 On May 13, 1861, Unionist citizens met at Martinsburg, West Virginia (then Virginia) and nominated Kitchen and Christian M. Shaffer to the General Assembly of the Restored Government of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.In a petition dated December 28, 1863, Kitchen and other Unionist citizens of Berkeley County requested that President Abraham Lincoln reinstate General Robert H. Milroy to command of Federal troops in the Shenandoah Valley.Milroy had been reassigned after a delayed retreat and defeat by Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell at the Second Battle of Winchester on June 15, 1863.