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Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood
April 12, 1862


Official Records of the War of the Rebellion
Series 1, Volume 12, Part 1, p. 423

APRIL 12, 1862.:Raid from Fairmont to Valley River and Boothsville, Marion County, W. Va.

REPORTS.

Report of Brig. Gen. Benjamin F. Kelley, U. S. Army.

HEADQUARTERS RAILROAD DISTRICT,
Wheeling, Va., April 12, 1862.

COLONEL: In my order addressed to Captain Showalter I directed him to kill or capture the fol1owing-named persons, who were refugees, sent out to raise companies by John Letcher in the western counties of Virginia, viz: John Righter, John Anderson, David Barker, Brice Welsh, John Lewis, John Knight, and Washington Smith.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

B. F. KELLEY,
Brigadier- General.

Col. ALBERT TRACY, Assistant Adjutant-General.

Report of Capt. John H. Showalter, Sixth West Virginia Infantry.

FAIRMONT, MARION COUNTY, VIRGINIA,
April 12, 1862.

SIR: In pursuance with the inclosed[sic] order I proceeded with a part of my command in search of the parties named in the order.

Barker was killed by my men on the Valley River, near the railroad. My men were in three squads; they were commanded by one captain, two sergeants, and two corporals. They also killed Ashcraft. Barker made a prisoner of one of my men, who was sick at his home, and took him to Ashcraft's house. They also killed one Kaufman, who belonged to Righter's gang.

These men all belonged to Righter's company. My men were piloted and assisted by the Boothsville Home Guards. The Home Guards killed a man in Boothsville whom I know nothing of.

J. H. SHOWALTER,
Company A, Sixth Virginia Infantry.

Brig. Gen. B. F. KELLEY


Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: April 1862

West Virginia Archives and History