Spencer

After Confederates attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Virginia adopted a Secession Ordinance on April 17, and a statewide vote confirmed it on June 19. Roane County voted in favor of secession, although a majority of the future West Virginia counties voted against it. On June 11, 1861, the Second Wheeling Convention adopted a resolution to organize the pro-Union Restored Government of Virginia. On June 24, 1861, a large assembly of Roane Countians adopted resolutions of loyalty to the State of Virginia, and Federal troops of the 22nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry then occupied Spencer briefly. In August 1861, Spencer endured an eleven-day siege. In December 1861, Col. John C. Rathbone, Union commander of the 11th (West) Virginia Infantry, established his command post in the Court House. In May 1862, Major George C. Trimble led four companies from Spencer to Arnoldsburg, where a battle with Confederate guerillas resulted in victory. Rathbone, in Parkersburg, then sent an erroneous message to Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Kelley in Weston that guerillas had captured Arnoldsburg and Spencer. Kelley led a large force to Spencer and found it secure. Guerilla leaders then deceived Rathbone into a temporary truce, which Kelley rescinded. In September 1862, most Union troops in the area were sent to defend against Lee’s attacks in western Virginia, and Confederate guerillas operated more freely. The Spencer Weekly Bulletin also reported that bands of horse thieves, belonging properly to neither side, ravaged the county and killed unoffending citizens. West Virginia became the thirty-fifth state on June 20, 1863, and Home Guards were established. In October 1863, the Battle of Bulltown in Braxton County involved many Roane Countians. On May 9, 1864, many Roane County soldiers on both sides were killed and wounded at the Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain, where Gen. Jenkins was killed. The war’s course closed with Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

Spencer, West Virginia · United States