Civil War Regiment Fights Confederates Along Greenbrier River
The area around the Greenbrier River was important to both Union and Confederate forces because gaps in the Appalachian Mountains connected the East to the Midwest. Offered here is a fine letter, 4 pp, 4 ¾ x 7 ¾, Camp Meadow Bluffs, August 6th, 1862. Joseph Corbin writes to his brother David in ink.
“...I just got back to camp yesterday off of a big scout over on Greenbrier River. We left camp on Saturday evening and marched till three o’clock in the morning when we layed down and slept...We then got up and eat our crackers and drank water and started on our way single file through a narrow path over the mountains until 3 o’clock when we reached the edge of the woods fronting Greenbrier River, where Capt. Stone and his company took two prisoners belonging to a cavalry company over river. We then went back some miles to one of our guides house where we stayed all night. The next morning we started back to the river with the intention of crossing it. When we came to the river, we took off our shoes and socks and forded the river after out three companies F. G. & K. crossed the river. We put our shoes and socks on and then started to attract a body of rebels...We did not go far till we run into a nest of rebels in a hollow between four mountains where we was surrounded [on] all but one side. Our second lieut. Thompson and privates went about one or two hundred yards from the company to search a house when they was returning to their company. A rebel lying in the grass shot our Lieut. through the thigh which only slightly wounded him. By the time a general engagement was going on between our company and the rebels, Ben Penny was wounded in the arm, which I don’t think he will be able for duty for a long time.
“By the time our guide found out that we was surrounded...Capt. Stow managed to get us out and crossed the river. We then stopped at a house to get some dinner...We hadn’t been there long till the rebels from the side of the river on the other side opened fire on us but didn’t do any damage. Then our company went out...and fired three volleys into them which made them skedaddle up the hill. Our company had the honor of that fight...I escaped unhurt...Your brother Joseph Corbin”
JOSEPH H. CORBIN enlisted as a private on September 20, 1861, five months after the Civil War began. He mustered into G Co. Ohio 44th Infantry and was later transferred to the Ohio 8th Infantry. He was mustered out on July 30, 1865, at Clarksburg, W.VA. During his enlistment, Corbin was promoted to corporal.
His brother DAVID L. CORBIN enlisted as a private on August 7, 1862, and was mustered into B Co. Ohio 94th Infantry. He was mustered out on May 24, 1865, at Camp Dennison, Ohio. A few months after his enlistment, Corbin was taken prisoner at Nolensville, TN (December 30, 1862). David would later become a physician.
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