On Saturday, September 17th, there was a commemoration and preservation of West Virginia’s rich Civil War heritage. The reenactment, while not portraying the blood and gore of the battles that ensued back in the day, still offered the appearance of typical citizens and soldiers. They captured the looks of both Union and Confederate men and women during the era from 1861 to 1865 and the sounds of the battlefield as canons and muskets rang out across the ridge of Calhoun County Park. Not far from the battles were traditionally built camps with the exception of an occasional igloo or yeti cooler. Which I’m relatively sure were not yet invented.
According to the Calhoun County Historical & Genealogical Society. History of Calhoun County. Grantsville: 1990, written by our beloved Calhoun Teacher/Principal Robert Bonar, there was a fierce competition for the location of the Calhoun County courthouse. The county seat was moved four times in two years, but then the Civil War began before matters could be settled. After the war, the courthouse was relocated one last time, to a farm on the Little Kanawha River. The town that grew up around it is Grantsville, named in honor of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
The naming of the county seat for the Northern general represented the triumph of a new political faction since the naming of the county for John C. Calhoun, himself a strong proponent of the Southern, states-rights philosophy. Occupying a border county in a border state, Calhoun County residents were divided in their allegiances during the Civil War. They suffered greatly during the wartime chaos. County government ceased to function and citizens lived in confusion and fear. Calhoun’s Moccasin Rangers, a notorious Confederate guerrilla band, controlled much of west-central West Virginia in 1861 and 1862.
There are some notable variances and similarities of those Civil War Days. The County Seat has long been established and settled with only an occasional conversation regarding the matter. The north may have gotten the county seat, but the southern end’s influence won out on the naming of the County. That seems like a fair trade, but it was our ancestors who had investments in the battle, not us personally.
That investment was their lives. It was a land worth fighting for. It still is.
More history from Mr. Bonar tells us that The post-war years were marked by slow, steady growth. Timbering became an important economic activity as numerous rafts of logs were floated down the Little Kanawha to Parkersburg. Beginning in the late 1800s, Calhoun County became a major oil and gas producer, with a resulting increase in employment and population. One of the most prominent early entrepreneurs was Godfrey L. Cabot, who built the world’s largest carbon black factory near Grantsville in 1901 and who founded Cabot Gas.
According to MineralAnswers.com, Oil and gas production has grown considerably in Calhoun County, which ranks #29 in the state for BOE produced in the most recent month (Dec 2018). The information below is the summary of oil and gas data that goes back to 1985 on the 3,505 wells that have been drilled from Jan 1985 to Dec 2018.
In the absence of railroads and all-weather roads, the river was used to ship merchandise and supplies in and out of the county. At the turn of the century, an important development in river transportations was made by a Calhoun resident, Capt. Norman Williams. His narrow, shallow-draft, gasoline-powered sternwheelers made navigation possible on the upper reaches of the Little Kanawha and its tributaries. Everything from people to mail to oil field equipment traveled on these boats and their barges.
Navigation in Calhoun County is now most often done by the click of mouse or a finger scroll of the screen. We no longer rely on the Little Kanawha River for transport, but it’s not to say that the potential is not there for the tourist industry.
Calhoun Countians have made contributions in various fields. Probably the most prominent native son is the former Congressman, Robert H. Mollohan. Nourished by the rich traditions of their isolated area, Calhoun Countians including Phoeba Parsons and Noah Cottrell contributed to West Virginia’s 20th-century folk music revival.
Another unrecognized resource of Calhoun County is the continued growth of music through Phoeba and Noah’s grandchildren, Rick Falls, Patty Cottrell (Wife of Melvin) who operates Bearfork Bluegrass as well as others in the community such as the Jones Family, Alice’s Attic and the Grantsville Conservatory of Music and many others too numerous to mention who have kept folk music alive and well.
Calhoun County’s recovery from the Great Depression was slow, and the county suffered from the same out-migration that affected most of the state after World War II. The number of Calhoun Countians peaked at 12,455 in 1940 and declined thereafter. The county’s economy in the late 20th century was based on livestock grazing, light manufacturing, and the oil and gas and pipeline construction industries. Reforestation has led to a resurgence of timbering and has made the county ideal for hunting and fishing.
There has been much conversation regarding the current ”division in the County.” Who’s to blame? Is it merely political? What is it’s purpose? Another question could be, ”What can we learn from History? And must history always repeat itself? If we can learn anything from history, its that the citizens of Calhoun County are resilient. They love the land and their families and are committed to both. The Great Depression may be decades in the past, but a great depression is very much in existence with attitude toward overcoming the current business climate in Calhoun County. After years of decline, (out-migration) it’s hard to find hope that it can turn around.
But it can! Calhoun is filled with potential in the same industries that allowed it to flourish before. Perhaps not in the same manner but the Little Kanawha River can spring hope through the tourist industry, oil and gas, fossil fuels are not the enemy of the nation as they’d like us to believe, and we may still not have highway access but we have internet access and we can have progress again.
CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT PHOTO ALBUM, SCROLL LEFT AND RIGHT
