In the early morning of July 19, Union Brigadier General Henry Judah's forces, dispatched the day before from Pomeroy, unexpectedly ran into Confederates concealed by dense fog after Morgan had chosen to rest his troops in a nearby valley instead of attempting a nighttime crossing of the Buffington Island ford. Startled, Morgan's men quickly opened fire on the Union soldiers. In the narrow valley, Judah's forces had little room to maneuver, soon came under heavy fire, and were forced to retreat while Union General Hobson's reinforcements under Colonel August Kautz moved in to attack from the west and Union gunboats traveled up the Buffington Island channel to protect the ford. Future presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley both served in the 23rd Ohio Infantry. In 1863, Hayes commanded a brigade that included the 23rd Ohio in Brigadier General Eliakim Scammon's division stationed in West Virginia, and his troops were among those placed on steamboats and rushed to the area to prevent Morgan's escape. Major Daniel McCook died after the initial skirmish; he was the father of the "Fighting McCooks," a family of strong Union supporters that sent twelve men to the battlefields.