White Top

White Top, a 4,085-foot knob and spur of Cheat Mountain near Cheat Bridge, overlooks the old Staunton–Parkersburg Turnpike and held strategic importance in the Allegheny highlands. During the Civil War, it became the site of Cheat Summit Fort, or Fort Milroy, a Union post begun on July 16, 1861, and the highest Union camp of the war. Soldiers there guarded the turnpike and the western approach to the Tygart Valley, but severe weather and Union success against nearby Confederate forces led to its abandonment in April 1862. White Top is also notable as the first identified location of the Cheat Mountain salamander in 1935.

West Virginia · United States