The Confederates won the big battles in 1861 but the Union won most of the smaller ones. In what is today the state of West Virginia the Union was most successful, driving the Confederates out of the soon-to-be state in a series of small battles that would pale in comparison to what was to come. Carnifax Ferry was one such battle.
John Floyd, the former Secretary of War, led his Confederate army across the Gauley River, routed an inexperienced Union force nearby and went into camp near Carnifax Ferry on the farm of Henry Patterson. William Rosecrans was sent with three brigades to drive Floyd out and protect the Kanawha Valley and he found Floyd entrenched on September 10. Rosecrans assaulted Floyd’s lines but was repulsed and the inexperienced Union soldiers actually wound up doing more damage to themselves with friendly fire in a small forest then they did to Floyd’s men. For Floyd he would have to retreat though as Rosecrans had more artillery than he had and had him outnumbered and he did so.
Floyd was never one to take the blame for anything and he put the blame on his co-commander Henry Wise, the former governor of Virginia. The two would never really trust each other and this was a big reason that the state was lost. Even Robert E. Lee could not control the two of them. Floyd was eventually sent west, revealed his cowardice at Fort Donelson and essentially ended his military career.
Compared to the rest of the war this was a tame battle. The Union lost about 160 men and the Confederacy around 30. What remains of the battlefield is preserved as a part of the Carnifax Ferry Battlefield State Park.