duties of Mustering Officer, Quartermaster and Commissary. News having reached Washington of the occupation of Grafton, and the burning of a number of bridges on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Colonel B. F. Kelley, commanding the regiment, was ordered to march against them, and to assume control of the railroad. In the mean time the "Woods Guard," of Pittsburg, Pa., arrived at Wheeling, and were mustered into service, under the call for volunteers for three years, forming the nucleus for the Second Virginia Regiment. Colonel Kelley's whole available force left Camp Carlile for the seat of war, on Monday morning, May 26th. Marching orders were received amid a terrific storm of wind, rain, and hail; but every heart was light, and every eye brightened at the prospect of an early engagement. The order to march was given; each company moved quietly from camp to the Ordnance office, where the men were supplied with ammunition, and as day was breaking, the regular tread of infantry was heard marching across the suspension bridge, and through the principal thoroughfares of the city toward the railroad depot. The whole city was wrapped in profound slumber. No drum was beat, not a sound passed the lips of the men; and, as company after company defiled through the streets, it seemed like march ing through the city of the dead. Until they reached the depot, neither officers nor men could form any idea of their destination, so secretly had the movement been kept. Here Colonel Kelley ordered an inspection of arms, and, much to his surprise, found that many of the men had never seen a minie rifle cartridge before, and had loaded their pieces by placing the ball in the muzzle and ramming it down with the charge of powder on top. The charges were carefully withdrawn, and the men instructed how to load and fire. They were indeed citizen-soldiers. Officers and men, with but few exceptions, were ununiformed; and most of the swords the officers had were of a primitive character. The men were well armed with minie muskets, and although some of them were ragged and almost barefooted, in many cases having no tents, and but few blankets, they left cheerfully for the field of action, feeling they were engaged in a holy cause, each one resolved to die, if need be, in defense of that starry flag, which for so many long years had waved o'er them, and which is the pride and glory of every patriot's heart. As the train passed the different railroad stations, the excitement became intense; and at Glover's Gap the Secessionists boldly threatened, that no more trains loaded with soldiers should pass that point. On arriving at Mannington the citizens provided the almost famished men with dinner. Here Colonel Kelley learned that two bridges, east of that point, had been burned, and immediately ordered the arrest and close confinement of several prominent rebels, who had participated in the outrage. Moving rapidly forward to the first burnt bridge, he ordered the erection of a temporary structure, to enable the passage of the train. The men worked with a will. They were anxious to go forward, and each vied with the other in his efforts to perform the duty imposed upon him. Night coming on haversacks were examined, and as there was but little in them, a car was dispatched to Mannington for provisions to replenish the commissariat. Cheerfully its patriotic people responded to the request of the Colonel. The men bivouacked in a meadow, making beds of rails, some of them having no covering save the blue canopy of Heaven; but every star was to them a star of hope. It had been a rainy, blustering day, but in the evening the rain ceased, a cold west wind blew all night, the standing water was covered with ice, and the grass frozen hard. Hardly had the troops lain down, until an order came from Colonel Kelley, directing Company A, of the Second Regiment, to proceed to Glover's Gap, to protect the railroad bridge, which the rebels threatened to burn the next day. They had already cut the telegraph wire, and torn up a portion of the track. In a few moments the men were ready to move, and at two o'clock arrived there, arrested the participators in the outrage, and early in the morning six men were detailed under command of Lieutenant O. R. West, to arrest other parties who were implicated. Among these was one Stephen Roberts, a notorious character, noted for his bullying propensities, who had made bold threats against the few Union men in that locality. Coming suddenly upon him in company with other rebels, he swore he would not, and could not, be taken by all the Federal troops in Western Virginia, leveled his rifle at the Lieutenant, but fortunately it snapped, when he ordered his men to fire, and in a moment Roberts was a corpse. Thus fell the first rebel in Western Virginia. The death of Roberts was the death-knell of their hopes in that locality, for the news spreading rapidly, in less than two days, nearly all the Secessionists came in and voluntarily took the oath. This had been an infected district. A company organized there was ready to join the rebel forces, and would have done so within a few days, but the death of their trusted leader caused them to disband. The day following that upon which the Virginia troops moved from Wheeling, the Fourteenth Ohio Regiment, commanded by Colonel Stedman, arrived at Parkersburg, and proceeded to guard the bridges on the North-western branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which were also threatened to be burned. Colonel I. H. Morrow, commanding the Third Ohio, entered Virginia a few days later at Benwood, and was quickly followed by the Seventh and Ninth Indiana Regiments, under command of Brigadier-General Thomas A. Morris. The temporary bridges were finished, trains were again running regularly, and supplies and troops were rapidly sent forward, while a detachment of men was detailed to guard every bridge. Everything ready, General Morris pushed forward to Grafton, anticipating, from the strength of the rebel position and their numbers, a sharp engagement; but was doomed to disappointment, for on his arrival they had fled. They boasted of their prowess and bravery (although six determined Union men, with levelled rifles, prevented fifteen hundred from tearing down the stars and stripes), but when their scouts brought the information of the approach of the Federal troops, such a stampede took place as has not been witnessed outside of Western Virginia since the commencement of the war. It was a Gilpin race. Alarmed and panic-stricken, many of them threw aside their arms and accoutrements, while the cavalry retreated at the top of |