In the twilight of July 13, 1863, flames from the New Baltimore bridge lit the northwest sky as slow-moving columns of dusty cavalrymen approached Bevis crossroads from the shadows and Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan's Raiders quietly secured their first rendezvous point in Ohio. The main column of 1,500 men arrived around 7:30 pm after passing through Schwing's Corner (Barnesburg). Later, a detachment of 500 joined them after fighting off Union home guardsmen defending the Miamitown Covered Bridge. With thousands of Union troops in pursuit, Morgan ordered his men to keep moving eastward without torches, noise, or rest. When horses collapsed, replacements were taken from civilians. According to Lieutenant Kelion Franklin Peddicord, a Confederate scout from the 14th Kentucky Cavalry, it was the darkest of nights, the troops were almost exhausted for want of sleep, many wandered onto side roads while asleep despite officers riding back and forth to keep them awake, and both men and horses sometimes nodded together until the horses staggered like those intoxicated. In 1863 the area was an open field owned by Martin Bevis that served as a camp meeting ground for Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky Methodist congregations. From May to August 1861, it was also the site of Camp Colerain, a temporary rendezvous for Union army recruits, including Colonel Augustus Moor's 28th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, seven companies of Colonel John Groesbeck's 39th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and Major Edward F. Noyes, who would serve as Ohio's governor in 1872.