Frank Moore, ed. Vol. 4. New York: G. P. Putnam, 1863, p. 89
Today was the date appointed by the rebels for convening the court of Berkeley County, at Martinsburgh, Va. At the appointed hour the sheriff under the rebel regime entered the courthouse, and was about to ring the bell, summoning the late confederate judge, John B, Nedenbush, to his seat, when Thomas Noakes, a well-known loyal citizen, seized the sheriff by the arm and emphatically notified him that "no rebel court should hereafter convene in Berkeley County, without passing over his dead body." The sheriff desisted and the rebel court did not meet.
Subsequently by permission and under the direction of Major C. M. Walker, of the Tenth Maine volunteers and Provost-Marshal of the town, three Union magistrates were selected by the loyal citizens and held the court.
Some official business was transacted, court and county officers appointed, and the court adjourned until the next term, without ordering any election, but awaiting the action of the constitutional State authorities in the premises. New York Commercial, April 18.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: April 1862