Editing Ansted, West Virginia (section)

===American Civil War===
[[File:Westlake Cemetery Ansted WVU USA 2017.jpg|thumb|275px|Westlake Cemetery marker on the [[Midland Trail]] in Ansted, West Virginia.]]
During the [[American Civil War]], Fayette County became strategic for both [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] efforts. Nearby [[Gauley Bridge, West Virginia|Gauley Bridge]], a covered bridge carrying the [[James River and Kanawha Turnpike]], was taken and retaken three times in 1861 and 1862;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/2093 |title=e-WV &#124; Gauley Bridge |publisher=Wvencyclopedia.org |date=February 9, 2012 |accessdate=October 24, 2021}}</ref> its spectacular burning was long-remembered in the community. During the winter of 1861–62, the Union Army's [[Chicago Gray Dragoons]] (later, Companies H and I of the [[12th Illinois Cavalry]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lib.niu.edu/1999/ihwt9916.html|title=Captain Barker and the Dragoons from Chicago|website=www.lib.niu.edu|accessdate=October 24, 2021}}</ref> made the Halfway House (Tyree Tavern) in what is now Ansted their headquarters. Confederate General [[Robert E. Lee]] maintained headquarters on nearby [[Sewell Mountain]], where he first met "[[Traveller (horse)|Traveller]]", whom Lee later purchased, becoming his most famous horse.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/288|title=Sewell Mountain|last=Adkins|first=Howard G.|date=October 29, 2010|access-date=May 22, 2023|encyclopedia=e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia}}</ref> The Chicago Dragoons had a strong religious orientation and ties to Chicago's [[Young Men's Christian Association]] (YMCA). Many Union troops felt they were fighting the moral issue of [[slavery]], although many Fayette County citizens had Confederate sympathies and so sent no delegate to the [[Wheeling Convention]]. Nonetheless, the area became part of the new [[West Virginia|State of West Virginia]] when it was formed in 1863. Local lore includes romances between the local girls and the young soldiers from [[Illinois]]. Some couples married, built homes and raised families in the Mountain State after hostilities ended.