March 1
An Attempt to Again Destroy Patterson's Creek Bridge:On Wednesday night, a party of rebels, supposed to be under the lead of the notorious Sheets, came out of their hiding place in the mountains, and made a desperate effort to again destroy the Patterson's Creek bridge. They set fire to it, but the timbers being still green, refused to burn. They then undertook to tear the bridge down and render it impassable, but [it] was a job which they did not consider i[t] safe to stay long enough to accomplish. The bridge was badly damaged, but was soon put in repair. If this Sheets could be caught and quartered it would be a splendid thing for the country in which he luxuriates. Gen. [?] army is now at Paw Paw and vicinity. There are also troops at Old Town and at Cumberland, and considerable numbers of our men left Patterson's Creek a few hours before the attempt to destroy the bridge, and yet the rebels have had the audacity to make this foray almost in their very faces. Our troops have scoured the whole county in search of this Sheets and his cavalry company, but he has a wonderful facility of deposing[?] of himself as always to be just where they ain't, no matter where that is. A sufficient force has been sent to the bridge to ensure its safety.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: February 1862