A series of lively skirmishes between Union and Confederate troops took place here from July 7 through 11, 1861, as both sides struggled for control of the strategic Beverly and Fairmont Turnpike leading to Confederate forces entrenched at Laurel Hill, one mile east. Feints held General Robert Seldon Garnett's Confederate troops in place while General George B. McClellan flanked another detachment at Rich Mountain, sixteen miles south. The Confederate troops were forced to retreat from this area on July 11, 1861. Garnett commanded 4,500 Confederates entrenched at Laurel Hill and was killed later at Corricks Ford on July 13, 1861, becoming the first general killed in the Civil War. General Thomas A. Morris led 4,000 Federal troops from Philippi to Belington in West Virginia, and fighting at Belington involved Ohio and Indiana regiments and a detachment of Georgia troops.