September 7, 1863
Capture And Destruction Of A Government Train. - A Bold Dash Of The Guerrillas. - On last Thursday week, the 27th of August, a Government train of twenty eight wagons was captured by rebel guerrillas about six miles from Philippi on the road to Beverly. We have the particulars from Mr. Tieter the delegate from Barbour, who resides within two miles of where the capture took place. The train was going from Webster to Beverly. The wagons, to each of which six horses or mules were attached, contained grain and hay, and provisions. There was no guard with the train. About 9 o'clock in the morning, much to the surprise of the teamsters, twelve armed men suddenly appeared upon the road and ordered the teams to be unhitched one at a time. The teamsters taken entirely by surprise and, being u[n]harmed, obeyed instructions, when the guerrillas ran thirteen of the wagons together and set them on fire. They then started with the horses and mules, about a hundred in number, and passed out in a very hurried manner by Clover Run, and brought up at the house of an old man named Harper, where a notorious rebel scoundrel by the name of Enos Johnson assumed the leadership of the gang, and conducted them through to Pendleton county up the Black Fork of Cheat river.
The rebels had not gone far until they found they had more horses and mules than they could manage, and being in considerable of a hurry they were compelled to leave the most of them upon the road.
The teamsters were taken some fifteen or twenty miles, when they were released. The rebels stole several horses of citizens whom they met on the road. They also captured the mail carrier who happened to be passing while the wagons were being arranged for destruction. The mail carrier threw the pouch into a wagon, and as it happen[e]d that this wagon was not destroyed the mail was afterwards found in a perfectly safe condition.
Mr. Tieter informs us that this gang of guerrillas was composed almost exclusively of men who formerly resided in the vicinity, but are now in the army. They came into the county one by one and are supposed to have been lurking in the woods, and lying in wait for a good chance to make a raid.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: August 1863