Camp Enyart

CAMP ENYART
A Collection of References and Resources

by
Audrey (Shields) Hancock

Out of Civil War documents, records, and letters comes the story of the existence of Camp Enyart located in Western Virginia. There appears to have been one Lieutenant Colonel Enyart of the First Kentucky associated with this camp. It is not known if the camp was named for Lieutenant Colonel Enyart who is distinguished in this story which appeared in Harper's Weekly on October 9, 1861. This is Lieutenant Colonel David A. Enyart. Who were his parents, grandparents, etc.
See excerpt below: Boone Co., VA History (Reference Source: 6 Aug 2007: Courtesy of: Jane Harrison)



Boone Co., VA History
"The fourth engagement occurred on September 25, 1861. The fight started on Trace Fork or Big Creek, approximately five miles from the Logan County line, and ended in the Kanawha Gap, near Chapmanville, in Logan County. Union scouts reported a concentration of Confederate troops in the Chapmanville area, and Colonel Piatt was sent to disperse it. He left on September 23, 1861 with six companies from the 34th Ohio. He was accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel David A. Enyart and three hundred men from the 1st Kentucky Infantry, and two hundred Unionist Homeguards. When the force reached Peytona they camped for the night and the next day separated, with Colonel Enyart moving up the Coal River, and Colonel Piatt moving on to the Boone County Court House. The next morning, near what is now Manila, they met the Confederate advance guard and exchanged gunfire. The Confederate advance guard retreated to within two miles of Kanawha Gap. The then set up on a hill side and fired on the Union Army pursing them. Colonel Piatt deployed his troops on either side of the hill and eventually forced the Confederate soldiers to retreat from the area."

FIGHT IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.
We have a report via Cincinnati of a fight in Western Virginia, in which the Union troops, consisting of four companies of the Thirty-fourth Ohio and five companies of the First Kentucky regiments, and one company of the Fifth Virginia, under Lieutenant-Colonel Enyart, surrounded and defeated the rebels at Chapmansville, killing sixty and taking seventy prisoners. On endeavoring to escape the rebels were intercepted by Colonel Platt, who killed forty of them and took a large number prisoners.

WAR NEWS



Courtesy of:
Alan Knutson
Source: E-bay



Source: GOOGLE

"Camp Enyart"
"Lieutenant Colonel Enyart"


"CAMP ENYART, Sept. 30, 1861
I am at last able to report to you the result of the expedition referred to in my last, as having started from Camp Enyart to look for a body of General Chapman�s Virginia rebel militia, in the Coal river region. The expedition consisted of a strong detachment of the Thirty-fourth Ohio, under Colonel A. Saunders Platt, and a portion of the First Kentucky, under Lieutenant Colonel Enyart.

Chronicles of the American Civil War"



Schulers Books Online, p. 19:
About the 30th of August we heard of an encampment of Confederate militia at Boone C. H. which was so situated, southwest of the Kanawha River, as to menace our communications with the Ohio. I sent Lieutenant-Colonel Enyart with half of the First Kentucky Regiment to beat up this encampment, and he did so on the 2d of September, completely routing the enemy, who left 25 dead upon the field. Enyart's march and attack had been rapid and vigorous, and the terror of the blow kept that part of the district quiet for some time afterward. [Footnote: C. R., vol. li. pt. i. pp. 465, 468, 472.]
Military Reminiscences of the Civil War V1 - 19/90 by Jacob Dolson Cox, A.M., LL.D.



September 27, 1861
Assistant Surgeon W.R.S. Clark, 34th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Camp Enyart, Virginia, September 22, 1861, pg. 3

Center for Archival Collections-Index to Civil War Letters-Crawford County, Ohio Newspapers



34th Ohio Infantry
From Dyer's Compendium

34th Regiment Infantry. Organized at Camp Lucas, Ohio. Moved to Camp Dennison, Ohio, September 1, 1861; thence to West Virginia September 15. Arrived at Camp Enyart, Kanawha River, September 20. Attached to Cox's Kanawha Brigade, West Virginia, to October, 1861.
34th Ohio Infantry compiled by Larry Stevens



April 1861 to December, 1861
On August 11, the regiment left Charleston for Summerville. After encamping at Camp Enyart, the regiment moved to Gauley Bridge on August 15th, and encamped below the bridge (where the New and Gauley Rivers join to become the Kanawha River).
140 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, THE 26TH OVVI..."



History of Crawford County, Ohio, p. 305
The Thirty-fourth was organized at Camp Lucas in July and August, 1861, and on the 1st of September it moved to Camp Dennison. It was there prepared for the field, and adopted as its uniform (a license allowable at that early period of the war) a light blue Zouave dress. In compliment to their Colonel. A. S.. Piatt. of Logan County,. the name " Piatt Zouaves " was adopted. The regiment left Camp Dennison for Western Virginia on the 15th of September, 1861, with full ranks, and on the 20th arrived at Camp Enyart, on the Kanawha River. Its first battle was fought at Chapmansville, on the 25th, where it lost one man killed and eight wounded.
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY



WebPage by: Audrey (Shields) Hancock


Created: 06 August 2007
Revised:






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