Life in Beverly changed after the Union victory at Rich Mountain on July 11, 1861. Many Southern sympathizers fled south, and townspeople who remained resented the hardships of Union occupation, including restricted travel, soldiers boarded in homes, and property seized by the troops. Despite these conditions, Laura Jackson Arnold, Stonewall Jackson's Unionist sister, cared for sick and wounded soldiers of both armies. Because of the strategic importance of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, Federal troops largely maintained control of the crossroads at Beverly, but Confederate forces challenged Union possession in four significant raids, of which only the first and last succeeded. In the Jones-Imboden Raid on April 24, 1863, Gen. John Imboden's cavalry drove out Union Col. George Latham's garrison and occupied Beverly for five days. In Col. William L. Jackson's Raid on July 2, 1863, Jackson tried to take the town from Union forces under Col. Thomas Harris but was repulsed at Mt. Iser. In Capt. Hannibal Hill's Raid on October 29, 1864, Hill's 62nd Virginia Mounted Infantry struck before dawn, but Union troops were already in line for roll call and drove off his force in a fierce engagement. In Gen. Thomas L. Rosser's Raid on January 11, 1865, Rosser came from Staunton, Virginia, through winter snow and ice and seized horses, rations, arms, and hundreds of Union prisoners.