with Loring, one of them "the daring company of Capt. George F. Sheetz, which was familiar with all that section of the country."
But soon after Jackson's return he was directed by the secretary of war to order Loring's army back to Winchester, which he reluctantly obeyed. In consequence of this withdrawal, Kelley reoccupied Romney, and drove the Confederate outpost from Moorefield, February 12th, while General Lander occupied Bloomery Gap two days later, capturing Col. R. F. Baldwin, Thirty-first regiment, and about 50 others. But this last point was reoccupied by Colonel Ashby on the i6th. General Jackson reported that many houses and mills had been burned in Hampshire county by "the reprobate Federal commanders." On March 3d, Colonel Downey's command of Federal forces occupied Romney. Downey evacuated the place later in the spring, when it was again occupied by the militia of the county. In the summer the town was occupied by the Twenty-second Pennsylvania regiment, and afterward by the Hampshire county militia.
