Brigadier General Henry A. Wise, C.S.A. And The Western Virginia Campaign Of 1861

This thesis examines Brigadier General Henry A. Wise’s involvement in the Western Virginia Campaign of 1861. This Confederate defeat resulted in the Federal occupation of a large, strategically important section of the Confederacy in the first year of the Civil War. The author presents the reasons for this capitulation and, against the backdrop of Wise’s political career, evaluates the General’s performance as a military commander. This paper discusses the personal conflict which ensued between Henry Wise and John B. Floyd in the Kanawha Valley as a reason for the Confederate failure in western Virginia. The author presents the results of this capitulation to demonstrate how Wise, a popular ex-Governor of Virginia, significantly affected the course of the Civil War.