intersection of US 219 and US 50). Here he encamped briefly. Next morning, April 26, 1863, Jones sent McNeill's rangers and the 12th Virginia Cavalry to destroy the B&O bridge at Oakland, Maryland, about to the north, while Jones's other forces set out to destroy the two main targets of the campaign: the wood and iron bridge crossing Cheat River and the iron bridge crossing Tray Run. R. E. Lee would say that to destroy the Cheat River Bridge would be "worth to me an army" (Workman, 2006). Preserving "Lincoln's Lifeline" was of equal importance to Federal forces. The bridges crossing Cheat River and Tray Run in Rowlesburg strategic because their destruction would halt rail traffic all the way to the Ohio River. After the initial threat posed by General Garrett's unsuccessful move toward Rowlesburg in 1861, the Rowlesburg garrison had been gradually reduced to about 250 men under the command of Major John Showalter. Early on the morning of April 26, 1863, Jones and his cavalry rode from Red House, Maryland to the foot of Cheat Mountain on the old Northwestern Turnpike, now US 50. Upon reaching the Cheat River, Jones chose another a two-prong maneuver. The east side of covered bridge was about five miles (8 km) south of Rowlesburg, so Jones sent a small dismounted force of fewer than 100 men up and over Palmer's Knob to descend into Rowlesburg. This maneuver shortened the route to Rowlesburg by half. Jones ordered his field officer, Captain Octavius T. Weems of the 11th Virginia Cavalry, to torch the Cheat River railroad bridge "at all hazard." Weems' company K formed on Palmer's Knob, across the river, east of town while church services were underway. Union soldiers and townsmen grabbed their weapons and rushed to take up defensive positions. The Confederates took up attack positions about two-thirds way down the mountain on a "bench" where they formed a line and moved forward. According to an eyewitness account, at around two-thirty, the troopers "came bounding and bellowing down the mountain, yelling like fiends just up from the pit" (Workman, 2006). Concealed behind the railroad embankment and armed with Enfield (Workman, 2006). Union forces tended to us Springfield rifles|date=April 2021}} rifles and muskets, soldiers and townspeople allowed the Raiders to come within "easy rifle range," then opened with devastating fire. According to other accounts, Weems' men also received fire from "sharpshooters" and "townsfolk,"