Construction of Fort Mill Ridge

On March 16, 1863, Col. Campbell ordered his command to move its encampment from Romney to fields adjacent to Mill Creek immediately west of Mill Ridge. Sheltered between the mountain to the west and the ridge, the camp was less vulnerable to surprise attack from any direction. Between March and June 1863, Campbell's troops constructed the fort atop Mill Ridge to protect the encampment and dominate the Valley and the Gap. Fort Mill Ridge consisted of an outer ring of entrenchments and a small central redoubt, with infantry in the surrounding entrenchments, and it was oriented in part to defend against a surprise attack down the ridgeline from the south. A March 1863 diary entry by Joshua Winters recorded that on March 16, with snow on the ground, the camp moved three miles from Romney on the New Crick road at the end of MacCanickvill Gap, and that the next day was beautiful and he washed his clothes.

West Virginia · United States