During the Civil War, Suttonville’s position on the Weston and Gauley Bridge Turnpike made it strategically important for moving men and supplies through central West Virginia, and both Union and Confederate forces repeatedly occupied or passed through the community. In the summer of 1861, Union Gen. William S. Rosecrans camped there with a 10,000-man army, the largest force ever to bivouac in Suttonville or march through the region, before leaving on September 7, 1861, shortly before the Battle of Carnifex Ferry. During the Confederate raid against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad that began on April 20, 1863, and ended by May 26, Confederate Gen. John D. Imboden separated from Gen. William E. Jones at Buckhannon on May 6 and moved toward Summerville. Delayed by bad weather and muddy roads, Imboden reached Suttonville on May 12 with Col. William L. “Mudwall” Jackson and his second-in-command. Federal forces had maintained blockhouses and entrenchments at Bulltown, Suttonville, and Big Birch and had destroyed stores laid in for the summer campaign, but the small garrison at Suttonville had just evacuated. Imboden destroyed the quarters and blockhouses there and then continued on to Summersville the next day, after which Union troops soon reoccupied Suttonville. Local tradition later held that Phoebe Hefner, angered after being prevented from returning to her sister Elizabeth, who died of typhoid fever, gave Jackson information on the soldiers’ strength and positions that helped make Suttonville’s capture easy.