June 6, 1863
From Pendleton County.:Mr. Boggs, the member elect from Pendleton county, to the House of Delegates, and Capt. Harper of the Pendleton county Swampers, were in the city yesterday.:They received the poll book in Pendleton only three days before the election, but they held the election nevertheless, and a very respectable vote was polled. The rebels tried to hold an election to vote for the old Virginia candidates, but the Swampers would not allow it. These Swampers deserve everlasting honor for the courageous manner in which they have defended Pendleton county. They have formed a little company of loyal men, and have established themselves in what is almost a wilderness surrounded by Rebels of every description, and they defy the whole Confederate army. All attempts to drive them out of the woods have failed. All sensible rebels are afraid to venture into the neighborhood occupied by the Swampers. Not long ago Imbodem sent a communication down to Pendleton urging the Swampers to join his force in defense of their native State - that it was folly for them to hold out longer as the Confederates intended to occupy the whole state including the Panhandle. The Swampers replied to Imboden that he might retake and repossess the Panhandle, but not Pendleton county:that they intended to fight as long as there was a man able to load and discharge a rifle.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: June 1863