Major General George Stoneman Led the Last American Civil War Cavalry Raid

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While in Salisbury, Stoneman sent out a detachment to capture the vital railroad bridge over the Yadkin, six miles above town. The 10-year-old bridge, the longest span of the North Carolina Railroad, was considered vital to the collapsing Confederacy. Beauregard had sent one-armed Brig. Gen. Zebulon York, a Louisianian, with about 1,000 men to defend it at all costs. These men provided the Confederacy with one of its last successes of the war.

As the Federal detachment approached the bridge, resistance erupted. The Confederates were entrenched on the high bluffs across the river, laying down heavy fire to prevent a crossing. One boy who was there watched as the Confederate guns mowed down trees and held the Federals at bay. The Union troops brought up captured artillery from Salisbury to shell the Rebels, but to no avail. By nightfall of April 12, the Federals returned to Salisbury with ‘no wild cheers [and] no war whoops of victory.’

Regardless of their failure at the Yadkin bridge, Stoneman’s troops did manage to destroy a considerable amount of railroad track around Salisbury. The damage ensured that the flight of the Rebel government would have to depend not upon trains, but rather upon horses. On the night of April 15, Jefferson Davis rode past Salisbury on his way to Charlotte–in a carriage.

Moving as quickly as ever, the cavalry division, minus Palmer’s brigade, left Salisbury at 3 p.m. on April 13, en route to Statesville. (Palmer had been sent to destroy railroad track in the direction of Charlotte.) By nightfall, the advance guard entered the town, firing as they went. Statesville was only occupied for a few hours by the Federals, long enough to destroy some government stores and the railroad depot. The office of the Iredell Express, ‘a paper which was obnoxious from the warmth with which it had advocated the cause of the Confederacy,’ was also burned.

The Federals soon left, headed west. Statesville, however, had not seen the last of the Union foe. After midnight on April 14, Palmer’s men arrived, fresh from their successful raid toward Charlotte and the South Carolina border. The brigade remained in Statesville until April 17, skirmishing with local bands of defenders.

Palmer was then ordered to watch the line of the Catawba to help prevent the Confederates from using the ridges and valleys in the area for guerrilla warfare. Moving to the town of Lincolnton, the Federals captured a large trunk of valuables, including $2,000 in gold. Upon discovering that the trunk belonged to Mrs. Zebulon Vance, wife of the governor of North Carolina, Palmer collected ‘every article and every cent’ and returned the trunk to her with his compliments.

Rumors were flying about the end of the war. On April 19, Palmer was notified by three Confederate soldiers of the armistice between Sherman and Johnston. Stoneman and the main body reached the village of Taylorsville, N.C., on April 14 and were greeted with news of Lee’s surrender. Regardless, the Federals continued moving west.

On Easter Sunday, Stoneman’s men reached the town of Lenoir. Gillem had called Lenoir a ‘rebellious little hole,’ sentencing it to receive its full share of punishment. Stoneman’s presence, however, prevented the troops from excessive mischief. The flying reports of the war’s end prompted Stoneman to judge that his mission was complete. As a result, Stoneman left the division for east Tennessee on April 16, along with a guard detachment and about 900 Confederate prisoners. The prisoners themselves–mostly hungry and exhausted old men and young boys–had a tough trip ahead of them. Stoneman directed Gillem to take the 2nd and 3rd brigades and move toward Asheville, aiming at the mountain passes in the area. Gillem, already known to North Carolinians as’supercilious, insulting, and unfeeling’ because of the destruction he had brought, eagerly complied.

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Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts

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