2022 Bulltown Civil War Reenactment is This Weekend

Battle of Bulltown Civil War Reenactment will be held October 14, 15and 16 at the Bulltown historic Area. The 3-day event will kick off with Kids Day from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. followed by registration and camp set up from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Reveille at 7:00 a.m. will begin the Saturday events. Camps will open to the public 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Field tactical maneuvers for troops will be from 11:00 a.m. to noon.
At 3:00 p.m. the Confederate Memorial Service will be held. The evening will conclude with the Civil War Ball from 8:00-10:00 p.m.
Sunday’s festivities will include St Michael’s Church services at 11:00 a.m. The actual Battle of Bulltown Reenactment will be from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. followed by camp break up.
There is no charge for the event and the public is invited.
The Battle of Bulltown was a small skirmish fought during the American Civil War near Bulltown in Braxton County, West Virginia on October 13, 1863.
In the fall of 1863, William Lowther Jackson, the cousin of “Stonewall” Jackson, led a raiding party of 800 men into central West Virginia to capture the strategic “fort” at Bulltown which overlooked an important crossing of the Little Kanawha River. The goal was to cut Federal communications between the Greenbrier and Kanawha Valleys.
The Union garrison of roughly 400 men was commanded by Captain William Mattingly. The Union troops manned a “fort” of makeshift log barricades and shallow trenches which can still be seen today.
Jackson approached Bulltown secretly. He divided his forces in an attempt to converge on the Union position from two different directions. The Confederates advanced at 4:30am on October 13. They quickly captured the Federal pickets but failed to take the main garrison by surprise.
The Confederates advanced against the fort and a drawn-out skirmish lasted until about 4:30pm, almost twelve hours after the battle began. Twice, Jackson sent a flag of truce with a demand to surrender to which Captain Mattingly replied, “I will fight until Hell freezes over and then fight on the ice”.
Jackson eventually retreated towards the Greenbrier Valley. Casualties were very light considering the length of the battle. On the Union side there were no fatalities. Captain Mattingly was wounded in the thigh and there were some other slight wounds in the Federal camp. The Confederates lost eight killed and a like number wounded.
One civilian, Moses Cunningham, who owned the farm on which the majority of the battle took place, was wounded when he ran out of his house shouting “Hurrah for Jeff Davis.”
The battle was the last significant Confederate offensive in West Virginia and the Confederate goals of disrupting the Federal communications were thwarted.
For more information follow the Burnsville Lake, US Army Corps of Engineers Facebook page.