 Gens.William E. Jones and John D. Imboden, was aimed at disrupting traffic on the vital Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and reasserting Confederate authority in transmountain Virginia in an effort to derail the growing statehood movement in the region, since voters had in March approved a new Constitution and statehood only awaited Congressional and Presidential approval.Raiders claimed success from a military vantage, since they severely damaged several railroad bridges (though not the two most critical), as well as an oil field and other critical Union resources.