In Letters of Fire

January 1864 came with arctic severity. The soldiers of the detached companies of the 13th West Virginia Infantry Regiment were charged with holding and clearing troublesome areas on the very edge of the Union lines then flung across Northwestern Virginia. They struggled to survive and execute orders in the inclement weather and rough terrain. Indeed, it was a surprisingly busy season of duty given the cold and icy conditions. Finally, pursuant to plans set out by Lieutenant-General Ulysses Grant, commanding the United States Army, the 13th West Virginia with her sister regiments in the Kanawha Division were unified and cut loose from garrison and guerilla duties to play a pivotal role in the great campaigns of Summer 1864. The Kanawha Division and Grant's four other great armies marched out simultaneously to converge upon the enemy and his resources. The 13th West Virginia strode out beyond what the men called 'God's Country' to raid into the Southland. It was a grueling strike following the rail lines to Staunton, Lexington and Lynchburg that would take them twice over the forbidding Allegheny Mountains. It was uniformly considered by all those who marched it-the hardest campaign of the war beggaring all description.