The Coal River Valley in the Civil War

A “compelling” account of the little-known bloody skirmishes that took place in this picturesque part of West Virginia ( Civil War Monitor ). The three rivers that make up the Coal River Valley—Big, Little and Coal—were named by explorer John Peter Salling (or Salley) for the coal deposits found along their banks. More than one hundred years later, the picturesque valley that would separate from Virginia a short time later was witness to a multitude of bloody skirmishes between Confederate and U