19 Jun 61, Cole Camp, WV - Battleground 7: Bull Run

Cole Camp, WV, 19 June 1861 [Curt Cabbage]

The Warsaw men, about 250 afoot and 100 mounted, began the 20-mile march to Cole Camp on the afternoon of June 18. They arrived near the town around midnight, where they encountered John Tyree, a loyal Unionist although a slaveholder. He had seen their departure from Warsaw that morning, and had reported it to Cook. Tyree was questioned, then shot, becoming the first casualty of the battle.

O'Kane's men remained determined to attack even if the Home Guard had been warned. "Colonel" Cook, however, had failed to take Tyree's warning seriously. He posted guards and sent for the men he had furloughed (about half his force), but let the others sleep. There were approximately 400 men in camp. About 125 were bedded-down in and around each of the two barns with their muskets left outside to make room. Others camped in the woods and in the open area south of the Heisterberg house. Fifty more slept behind a rail fence north of the Heisterberg barn. None had been alerted to the impending attack.

It was nearly 3 a.m. when O'Kane's force arrived near Camp Lyon. He sent his mounted troops to attack from the southwest, while the others unfurled a United States flag and pressed on. The hapless guards, who probably mistook them for friends, were bayonetted before they could fire or sound an alarm. Rushing to the Heisterberg barn, the Southerners shouted "No mercy for the Dutch!" and fired through the open doors into the sleeping Home Guards, killing 15 to 20 and wounding others.

The pandemonium awakened the men behind the fence who fired into the Southerners' flank. The attackers retreated and regrouped, then attacked again and captured the barn (one report says the doors had been closed, and were battered open with a fence rail). Most of the occupants had fled, leaving only the dead and wounded inside. The Home Guardsmen behind the fence, now out of ammunition, retreated into the forest.

To the south, the men who had been sleeping in the open and under the trees formed ranks and moved toward the barn in a counterattack to relieve their comrades. They were suddenly attacked in the flank by the mounted Southerners and chased into the woods. They rallied there and drove back the horsemen, who were unable to penetrate the undergrowth. Farther south, the men at the Harms barn also began to form up, then hesitated when the Stars and Stripes approached through the darkness. It was carried by Southern cavalry and infantry who were advancing toward the Harms farm. They unleashed a volley against the surprised German-Americans, killed several and forced the rest to retire in confusion.

The Home Guards fled into the forest, abandoning most of their muskets (362 of their 400 weapons were captured). The fight had lasted no more than 30 minutes, but nearly a third of the Germans had become casualties: 35 to 40 dead, around 60 wounded, and 25 to 30 captured. The Warsaw troops lost six or seven killed, and about 25 wounded. It was one the bloodiest battles that the fledgling Civil War had yet seen.

As day dawned, the casualties were gathered at the Heisterberg house. Drunken Southerners threatened the prisoners, but their officers intervened. Women came from nearby farms to care for the injured, the worst of whom were exchanged under flag of truce. The remaining wounded were taken in wagons to Cole Camp, then moved to Warsaw on June 20. Later on June 20, Gov. Jackson retreated unmolested through Cole Camp.