Breaking News
Community News

Pioneer Day pushes forward in Elizabeth

By Madeline Scarborough 4 min read

ELIZABETH -- The Wirt County community came together to celebrate the 18th Annual Pioneer Day Saturday. However, due to COVID-19 concerns, festivities looked a little different from in years past.

The Pioneer Day Committee made the decision to exclude all confined space activities based on the increasing numbers of COVID cases in the area, meaning that the usual tours of the Little Kanawha Hotel, McClung-Morgan House and Beauchamp-Newman Museum were canceled along with this year's quilt show.

Outdoor activities did continue as planned, with skirmishes, skits, demonstrations and vendor shopping.

Saturday a Civil War skirmish took place at 3 p.m., complete with gun and cannon fire, across from the Wirt County Courthouse, and although the museum was not open, there were still plenty of people dressed in Civil War era clothing who could tell visitors about the history.

The Daughters of the American Pioneers provided some of that history for those who did not know about it, in hopes of sparking interest and getting community members to go out to the re-enactment to learn more.

According to the history they provided, the Burning Springs oil field was located on Confederate soil at the beginning of the Civil War in April 1861.

As presented in local history that can be found on the group's social media posts, fliers, plaques in the area and history books being sold around the event, the area was divided in the early 1860s.

"Some of Wirt County's enlisted soldiers were fighting to save the Union while others were fighting for the Confederacy," according to information provided by the Daughters of the American Pioneers through fliers and posts. "Politicians were also preparing to launch the new State of West Virginia, which played a huge factor in the Civil War."

The Daughters of the American Pioneers pulled accounts from other sources such as "Hardesty's History of Wirt County" (1884): "The first skirmish in Wirt County took place near High Log Run on Route 5 in October 1861. The Federals were suddenly fired upon from the hill above the road. Heavy Federal gunfire lasted for some time. McClain and Weaver, soldiers with Captain Hill's Wirt County Unit 11 VA Infantry Co. B, were wounded. Reports say that no Confederates were injured."

They continued, providing information that the oil in Wirt County become the focus of the Confederate forces.

"When the Civil War started, John Castelli "Cass" Rathbone provided uniforms, horses, and equipment for a private army at his own expense. Isaiah Hill was commissioned to keep the oil field in Union hands," the flier said.

May 9, 1863, L. D. Mills stated, "At the height of oil development in 1863, General William Jones of the Confederate forces appeared upon the scene with a command of several cavalrymen setting fire to the oil, and effectively frightened away the northern capitalists who had invested their money in the Burning Springs Fields." Jones set fire to the Burning Springs oil wells and oil loaded in barrels on the Little Kanawha River barges. Parkersburg newspapers reported the Little Kanawha River appeared to be ablaze for several miles downstream.

In April 1865, State Scout Commander Captain William F. Pell, sent a report from the Wirt Courthouse. Pell wrote, "Since making my last report, the rebellion has been nearly buried, no more to rise, and peace seems once more to be dawning upon the land."

"There is so much history in this town and we want to keep it alive," Regent Carol Menefee of the Daughters of American Pioneers said. "Over the years, so many people have worked to preserve the history of Elizabeth. Pioneer Day helps us to continue to preserve and promote our history."

Sunday there was a Wirt County Civil War encampment, and battle re-enactment held near the intersection of Route 5 and Route 14 in Elizabeth.

Infantry and artillery units opened up their campsites to the public at 9 a.m., where visitors could talk individually with the re-enactors, who could then share even more of their historical knowledge of the Civil War.

Madeline Scarborough can be reached at mscarborough@newsandsentinel.com

Starting at /week.