Hanging Rocks are perpendicular cliffs rising nearly 300 feet (91 m) above the South Branch Potomac River in Hampshire County in the U.S. state of West Virginia.

[2][6] Immediately below the Monterey and Oriskany (Ridgeley) sandstone lies a layer of cherty limestone known as Lewiston chert-lentil which consists of a conglomeration of brachiopods.

[7] At the western end of the Hanging Rocks formation lies an exposure of fine black to drab shales also containing small concretions and some fossils.

[6] The Hanging Rocks formation lies within a deep and narrow gap in Mill Creek Mountain formed by the South Branch Potomac River.

[1][7] At the time Samuel Kercheval's A History of the Valley of Virginia was written in 1833, a row of Indian graves, possibly belonging to the casualties of the aforementioned battle, existed between the public road and the perpendicular cliffs in the narrow margin of land along the South Branch.

[7] The graves Kercheval cites may have been reinterments of the human bones unearthed during the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line along the base of Hanging Rocks in the 1880s.

[11][15][16] Francis Asbury, one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, passed by Hanging Rocks during his travels in the South Branch Valley, which he described as a country of "mountains and natural curiosities.

[5] The old Romney and Cumberland Pike span at the base of Hanging Rocks was reclassified as West Virginia Secondary Route 28/15 and is currently named Harriott-Wappocomo Road.

On June 19, 1861, Captain John Q. Winfield wrote from his encampment at Hanging Rocks:[5] I am much pleased with our present location, which is in the midst of wealthy and hospitable people.

[2][20] On the evening of September 23, 1861, Colonel McDonald received information that Union forces planned an attempt to pass through the gap at Hanging Rocks early the next morning.

[2][20] Upon learning of this, McDonald and his 26 other men of the Hampshire Militia climbed to the top of Hanging Rocks in the early morning of September 24 in preparation for the arrival of Union troops.

[2] In addition, the shallow nature of the South Branch at Hanging Rocks created a crossing which allowed for a secondary connection of the Romney and Cumberland Pike to the Northwestern Turnpike at Mechanicsburg via Fox Hollow.

[2] Upon taking to the summit, McDonald and his men piled boulders at the precipice of Hanging Rocks' cliffs to hurl at Union troops marching on the pike below.

[2] The Union troops at the base of Hanging Rocks were naturally suspicious of the strategic location and were on high alert as they crossed the ford and made their way onto the pike.

[2] The Confederates responded to the firing by hurling the boulders onto the road below causing the Union cavalry to hastily retreat down the pike and across the ford.

Hedge of the Ringgold Cavalry Company made the following record in his journal about the incident:[21] On the morning of the 24th, we had our first fight of any real importance, at what is called the Hanging Rocks, eight miles from Romney.

Just about daylight we crossed the river, encountered their pickets and drove them back; but to our surprise, their forces were on the rocks overhanging the road, and they opened a heavy fire on us.

The Lieutenant Colonel in command of the column gave no orders whatever; all was confusion; we were afraid to go forward, and could not get back, as our teams had come across the river and blocked the narrow passage between the rocks and the stream.