Alderson's Ferry crossed the Greenbrier River at this point and was named for Elder John Alderson, who received the original charter from the Virginia Legislature in 1786. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate forces used the ferry to carry men and supplies across the river, making it an important crossing that each side tried to control or deny to the enemy. On June 22, 1862, 1,600 Federal troops were ferried across here on an expedition into Monroe County. On July 12, 1862, Union Capt. William B. Harrison, leading two cavalry companies from Col. George Crook's brigade, fought Confederate cavalrymen here, killing or wounding seven and capturing about a dozen horses. Gen. Rutherford B. Hayes later crossed his brigade over the river into Greenbrier County just upstream on May 18, 1864, a movement that took twenty-four hours for the entire brigade. Hayes's brigade belonged to Gen. George Crook's Army of the Kanawha, which camped here in May 1864. Dr. Thomas G. Clay, who operated the ferry, was briefly taken into custody without Crook's knowledge, but when Crook learned of it he ordered Clay's immediate release and directed that his property not be molested.