Following success at Rich Mountain in July 1861, Federal troops under Gen. Joseph Reynolds built Camp Elkwater to deter Confederates from returning. Fortifications there blocked the narrow valley floor and a turnpike leading to the Virginia Central Railroad. Built in tandem with a fortress on Cheat Mountain, Camp Elkwater was the key to defense of the Tygart Valley. Nearly 3,000 Federal troops were present when Confederates under Gen. Robert E. Lee threatened on September 12, 1861, but a Confederate assault fizzled. Plagued by rain and cold weather, Lee left the area in humiliation, and Federal troops remained at Camp Elkwater until spring 1862. Major Rutherford B. Hayes of the 23rd Ohio Infantry U.S.A., a future U.S. President, served there with other notables. Lt. Col. John Augustine Washington, C.S.A., great grandnephew of the first president and the last Washington to own Mt. Vernon, was killed on Sept. 13, 1861, while scouting near Camp Elkwater.