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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
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The West Virginia Encyclopedia
Camp Piatt was one of many U.S. military camps situated in West Virginia during the Civil War. The camp was located in Belle, at Malones Landing about 15 miles south of Charleston. The camp was strategically situated on the Kanawha River, where it served as a major hub for the steamboats which carried soldiers as well as supplies for the Union cause.
The camp was named after Col. Abraham Piatt, commander of the 34th Ohio Regiment Zouaves. Rebel sympathizers in the Kanawha Valley detested the soldiers of the 34th Ohio, who would sometimes loot and burn property of known Confederate backers in the area. Another regiment, the 23rd Ohio, was stationed at Camp Piatt in 1863. In this regiment were two future U.S. presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes, who led the regiment, and William McKinley, who was commissioned a second lieutenant in his time at the camp. Hayes was fond of Camp Piatt and the surrounding area. ‘‘This is a beautiful valley from Camp Piatt down. Make West Virginia a free state, and Charleston ought to be a sort of Pittsburgh,’’ he wrote.
Written by Scott M. Kozelnik
Belle Woman Club. Bicentennial Belle, West Virginia: 1776-1976. Belle: 1976.
Rice, Otis K. Charleston and the Kanawha Valley: An Illustrated History. Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Pub., 1981.