June 29, 1861
SKIRMISH AT PATTERSON'S CREEK. - The news of a skirmish between a detachment of Col. Wallace's Zouaves and a number of secessionists on Wednesday last, near Cumberland, noticed elsewhere by telegraph, is confirmed by a gentleman from the scene of the fight. The Zouaves, under Corporal Hayes, who was a companion of the noted Kit Carson, were out scouting on Dan's Run, not far from Patterson's Creek station, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, when they came upon a party of some twenty rebels, and a fight immediately ensued, with murderous effect upon the rebels. The Zouaves numbered only twenty, and the enemy being reinforced shortly after the commencement of the fight by about forty men, Corporal Hayes ordered a retreat which he did in good order, firing at the same time with such good effect that they were not pursued. Not less than seventeen rebels were killed. The Zouaves lost one man. Corporal Hayes received two wounds, neither of which are considered dangerous. The gentleman who brings the information says he saw him spring out of a hand-car when he arrived at Cumberland, without assistance, remarking gaily as he did so that he was worth half a dozen dead men yet.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: June 1861