During the battle, Lee attempted to surround the Union garrison atop Cheat Mountain, but the attack was never launched, due to false information from prisoners and poor communications among the various Confederate commands.

Following his victory at Rich Mountain, McClellan was transferred to command the Army of the Potomac, leaving Brig.

Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds was left in command of the Cheat Mountain district, defending the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike with four regiments totaling 1,800 men.

One regiment, the 14th Indiana commanded by Col. Nathan Kimball, defended Fort Milroy on Cheat Mountain, while the remaining three were at Camp Elkwater near the Tygart Valley River, where Reynolds established his headquarters.

Gen. Daniel Donelson and Col. Jesse S. Burke would seize the paths behind Camp Elkwater across the valley west of Cheat Mountain.

West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments.

Rain, fog, mountainous terrain, and a dense forest limited visibility to minimal distances.

Reynolds was so confident in the face of such timidity that he dispatched two of his own regiments from Elk Water up the mountain road to relieve the supposedly besieged fortress garrison, but the arriving Union reinforcements were unnecessary.

In October, Lee left Cheat Mountain for Sewell Mountain (West Virginia) in the Kanawha River valley with the troops of John B. Floyd and Henry Wise, but he was forced to cancel the offensive operations he had planned because of low supplies and bad weather.