Floyd's Brigade
August 5, 1861
--The Pearisburg Gazette, of the 27th ult., has the following intelligence concerning the movements of this brigade: Some six hundred of Gen. Floyd's Brigade, under the command of Col. Heath, crossed New River at Hobb's Ferry, seven miles below this place, on Sunday morning last. They had started for the Kanawha but received orders in Tazewell to go to Staunton, so they came down East River and up New River to the Ferry. We learn that they camped on Sunday night about midway between Peterstown and the Red Sulphur Springs, and learning there were a good many strong Union men in that neighborhood, determined upon their arrest.--Accordingly, on Monday morning they visited Peterstown to get Colonel Chambers and his son, but, after a diligent search, it was found that the Colonel and his son had business somewhere else. They then proceeded to Doc. Ballard's, but the news reached him before they did, and he took to the mountain. Finding that Ballard (who was a merchant) had escaped, they took possession of his goods, among which they got three or four kegs of powder, and destroyed his books and papers, after which they proceeded to the house of John Ballard, but he, too, had fled. Great excitement prevailed. All the Union men in the neighborhood fled, and they had to give up the search. We learn, but do not know whether true or false, that 200 of the body had been left for the purpose of scouring the country and arresting the Unionists, if possible.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: July 1861