Colonel George Porterfield held this village until General Robert Garnett of the Confederate States Army relieved him of command. In 1861, it became the headquarters of Union generals George McClellan and J. J. Reynolds. Huttonsville was named in 1813 for Jonathan Hutton, its first postmaster. In 1861, students from the local academy joined the Confederate Army, and in July 1861 the first military telegraph to advance with an army in America came here.