THIS WEEK IN WV HISTORY: Sep 13–19

Presented by the WV Humanities Council,

Charleston WV – The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history. To read more, go to e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia at www.wvencyclopedia.org.

Sept. 13, 1844: Milton Humphreys was born in Greenbrier County. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Confederate service as a sergeant. At the Battle of Fayetteville, Humphreys fired his cannon at Union artillery from behind an intervening forest, setting a precedent for modern warfare using indirect fire.

Sept. 13, 1848: Attorney J. R. Clifford was born in present Grant County. In 1887, Clifford became the first African American admitted to practice law before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. He was one of the first lawyers in the nation to challenge segregated schools.

Sept. 13, 1948: Rock guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith was born in the Harts Creek area of Lincoln County. He cofounded the band MC5, whose rebellious music became a soundtrack for Detroit’s counterculture in the 1960s. He is a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

Sept. 13, 1862: Confederate and Union forces clashed in Charleston. Southern artillery gained the high ground on Fort Hill and smashed the federals who were lining the west bank of the Elk River.

Sept. 13, 1910: Musician Leon “Chu” Berry was born in Wheeling. He was one of the most highly regarded saxophonists of the Swing Era.

Sept. 14, 1898: Okey L. Patteson was born in Mingo County. Patteson, called the “Great Persuader,” tackled difficult decisions as West Virginia’s 23rd governor from 1949 to 1953.

Sept. 14, 1956: Filmmaker, educator and author Danny Boyd was born in Martinsburg. A longtime professor at West Virginia State University, he is best known for three independent features: Chillers, Strangest Dreams: Invasion of the Space Preachers, and Paradise Park. He died in February 2026.

Sept. 15, 1862:  Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson forced the surrender of a Union garrison at Harpers Ferry prior to the Battle of Antietam. The 12,500 prisoners taken by Jackson was the largest surrender of U.S. Army troops in the Civil War.

Sept. 15, 1875: Henry Hatfield was born near Matewan, Mingo County. As a doctor in the coal camps, he helped secure funding to establish three miners hospitals for the southern part of the state. In 1913, as the state’s 14th governor, he played a pivotal but controversial role in ending the violent Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike.

Sept. 15, 1906: Songwriter Jack Rollins was born in Keyser. Rollins wrote the lyrics to “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” and “Frosty the Snowman,” two of America’s most popular songs.

Sept. 16, 1876: The town of Milton in Cabell County was incorporated and named in honor of Milton Rece, a large landowner at the time.

Sept. 16, 1922: Walter Allen became the only person found guilty of treason in charges related to the Battle of Blair Mountain. He soon skipped bail and was never heard from again.

Sept. 16, 1926: Writer John Knowles was born in Fairmont. He attained literary fame in 1959 with his first novel, A Separate Peace. 

Sept. 16, 1950: Scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was born in Keyser. Gates is one of the leading Black intellectuals in the United States. His books include Colored People: A Memoir, about growing up in Mineral County. He hosts the popular PBS program Finding Your Roots.

Sept. 17, 1848: Artist Lily Irene Jackson was born in Parkersburg. She was best known as a painter of animal portraits and floral arrangements, and as an advocate for the arts.

Sept. 17, 1897: Ruth Ann Musick was born in Missouri. For many decades, she was a professor at Fairmont State College (now University) and West Virginia’s most prolific folklorist. She wrote regular folklore newspaper columns and four major books, including The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales.

Sept. 18, 1947: Historian and journalist Minnie Kendall Lowther died. Born in Ritchie County, she was one of the first women in West Virginia to become a newspaper editor.

Sept. 18, 1989: Playwright Maryat Lee died in Lewisburg. She established Eco Theater in Summers County as an indigenous mountain theater, using local people as actors.

Sept. 19, 1862: The two-day Battle of Shepherdstown opened with an artillery exchange between Union and Confederate troops. Following the Battle of Antietam, it ended Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign and helped convince Abraham Lincoln to issue his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Sept. 19, 1892: William “Bill” Blizzard was born along Cabin Creek, Kanawha County. Blizzard became one of West Virginia’s most influential and controversial labor leaders, playing a key role during the Battle of Blair Mountain and later serving as UMWA District 17 president.

e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council.  For more information contact the West Virginia Humanities Council, 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25301; (304) 346-8500; or visit e-WV at www.wvencyclopedia.org.