Attacking Fairmont

Attacking Fairmont. Beverly and Fairmont Turnpike. , (Preface): , 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., (Main Text): , You are standing at the northern end of the Beverly and Fairmont Turnpike. Coming from Morgantown early on the morning of April 29, 1863, Confederate cavalry under the command of Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones attacked Fairmont. Intent on destroying the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge, Jones divided his forces. One detachment on Madison Street fought its way across the suspension bridge, defeated the Union defenders in the town of Palatine (East Fairmont), and rode upriver to the railroad bridge., The main column entered the Beverly and Fairmont Turnpike where you are standing and galloped to present-day 12th Street, where the Confederates blew up the railroad bridge. Jones and his men left that night for Bridgeport after burying their dead and paroling their prisoners., (Sidebar): , The Beverly and Fairmont Turnpike (present-day U.S. Route 250) was a gravel highway completed in 1852. It connected Fairmont with the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike at Beverly. Passing through Grafton, it provided access to the North Western Turnpike as well as the Northwestern Virginia Railroad there. This part of the Beverly and Fairmont Turnpike, now the first five blocks of Benoni Avenue, is much like it was in 1863 when Confederate forces attacked Fairmont. The few houses are gone, but raccoons and deer follow the former buffalo path that was part of the Catawba Indian warpath from New York to the Carolinas. Coal Run empties into the Monongahela River. The locals still call this area Coal Run Hollow. The turnpike route today follows Benoni Avenue, Farms Drive, Beverly Road at 12th Street, Mary Lou Retton Drive in Watson, and U.S. Route 250-south., (Captions):, Gen. William E. Jones , Courtesy West Virginia State Archives, Beverly and Fairmont Turnpike, Fairmont terminus, 1848 , Courtesy Library of Virginia