"The Cheat River" is an American reel in D Major. The parts are played AB. The Cheat River runs from West Virginia, flowing into the Monongahela in Point Marion, Pa., close to the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border. The Battle of Cheat Mountain, also known as the Battle of Cheat Summit Fort, took place from September 12 to 15, 1861, in Pocahontas County and Randolph County, Virginia (now West Virginia) as part of the Western Virginia Campaign during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of the Civil War in which Robert E. Lee led troops into combat. The battle had little effect on either the campaign or the war; both forces after the battle were in positions similar to their positions before the battle. This tune is not related to "Three Forks of Cheat". Bayard (1981) notes that this tune in a composite from international strains: the 'A' part being the same as the 'A' of "O'Dwyer's Reel" and the 'B' part corresponding to the 'A' parts of the German "Erster Schottisch" and the English "Nancy's Fancy". Both this tune and "O'Dwyer's Reel" are related to "Soldier's Joy" and "Come Dance and Sing". It was collected from Charles Berkey in Somerset County, Pa. in 1957 by Samuel Bayard. It was printed in Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981).