As Union soldiers entered Philippi, Virginia troops poured out of the town's streets, alleys, and buildings, some getting dressed as they ran, and soon streamed past this location in flight toward Beverly. Northern journalists called the mass exodus the "Philippi Races." Union troops, worn out by their marches to Philippi, did not pursue Porterfield's men. Compared to later battles in the Civil War, Philippi was a skirmish, and casualties were light: four Union soldiers and 26 Confederates. The fight nevertheless had significance. Coming only days before the Second Wheeling Convention, the Union victory helped ensure that body's nullification of the Order of Secession, which led to West Virginia statehood in 1863. Federal troops remained to occupy the town, and by the end of June 1861 about 4,000 Union troops were here. Within two years, armed men again charged through Philippi during the 1863 Jones-Imboden raid. Union Col. Benjamin Kelley was shot early in the fight and was widely reported dead, but he survived and would end the war a general.