard action as he withdrew his troops . The Battle of Cloyd ' s Mountain was fought on the Back Creek Farm property . The farmhouse served that day as a hospital and as headquarters for the Union General George Crook . Results . The battle of Cloyd ' s Mountain was short and involved few troops , but contained some of the most severe and savage fighting of the war . The whole engagement lasted a little over an hour with much of that being hand - to - hand combat . Casualties were high for the modest number of troops involved . Crook lost 688 men , roughly 10 % of his force . The Confederates lost fewer men — 538 — but that totaled 23 % of their total force . The battle is considered a Union victory because Crook was able to continue on and destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad at Dublin , Virginia , and Averell was also able to destroy several railroad bridges along the same line , severing one of the Confederacy ' s last vital lifelines and its only rail connection to East Tennessee . The day after the battle , remnant Confederate troops unsuccessfully defended a railroad bridge over the nearby New River . In the melee , a soldier who refused to take cover until Col . Hayes did so was mortally wounded . While undergoing first aid , the soldier was found to be a woman . ( Page 163 - 164 , " Rutherford B . Hayes : Warrior & President " by Ari Hoogenboom , University Press of Kansas , 1995 ) The opposing forces . Union . Kanawha Division — Brig . Gen . George Crook Confederate . Department of Southwestern Virginia — Brig . Gen . Albert G . Jenkins " ( mortally wounded and captured ) " ; John McCausland