Bridgeport

Bridgeport. A Target of the Raid. (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 against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Taking separate routes, they later reported that they marched 1,100 miles, fought several engagements, captured 100 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. , During the Jones-Imboden Raid of April 1863, Confederate Gen. William E. “Grumble” Jones moved toward Clarksburg from the north after attacking Fairmount while Gen John D. Imboden approached the town from the east. When Jones approached Clarksburg, he found that the Union forces had erected strong fortifications around the town. After determining that the garrison was too strong to attack, Jones’s cavalrymen raided the surrounding area, seizing a large number of horses and cattle that were sent back to the Shenandoah Valley. On April 30, a detachment of the 1st Maryland Cavalry Battalion (CSA) under Capt. Frank A. Bond, who was later wounded and captured during the retreat from Gettysburg, attacked Bridgeport. Lt Timothy Blaine, Co. E, 3rd West Virginia Cavalry (US), with 85 cavalrymen and 20 civilians from Clarksburg attacked Jones’s men at the West Fork River Ford seven miles north of here. The Confederates drove through to Bridgeport and captured 47 Federal soldiers with their arms and a few horses, then burned a railroad bridge and tore up track. A boxcar full of government carpenters’ tools was also burned, and a locomotive was run off the tracks and into Simpson Creek where the Federals had burned the bridge to deny its use to the Confederates. The Union soldiers were paroled and Jones’s Confederate raiders moved on to Philippi.