WV Civil War Trail - General Jenkins
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ExploreWV
Civil War Geotrail
Zone 5
Spring Hill Cemetery
General Jenkins Grave
It has been said that all good things must come to and end. The Civil War Trail will come to that end on October 31, 2014. Thanks to all that have visited the many wonderful caches.
General Albert Gallatin Jenkins from Cabell County was a Confederate cavalry commander. He operated independently in the early years of the war. In 1862 the carried the Confederate flag into Ohio for the first time. He commanded Confederate forces at the battle of Cloyd’s Mountain where he was wounded and captured. His arm required amputation at the shoulder but did not survive the operation dying on May 21, 1864. He is buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington. The Confederate Monument in the Spring Hill Cemetery was unveiled on June 3, 1900. Hundreds of Confederate veterans from the surrounding counties participated in the procession from the Cabell County Courthouse to the cemetery.
Visit Stage 1 and Stage 2 to gather information to solve for the final location.
FINAL : N38 24.X59 W082 24.Y59
To solve for X, visit stage 1 which is at the posted coordinates. Locate General A.G. Jenkins' grave and look to the immediate right. You will see a Reverend's grave (he died in 1927). X equals the chapter from Proverbs on his stone. (Proverbs X:18)
To solve for Y, visit stage 2. Locate the UNION CEMETERY stone in the center of the enclosure. Y equals the last number of the year (December 23, 190Y) on the marker to the immediate left of the UNION CEMETERY stone.
Please note that the gate to the cemetery closes at dusk, BUT IT IS OK TO WALK THE TRAILS AFTER DARK. Recommended parking is for after dusk.
SOME HISTORY
Nestled in the rolling hills southeast of downtown Huntington, Spring Hill Cemetery is the oldest, most historic, large, publicly owned cemetery in and about the city. Its heritage stems from the early nineteenth century, and the lives of the people interred therein represent the founding, growth, and diversity of the City of Huntington. It promises to continue far into the future. Two of the seven War Between the States Generals buried in West Virginia are interred here, General A.G.Jenkins and General John Hunt Oley.
Congressman and Confederate General Albert Gallatin Jenkins (November 10, 1830-May 21, 1864) was born at Green Bottom, Cabell County. He was educated at Marshall Academy (now Marshall University), Jefferson College, and Harvard Law School. Jenkins practiced law in Western Virginia and served in the U.S. Congress from 1857 to 1861.
At the start of the Civil War he enlisted recruits for a Virginia unit called the Border Rangers and was elected their captain. In July 1861, at Scary Creek in Putnam County, Jenkins’s leadership was instrumental in defeating the Union force. In August he formed the 8th Virginia Cavalry (CSA) and became its colonel. In November Jenkins with other cavalry units staged a surprise raid on a Union camp at Guyandotte.
In early 1862, Jenkins was elected to the First Confederate Congress. In August he was appointed brigadier general. He went on to command a battalion of cavalry at the Battle of Gettysburg. Jenkins was recognized as a fearless cavalry raider.
He led the famous Jenkins Raid. On August 11, 1862, the federal government directed that 5,000 soldiers stationed in and near Charleston be brought to Washington, to be used in the more active eastern theater of war. This reduction of federal strength in the Kanawha Valley did not pass unnoticed. On August 18, Confederate Gen. William Wing Loring began planning an attack into the region. Loring sent his cavalry on an extensive sweep through the area north of the Kanawha Valley. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins, a Cabell County native, led the raiding party. He started from Salt Sulphur Springs in Monroe County on August 22, with 550 men.
Jenkins’s troopers rode first into the Tygart Valley, skirmishing briefly with U.S. forces near Huttonsville. On August 30, the raiders attacked and occupied Buckhannon, where they captured 20 prisoners, 5,000 stands of small arms, and a vast supply of ordnance, stores and clothing. The following day Jenkins’s men occupied Weston. They paroled a few prisoners, destroyed the telegraph office, and rode for Glenville. Remaining briefly at Glenville, the raiders arrived at Spencer on September 2. There they surprised and captured several companies of the 11th West Virginia Infantry. Arriving at Ripley, on September 3, the Confederates found no enemy force and captured the federal paymaster, relieving him of $5,525.
On September 4, Jenkins and his men crossed the Ohio River and became the first to raise the Confederate flag on Ohio soil. The following day they attacked federal forces at and near the Mason County courthouse, then moved into Buffalo, Putnam County. On September 8, Jenkins’s raiders rode into Barboursville, skirmished with the enemy, remained there for two days, then rode into Wayne, Logan, and Raleigh counties. The Jenkins raid proved that Union defenses in the Kanawha Valley were inadequate and on September 12, 1862, a larger Confederate force captured Charleston, remaining there until mid-October.
Jenkins died of wounds he received at Cloyd’s Mountain. He rests in the Confederate plot in Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington. Jenkins’s Green Bottom plantation house, maintained as an historic site by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
General John Hunt Oley (September 24, 1830-March 11, 1888) was one of Huntington’s first prominent citizens. He was born in Utica, New York. At the outset of the Civil War, Oley served with the 7th Regiment of the New York National Guard. He was one of six New Yorkers sent to Western Virginia to drill troops following a request by Francis Pierpont, governor of Reorganized or Unionist Virginia. In the fall of 1861, Oley organized the 8th (West) Virginia Infantry, which would later become the 7th West Virginia Cavalry. He was promoted to colonel in 1863, and was made a brevet brigadier general in 1865.
After the war, Oley lived in Charleston and was appointed internal revenue collector for West Virginia. In 1871, he moved to the fledgling community of Huntington, where he was employed by railroad baron Collis P. Huntington as an agent for the Central Land Company. Oley also was elected recorder and treasurer of Huntington and was instrumental in the formation of Trinity Episcopal Church. Oley was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Huntington. A monument marking his grave was paid for through contributions by the citizens of Huntington. (N38 24.571 W082 24.765)
Along with being the resting place of one Confederate General, Albert Gallatin Jenkins, and one Union General, John Hunt Oley, and over 300 Civil War Veterans, Spring Hill Cemetery contains six Veteran sections. There is an African-American Veterans section, Soldiers Field, Soldiers Rest, the Union section, the Confederate section and a newly developed Veterans' Companion section for Veteran's and their spouses. Spring Hill Cemetery also houses four Jewish sections and the Pallottine Missionary Sisters of St. Mary's Hospital also have a section in Spring Hill Cemetery. Situated on the ground's northwest promontory is the Marshall Memorial dedicated in 1971 to those who passed away in the tragic 1970 Marshall football team plane crash.
Today, there are still rumors of the cemetery being haunted. There is some belief that the hauntings are connected to the many flu/smallpox epidemic victims, or even with the old Huntington State Hospital across the street.
We hope you enjoy learning about the significant role West Virginia played in this monumental war. It has been a privilege to create this challenge and share some great history with you!
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