The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-02-22
The Story Of Jones' Raid
THROUGH OAKLAND AND WEST
VIRGINIA DURING THE WAR.
An Interesting Sketch of the Famous
Invasion by One Who Participated.
The Primary Object Was to Render Useless the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the
Transportation of Federal Troops.

= at us, with no chance for our re
vOlvers or even Carbines to inAiCt
( serious loss upon them. Our men
disnOunted and took to the noun
tain sides and opened siege. Now
and then we put through the cracks
and crevices of the log structure a
chance ball that did fatal work.
Several Of the enemy were killed
and wounded. About midnight a
young man named Tom William
son, belonging to the 18th Vir-
ginia Cavalry, volunteered to per
form a feat OF Indian strategy,
which proved a winner The old
westinghouse had a big stone
chimney built OF the outside. In
der cover of darkness Williamson
crawled along the ground until he
reached the chimney and then
climbed it to the top Of the build
ing, when he set the roof on fire.
AS soon as the enemy discovered
their dilemma they ran out the
white flag and gracefully surren-
dered. 1t was no time to be bur
dened with prisoners, so, after pa
rolling them, we rode on, leaving
Our prisoners to warm their hands
by the blazing fire of the burning
church.
The first point at which we
struck the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad was near Oakland, Md,
but, owing to the lack of artillery
! and blasting powder, we were not
able to do serious damage beyond
destroying wooden trestles, build
ing fires on the iron bridges so as
to warp the structures, and cap
turing few engines and freight
trains. We did enough damage at
this place and other points to delay
operation for 4 while and to hold
up the reenforCements for Hooker
for a time, so that probably the
battle of Charlottesville was
fought month later than the orig
inal plan.
! Our next point of attack on the
railroad was at Rowlesburg, where
there is a long bridge over Cheat
river; but the enemy had concen-
trated their troops at that place in
such a number that after feeling
their strength Gen. Jones decided
to withdraw without offering bat
tie. l have always had an I'M
preston that at this juncture Gen.
/ Jones changed his plans. Realiz-
ing that without artillery or facili-
ties for blowing up bridges he was
not able to inflict more damage on
the railroad than had been done,
and not wishing to return without
trophy, concluded to 90 off Oh a
cattle hunt through the enemy 5
territory.
We turned northward and
marched to Kingwood, the county
5eat Of Preston, and from thence to
Morgantown, the capital of Mo-
Mongolia county. We are now
skirting along close to the Penn
! sylvania border and fairly in the
enemy's country. The people of
this section were Unionists, who
looked upon us as invaders. Our
orders were to respect nonCombat-
ants and to protect private proper
ty, except that we were to gather
up all cattle fit for beef and good
horses to carry away with us. lust
before reaching Morgantown the
men constituting the advance
guard browns Maryland Bat
talion) were ambuscaded by bush
whackers. Maj. Browns men
charged up the hillside through
the thick woods and put them to
flight, killing several of them. The
brigade got its first rest at Morgan
town, where a greater part of the
day was spent, and we had our
first opportunity to unsaddle the