Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park

HC 64 Box 189
Hillsboro, WV 24946
Phone: (304) 653-4254

Droop Mountain Battlefield History

Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park is located in the Greenbrier River Valley north of Lewisburg and is the site of West Virginia's last significant Civil War battle.

On November 6, 1863, the federal army of Brigadier General William W. Averell, in his second attempt to disrupt the Virginia-Tennessee Railroad at Salem, Virginia, faced again the Confederate troops of Brigadier General John Echols.

Throughout the morning, Echols' smaller confederate army held the high ground and blocked the highway with artillery, but in the afternoon was overwhelmed by the crushing advance of federal infantry on his left flank. Following the collapse of his lines, General Echols retreated south into Virginia with the remnants of his command.

Federal Troops occupied Lewisburg on November 7, but being burdened with prisoners and captured livestock, General Averell elected to return to his headquarters in Beverly, West Virginia, waiting until early December to lead a third and ultimately successful attack on the vital railroad. Operations in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1864 drew remaining confederate troops out of western Virginia, thus leaving the new state securely under the control of the federal government for the remainder of the war.

In the 1930’s, The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Museum, Lookout Tower & other buildings.

Online at: www.droopmountainbattlefield.com