Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood
January 11, 1865

We learn that the late disaster at Beverly was almost as complete as the New Creek affair. The rebels completely surprised the garrison and captured nearly all the force amid the utmost confusion. The garrison was composed of detachments of the 8th Ohio cavalry and the 34th Ohio infantry, numbering about seven hundred men, nearly all of whom were captured. The rebels could not conveniently guard such a great number of prisoners, and perhaps a couple of hundred of them escaped including Lt. Colonels Youat and Furney commanding the two detachments named.?There were no stores of any consequence at this post and the loss in property was slight. The affair is to be thoroughly investigated.

From a civil officer lately arrived from Beverly, who was present on the occasion of the late attack upon that place by the rebel General Rosser, we gather some particulars which have never before been published. The attack was made about three o?clock on Wednesday morning of last week. The garrison was asleep in their winter quarters and there were no pickets out further than three hundred yards from the camp. The rebels charged right into the midst of the sleeping soldiers, and captured one half of the garrison before the other half knew anything about the attack. It is said that the rebels actually went about kicking on the doors of the huts, rudely requesting the ?d?d bine belliee? to get up and take a trip to Richmond. One Lieutenant belonging to the 8th Ohio cavalry rallied a number of men, engaged the rebels and drove them from the bridge, allowing a hundred or so of our confused soldiers to escape. In this fight five men were killed upon each side, and a rebel Colonel named Cashaw who is still at Beverly, was seriously wounded. The rebels, or rather a portion of them, remained in Beverly until the afternoon of Thursday, and their conduct towards the citizens is said to have been most outrageous. They robbed the citizens of money, clothing and valuables of every description, in some instances taking ear rings [sic] out of the ears of the woman, and searching for valuables supposed to be concealed in their hoops. They destroyed the bridge over the Valley river and set fire to the town in several places, but there were among the force a number of soldiers who had formerly resided in Beverly and whose relations own property there, and the fire was extinguished by these men. It is asserted that the rebels had nearly as many prisoners as they had men to guard them. No doubt is entertained but the garrison could have handsomely defeated the attacking party if they had had the slightest intimation of the approach of the enemy.

A telegram from Wheeling, dated on Thursday, says:

We learn the garrison at Beverly, West Virginia, were attacked on the morning of the 11th by a force of the enemy, under General Rosser, and the town and a large portion of the force defending it were captured. The number of the enemy not stated.

A later dispatch confirms the above, but states that the rebels have again retreated whence they came.

Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: January 1865