Early on May 5, 1863, six companies of the 2nd WV Infantry under Col. George Latham arrived in West Union to protect area railroad bridges during the Jones-Imboden raid. Two regiments of Confederate cavalry advanced to the town, where they were opposed by Union troops and local home guards. The Confederates destroyed two bridges at Smithton before proceeding to Harrisville. West Union had originally been part of a large 1787 land patent, and by 1804 the town was settled as Middle Island. Nathan Davis founded it in 1845 as the county seat of Doddridge, and it was incorporated in 1850. Across the creek was Lewisport, also called Blockhouse Hill, named for Lewis Maxwell, founded by Ephraim Bee in 1828, and annexed to West Union in 1869. A covered bridge built there before 1843 was lost in the 1950 flood.