October 8, 1862
THE MILITIA.:The commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the 4th and 5th regiments of Militia will parade this afternoon in front of the Court House. The plan which Gen. Wheat has adopted of drafting ten privates out of each company for instruction will go into operation to-day. This is the best, and in fact the only way, in which the whole force can be properly instructed. Those who are not induced to attend drills from a knowledge of the necessity which exists for the movement are drawn into the arrangement from the interesting, novelty which is found in the company musters and parades. Independent of these considerations the able bodied generally are beginning to discover that the fines assessed for non-attendants are no less certain than taxes and death. For these and other reasons, it is confidently expected that in the course of a very few weeks we will have two regiments of militia organized over which no volunteer regiments in the service will have any very superior advantages.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: October 1862