During the 1861 Kanawha Valley Campaign, Union and Confederate leaders both sought control of the Kanawha Valley, an approach to Richmond, Virginia, with valuable resources including salt and soldiers whose loyalty was contested. Union soldiers crossed the Ohio River into Point Pleasant on May 22, 1861, while Confederate soldiers withdrew from Buffalo to Charleston to await a defensive battle. At Scary Creek on July 17, 1861, many soldiers in blue and gray fought their first battle. Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox commanded Union forces in the valley, and Colonel Jon Lower essentially commanded the 1,500 Union soldiers engaged, including the 12th Ohio, 21st Ohio, Cotter’s Independent Battery, and George’s Independent Cavalry. Brigadier General Henry A. Wise commanded Confederate forces in the valley, and Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton essentially commanded the 900 Confederates engaged, including companies from the 22nd Virginia, 36th Virginia, 8th Virginia Cavalry, and Kanawha Artillery. Confederate commanders chose Scary Creek as a defensive position south of the creek along both sides of the Winfield Road, with artillery on heights six hundred feet high. Union forces moved south on the Winfield Road, drove Confederate skirmishers from Little Scary Creek about 11 a.m., placed artillery near the Simms House on heights nine hundred feet high, and pushed infantry to the north bank of Scary Creek. Fighting remained intense through the afternoon, and although U.S. artillery knocked out Confederate artillery, neither side gained a substantial advantage. Around 4 p.m., Lower attempted a flanking attack, but Scary Creek could not be forded at the mouth of the river and he could not find a way around the fight. Exhausted Confederate forces began to withdraw until Captain Albert G. Jenkins rallied his men to continue. Union forces, lacking additional support, withdrew. Confederates held the field, claimed victory, and burned the building the Union had occupied. The Confederate success was brief because Wise, unable to hold the valley, retreated, and Union soldiers took Charleston eight days later. Fighting over the Kanawha Valley continued at Carnifex Ferry in 1862.