Battle of Philippi

…the battle is called the Philippi Races because of the speed with which the Confederate forces under Colonel George A. Porterfield retreated. A marker at the site on Broaddus Hill, now on the campus of Alderson-Broaddus College, describes it as the “First Land Battle between North and South.”

…skirmishing with Confederate troops at Philippi on June 3, 1861. Bailey Thornsbury Brown, reputedly the first Union soldier to be killed in the war, was shot in Grafton a short time earlier (May 22) by Confederate sentries; he is buried at the Grafton National Cemetery.