Morgantown

Morgantown. Westover Bridge. , On April 20, 1863, Confederate Gens. William E. “Grumble” Jones and John D. Imboden began a raid from Virginia through present-day West Virginia on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Taking separate routes, they later reported that they marched 1,100 miles, fought several engagements, captured 700 Federals, seized about 1,200 horses and 4,000 cattle, and burned 4 turnpike bridges, more than 20 railroad bridges, 2 trains, and 150,000 barrels of oil. Most bridges were soon repaired. Confederate losses were slight. By May 26, both commands had returned to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley., On April 27, 1863, Confederate Gen. William E. “Grumble” Jones and his cavalry occupied Morgantown, a Unionist stronghold. Alerted that the Confederates were approaching, the towns people concealed most of their livestock and personal belongings. Waitman T. Willey, a United States senator in the Restored Government of Virginia, fled Morgantown for Pennsylvania. The president of the local bank removed all of the cash and also went to Pennsylvania. The Confederate cavalrymen seized the few horses that were not well hidden, as well as all of the shoes, boots, and hats that they could find in the Morgantown stores., Confederate Pvt. William L. Wilson, 12th Virginia Cavalry, wrote in his diary, “This is the meanest Union hole we have been in.” (In 1882, Wilson became president of West Virginia University.), The Confederates quickly rode out of Morgantown, but to the surprise of the residents, they returned the next day and seized more than 40 horses. The raiders then crossed the suspension bridge to Westover and marched on to Fairmont to destroy the railroad bridge there., [Sidebar:] , On April 27, 1863, on the Kingwood Pike, Jones’s column was fired on as it approached Morgantown. The Confederates soon captured three civilians who claimed they were merely hunting. Jones’s men accused them of bushwhacking. The men, Lloyd Beall, Andrew Johnson, and Albert Robey, were lined up and shot. Robey faked death and escaped after the Confederates rode away. Beall and Johnson are buried in local cemeteries. Their headstones give April 27, 1863, as the date of death and bear the inscription “killed by Confederate Raiders.”