Barbour County was formed from Harrison, Lewis, and Randolph in 1843 and was named for the distinguished Virginia jurist Philip Pendleton Barbour; it was the scene of opening hostilities on land between the armies of the North and South in 1861. Randolph County was formed from Harrison in 1787 and named for Edmund Jennings Randolph, a Virginia statesman and soldier; the largest county in the state, it saw federal dominance of the Tygarts Valley in the War between the states largely determine control of W. Va.