On November 26, 1862, an entire Confederate army camp was captured by 22 men from a Union cavalry during a winter snow storm.

The Confederates, who were the rebels in the American Civil War, had an army camp near the foot of a mountain in Sinking Creek Valley.

The Union cavalry raced into the camp with sabers drawn, and quickly convinced the rebels to surrender in exchange for their lives.

The leaders of the raid, Major William H. Powell and 2nd Lieutenant Jeremiah Davidson, both received promotions shortly afterwards.

[1] The army's commander, Colonel Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn, was replaced by General Jacob Dolson Cox, who reorganized the troops.

[5] The regiment's quarters for the winter was at Camp Piatt, Virginia, about 12 miles (19.3 km) southeast of Charleston on the Kanawha River.

Union troops and supplies were often moved by steamboat up the Kanawha River to Charleston and Camp Piatt.

[9] On November 22, Colonel Paxton received a surprising order from the new division commander, recently promoted Brigadier General George Crook.

On Cold Knob Mountain you will overtake Col. P. H. Lane, commanding the 11th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, ordered to that point to reinforce your command, from which position you will proceed against the camps of the 14th Rebel Virginia Cavalry Regiment, located in the Sinking Creek Valley, some two miles apart in winter quarters, recruiting.

[10] Before the regiment departed, General Crook confidentially told Major William H. Powell not to return to camp without good results.

[11] Paxton's cavalry regiment departed on November 24, traveling over 60 mi (96.6 km) towards Summersville—using less-explored roads to remain concealed.

[14] The following day, the regiment traveled another 20 mi (32.2 km) in very cold weather before searching for a suitable place to make camp.

[13] Paxton's cavalry met with Lane's infantry at a point on Cold Knob Mountain around noon on November 26.

[11] Powell was assigned to lead the advance guard, and selected Lieutenant Jeremiah Davidson and 20 men from Company G to join him.

[11] As the Union cavalry's advance guard rounded a sharp turn, it encountered four rebel scouts, and captured two of them.

They assumed they had encountered a small group of Union home guard, and had no concerns as they returned to a very quiet camp of about 500 men.

[18] Observing that the two rebels returning to camp were not challenged by guards, Powell and his 21 men decided to capture the entire camp—despite the remaining portion of the regiment being too far away to offer immediate support.

[Note 5] A decision was made to avoid shooting if possible—so the second rebel camp, which was located about 2 mi (3.2 km) away, would not be alarmed.

[18] Powell and his men charged down the valley, a distance of about 0.5 mi (0.8 km), to the middle of the rebel cavalry camp.

Some of the rebels tried to accost the Union cavalry by grabbing their legs, but were met with the butt of a Colt revolver or a saber.

[20] A second objective of the mission after "breaking up" the rebel camps was to continue to Covington to rescue a Union sympathizer held by the Confederates.

However, the cavalry was forced to return to its home camp because of the large number of prisoners and captured horses in its possession.

[23] Moving with the prisoners (most of them on captured horses), the cavalry began its return to its home camp at 4:00 pm on November 26.

Soldiers were falling asleep, and the officers' biggest task was simply to keep the group together on a road with 1 foot (0.3 m) of snow.