Army of West Virginia
The Army of West Virginia was a Union field army in the American Civil War that fought from August 9 to December 19, 1864 as the main force of the Department of West Virginia. It operated mainly in West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley, and it included two future U.S. presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley, both serving with the 23rd Ohio Infantry.
Brigadier General George Crook took command of the Department of West Virginia on July 25, 1864. The field army began as the Army of the Kanawha and was renamed the Army of West Virginia on August 9, 1864. It eventually had three divisions and, for practical purposes, functioned as a corps in Major General Philip Sheridan’s Army of the Shenandoah. It is sometimes called the VIII Corps, but it was not the same as the official Union VIII Corps commanded by Lew Wallace.
Crook led the army through the Shenandoah Valley Campaign, fighting in major battles. The 1st Division was led by Col. Joseph Thoburn until his death at Cedar Creek, after which Col. Thomas M. Harris took command. The 2nd Kanawha Division was led by Col. Isaac H. Duval until he was wounded at Third Winchester; Col. Rutherford B. Hayes then led the division at Cedar Creek. A Provisional Division, commanded by Col. J. Howard Kitching, joined just before Cedar Creek and included about 1,000 soldiers, such as the 6th New York Heavy Artillery. Kitching was severely wounded at Cedar Creek and died the next year; Col. Wilhelm Heine then took command of that division.
When the Valley fighting ended, the Army of West Virginia designation was discontinued on December 19, 1864, though Crook kept command of the Department of West Virginia. Hayes’ division remained in the department, while Thoburn’s (Harris’) and Kitching’s (Heine’s) divisions were sent to the Army of the James.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:42 (CET).