Editing Philippi, West Virginia (section)

===Civil War===
{{main|Battle of Philippi (West Virginia)}}
Philippi was the scene of the first land battle of the [[American Civil War]], on June 3, 1861. The battle was promptly lampooned as the "Philippi Races" because of the hurried retreat by the Confederate troops encamped in the town. (The battle is [[American Civil War reenactment|reenacted]] every June during the town's 'Blue and Gray Reunion.')

At daylight on June 3, two columns of Union forces under the command of Col. [[Benjamin Franklin Kelley]] and Col. [[Ebenezer Dumont]], with perhaps 3,000 men, arrived from [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]] and attacked about 800 poorly armed [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] recruits under the command of Col. [[George A. Porterfield]]. The Union troops had marched all night through a heavy rain storm to arrive just before daylight. The surprise attack — from the heights of "Battle Hill" to the northwest — awakened the sleeping Confederates. After firing a few shots at the advancing Union troops, the Southerners broke lines and began running frantically to the south, some still in their bed clothes.

The Union victory in a relatively bloodless battle propelled the young [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[George B. McClellan]] into the national spotlight, and he was soon given command of all Union armies. The battle also inspired more vocal protests in the Western part of Virginia against secession. A few days later in [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling]], the [[Wheeling Convention]] nullified the Virginia ordinance of secession and named [[Francis H. Pierpont]] governor. These events eventually resulted in the separate statehood of West Virginia.

[[File:Bird's Eye Philippi.jpg|thumb|{{center|''Bird's Eye View of Philippi, West Virginia, 1897''}}]]