View source for White Top

{{short description|West Virginia place listed on National Register of Historic Places}}
{{for multi|the mountain in Grayson County, Virginia|Whitetop Mountain|the plant|Austrodanthonia caespitosa|the U.S. Presidential transport helicopter|Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk#White Top}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name              = White Top
| other_name        = 
| etymology         = 
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| photo             = Cheat Summit Fort - Earthworks.jpg
| photo_caption     = [[Earthworks (engineering)|Earthworks]] at '''Cheat Summit Fort''' ('''Fort Milroy''')
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| location          = [[Randolph County, West Virginia]]
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| elevation         = 
| elevation_m       = 
| elevation_ft      = 4085
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| parent_peak       =  Cheat Mountain
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| range             = Allegheny Mountains
| coordinates       = {{coord|38|37|28|N|79|52|36|W|display=inline,title}}
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| embedded          = {{Infobox NRHP
| name         = Cheat Summit Fort
| embed        = yes
| nrhp_type    =
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| location     = County Route 250/4, west of FR 233 at White Top, near [[Huttonsville, West Virginia]]
| locmapin     = West Virginia#USA
| built        = 1861
| architecture =
| added        = September 28, 1990
| area         = {{convert|34|acre}}
| refnum       = 90001445<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}}
}}
'''White Top''' is a knob and spur of [[Cheat Mountain]] in southeastern [[Randolph County, West Virginia|Randolph County]], West Virginia, USA.  Sitting at an elevation of {{convert|4085|ft}}, it is located just west of the [[Shavers Fork of Cheat River]] and [[Cheat Bridge, West Virginia|Cheat Bridge]].  While White Top was originally crossed by the [[Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike|Staunton–Parkersburg Turnpike]], modern-day [[U.S. Route 250]] skirts the base of the knob beside Shavers Fork to the north and east.

==Cheat Summit Fort (Fort Milroy)==
{{further|Battle of Cheat Mountain}}
White Top is perhaps best known as the site of the highest [[Union Army|Union]] camp during the [[American Civil War]].  Fort Milroy, also known as Cheat Summit Fort, offered an excellent view of the surrounding area including the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike which crossed about {{convert|100|ft}} below the fort.  In guarding the Turnpike, Fort Milroy helped to guard entrance to the [[Tygart Valley River]] valley to the west.

Construction on Fort Milroy (named for Union [[Brigadier General]] [[Robert H. Milroy]]) began on July 16, 1861.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf/rec/civilwar/cheatsummit.html|title=Cheat Summit Fort|publisher=[[Monongahela National Forest]]|access-date=June 5, 2008}}</ref>  Due to its high elevation, the Union Army faced a number of winter-related miseries.  Snow was first reported for the year on August 13.  Horses froze to death in mid-September.  These issues, along with some success in driving [[Confederate Army|Confederate]] forces from the area led to the abandonment of the fort in April 1862.  One Indiana soldier is quoted as having said this of their departure: "With what a light step all started. Soon on the road turning at the brow of the hill, the fourteenth took what I fondly hope is their last look at Cheat Mountain."

The Cheat Summit Fort site was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1990.<ref name="nris"/>

===Fort Milroy Cemetery===
A cemetery for those who died at Fort Milroy was built just south of the fort.  All bodies were exhumed from the site after the Civil War ended with many being reinterred at [[West Virginia National Cemetery]] in [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]].  Depressions from the graves are still visible today.{{cn|date=August 2016}}<!-- no source supports this statement -->

==Cheat Mountain salamander==
{{main article|Cheat Mountain Salamander}}
White Top is also known as the first location where the [[Cheat Mountain Salamander]] was identified.  This small [[vertebrate]] species was identified in 1935 by [[M. Graham Netting]] and [[Leonard Llewellyn]].<ref>[[Maurice Brooks|Brooks, Maurice]] (1965), ''The Appalachians: The Naturalist's America'', Illustrated by Lois Darling and Lo Brooks, Boston: [[Houghton Mifflin Company]]</ref>  The salamander is found only on [[Cheat Mountain]] and adjacent mountains in the [[West Virginia]] highlands.

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==See also==
*[[Battle of Camp Allegheny]] – Confederate base several miles east on Allegheny Mountain
*[[Whitetop (disambiguation)|Whitetop]]

{{Monongahela National Forest}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia}}
{{Mountains of West Virginia}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia]]
[[Category:Mountains of Randolph County, West Virginia]]
[[Category:Mountains of West Virginia]]
[[Category:Monongahela National Forest]]
[[Category:Allegheny Mountains]]
[[Category:Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia]]
[[Category:Randolph County, West Virginia, in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Randolph County, West Virginia]]
[[Category:American Civil War sites in West Virginia]]