Less than a mile from this site, a small but important Civil War fight centered on control of the B&O Railroad at Rowlesburg. On April 26, 1863, 1500 Confederates under General W.E. Jones attacked the town and tried to destroy the two key bridges crossing Cheat Valley, whose loss might have cut the link between the Army of the Potomac and volunteers from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois for perhaps the duration of the war. The bridges had long been recognized as strategically vital, with Robert E. Lee saying that destroying the Cheat River Bridge would be worth an army, while Federal forces viewed preserving "Lincoln's Lifeline" as equally important. After an earlier unsuccessful Confederate move toward Rowlesburg in 1861, Federal commanders had reinforced the town, though by the time of the attack its garrison had been reduced to about 300 men under Major John Showalter. Jones, leading the northern prong of the Jones-Imboden Raid, advanced from Red House, Maryland, after defeating a Union garrison at Greenleaf Gap the previous day. He planned a two-part attack: a small dismounted force of fewer than 100 men would cross over Palmer's Knob and descend into Rowlesburg to burn the railroad bridge in town, while the main force moved east to Macomber and sent Colonel Green along the River Road to drive in pickets and attack the outer defenses. At two o'clock, fighting began along the River Road as Green's men pushed back Union pickets, but near a log barricade just beyond The Cliffs they were stopped by Union riflemen under Lieutenant McDonald. Green's mounted men could not break through, and repeated attacks by dismounted troops armed with carbines also failed under heavy fire from rifle pits. Another flanking effort higher on the mountainside was likewise repulsed after Lieutenant Hathaway's Company K, said in one source to consist mainly of about 20 citizens, strengthened the line. Fighting continued at intervals from 3 p.m. until dark in a desperate contest of endurance, and even when Jones personally directed the final assault, the narrow passage and steep hillside left his cavalry unable to overcome the defenders. He then ordered Green to hold until dusk and withdraw, concluding that renewing the attack without surprise was impossible on such ground. Rowlesburg, singled out for destruction by both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, was the only principal target of the raid in western Virginia to withstand the Confederate attack and emerge unscathed, preserving "Lincoln's Lifeline."