By early 1865 George Stoneman’s military record in the Civil War had largely consisted of a series of failures. His cavalry raid during the Chancellorsville Campaign was heavily criticized by his commanding officer General Joe Hooker, perhaps overly so given that Hooker was looking for a scapegoat for his own abysmal performance. During General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign Stoneman was captured during a cavalry raid south of Atlanta while trying to free prisoners at Andersonville and achieved the notorious distinction of becoming the highest-ranking Union prisoner of war. After Stoneman was exchanged and released Grant and Secretary of War Stanton wanted him relieved of duty. Major General John Schofield intervened on Stoneman’s behalf and persuaded them to reverse the order.

Now Stoneman would be leading a raid into northwestern North Carolina and southwestern Virginia to destroy railroads and bridges including the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad, the North Carolina Railroad, and the Danville-Greensboro Railroad. The raid was delayed for several months due to a variety of logistical and weather-related issues. Stoneman finally set out from just outside of Knoxville at Mossy Creek, Tennessee, on March 22, 1865. His second in command would be Brigadier General Alvan C. Gillam a West Pointer from Tennessee. They would command about 4,000 men divided into three brigades: Colonel William J. Palmer’s First Brigade (10th MI, 12th OH, and 15th PA cavalry); Colonel Simeon B. Brown’s Second Division (11th and 12th KY, and 11th MI cavalry); and Colonel John K. Miller’s Third Brigade (8th and 13th TN cavalry), and a 4-gun TN battery commanded by Lieutenant James Reagan. Stoneman would bring along one wagon and 10 ambulances. On March 23rd they were in Morristown where each man was issued five days rations, one day’s forage for their horse, four horseshoes and their nails, and 63 rounds of ammunition. On March 24th at Bulls Gap, Stoneman divided his forces and sent his all-Tennessee 3rd Brigade northeast toward Bristol on a feint to raise havoc and force the rebels to defend an area the Federals had no plans to invade. Meanwhile, Stoneman and Gillem led the 1st and 2nd Brigades (units from Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) eastward past Greeneville and Jonesborough. At Doe River Cove (modern-day Hampton) they reunited with the 3rd Brigade and followed the Watauga River into North Carolina along what is modern day route 321 to Watauga County, N.C.

They entered North Carolina on March 28th. At 10:00 AM they neared Boone when they learned from locals that the Confederate Home Guard was assembled at the courthouse. Major Myles Keogh led a detachment from the 12th KY up the old Wilderness Trail (now modern-day route 321 and King Street) and they arrived in Boone about 11 AM. The Home Guard had organized to prevent an attack by a small group of Home Yankees. About 100 men were conducting drills when the Yankees first appeared. A solitary gunshot rang out from the Home Guard and the Yankees to charge down what is now King Street. Stoneman reported 9 killed, captured 62, plundered several homes and burned the jail.

Stoneman dispatched Gillem and Brown’s 2nd Brigade south through Blowing Rock and over the Blue Ridge to raid the Patterson Mill north of Lenoir. Miller’s 3rd Brigade followed them later in the day.

At 9:00 PM on the 28th Gillem would reach Patterson’s Factory, a cotton mill, where they found a supply of corn and bacon. They moved on to Wilkesboro the next day leaving a rear guard to destroy the factory. The Patterson Factory marker shown below is completely unreadable, the link shows an older clearer view of the marker.

Text excerpted from marker- Union General George Stoneman’s raiders destroyed Samuel F. Patterson’s cotton mill or “factory,” which stood by the river half a mile to your left on March 30, 1865. General Alvan C. Gillem, Stoneman’s second in command, led two brigades of the Federal cavalrymen here into Caldwell County, and ordered the mill burned because it was a source of material for uniforms and other goods that aided the Confederate war effort. The Federal columns then rode on to Wilkesboro. Gillem later wrote in his report on the raid, “The order was executed.” This was the only major damage inflicted in the county by the raiders.

Stoneman took the direct route to Wilkesboro, 50 miles away on the Yadkin River, through Deep Gap where he would resupply and obtain additional mounts. He would rejoin Gillam there.

Late on the afternoon of the 29th the columns reunited outside Wilkesboro. That evening Stoneman sent the 12th OH into town and forced the few Confederates there out. A severe rainstorm moved in making the Yadkin River impassable. The Federal column was in the process of crossing when the waters rose interrupting the process. Thus separating the force in two across the river. While waiting for the waters to recede both wings would move east on opposite sides of the river to Jonesville and Elkin.

The marker below is at the site of the Elkin Manufacturing Company, a cotton mill where 60 women produced Confederate uniform cloth. The mill is no longer standing. Richard Ransome Gwyn, the manager, lived in the Greek Revival house up the slope to the left of the marker. The house is still intact and shown above. On April 1, 1865, a 2,000-man detachment of Union General George Stoneman’s cavalry raiders under Colonel William J. Palmer rode into Elkin, north of the Yadkin River. The Yankees seized 500 bales of cotton and flour, meat, honey, butter, molasses, tobacco, and chestnuts. Palmer ordered three gristmills to grind meal for his men. Gwyn quartered the officers at his home. Stoneman, bivouacked on the south side of the high-water Yadkin River, signaled Palmer late in the day that the level was falling. Stoneman’s command crossed over the next morning on the 2nd, using a ferryboat rope, and the reunited cavalrymen continued north.

On the south side of the river a column of Stoneman’s cavalry under General Alvan Gillem entered Jonesville home of the Methodist-affiliated Jonesville Male and Female Academy. Gillem’s column included Unionist North Carolinians who destroyed the academy’s scientific equipment but overlooked its prized possession their chapel’s mellow-toned bell, cast in Troy, N.Y. of bronze and ninety-nine silver dollars. The silver-dollar bell still rings at the First United Methodist Church in the town, picture below.

The Yadkin River shown below- 36.2825137, -80.5621592. Stoneman would lose three days here waiting for the water level to fall after heavy rains made the river impassable.

April 1-2- Rockford, NC

Excerpted from the marker- Union General George Stoneman’s raiders passed through this area along the north bank of the Yadkin River on April 1-2, 1865, on their way north to Virginia. As they rode through Rockford, they stopped here at Mark York’s tavern, a Federal-style building constructed about 1830. Stoneman’s cavalry continued riding down the north bank of the Yadkin River. They had a brief encounter with Confederate troops at Siloam, about five miles east, before turning north toward Virginia.

April 1-2 Siloam

Excerpted from the marker- Union General George Stoneman’s raiders passed through this area April 1-2, 1865, on their way north to Virginia. Confederate Major Richard Elwell Reeves, who had organized the first Surry County volunteer unit at Dobson in 1861, encountered some of the Federals here at his home. Reeves and a friend, Lieutenant Colonel William Luffman, 11th Georgia Infantry, were asleep in the farm office nearby when the raiders appeared. Luffman, a native of Spring Place, Georgia, was recuperating from wounds. A Federal soldier on Luffman’s horse, which he had taken from the stable demanded that the men surrender. Luffman fired his pistol and the soldier fell from the saddle dead, shot through the chest. Luffman and Reeves ran to the river and plunged in to escape. Reeves and Luffman left the water downstream, then stopped at the Bowman, Butner, and Phillips houses and eventually reached Salem. Luffman returned to Georgia, and Reeves returned home after the war ended. After the men escaped, according to family tradition, the angry Federals attempted to burn the house by throwing coals from the fireplace onto the family belongings while Reeves’s mother, Elizabeth Early Reeves, tossed the burning articles back into the fireplace. A partly burned picture frame survives as a family heirloom today. The soldiers finally withdrew when Mrs. Reeves promised to give the dead raider a proper Christian burial. He was buried on the hill to the northeast. Today, the Reeves’s farm office, constructed of brick nogging about 1835, is the only surviving contemporary structure.

Pictures of the inside of the Reeves Farm office building from the exterior

The column then marched north through Dobson on April 2nd to Mount Airy April 2-3.

April 2- Dobson

Mount Airy Stoneman’s Raid- this marker is not present after recent construction in the area on the Chang and Eng Siamese twins exhibit and parking lot. The image shown below is from the Historical Marker Database.

At Mount Airy they learned that a few hours earlier an enemy supply train had passed through town headed toward Hillsville, VA. Stoneman sent Palmer’s brigade after the train. The rest of the Federals caught up with Palmer the next day in Hillsville and they would renew their pursuit of the wagons. The combined column pursued and caught the wagon train a few hours outside Hillsville capturing 17 wagons filled with forage. In Hillsville Stoneman divided his force again to maximize the amount of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad he could destroy. He had Miller take 500 men from his brigade to Wytheville and destroy the railroad bridges and supplies there. Stoneman took his main force to Jacksonville, VA (modern day Floyd, VA). He reached there on the 4th.

On April 5th Stoneman divided his men into four different groups and broke up over 150 miles of track. The 1st Brigade under Palmer tore up track east of Christianburg, while Brown’s brigade destroyed track west of town toward Salem, VA, while his main body reached Christianburg by midnight. While there the Federals seized the telegraph office and tried to learn what they could of the movements of the rebels in the area. They captured the operator and forced him to send messages to Lynchburg asking about any news of Yankees in the area. The nature of the inquiries led the Lynchburg operator to conclude that he was talking to Yankees. In the process Stoneman learned that Lee was retreating toward Appomattox, just 20 miles from Lynchburg. Stoneman had sent Wagner with 220 men to Salem and within 6 miles of Lynchburg. Now Lee would also know that Union soldiers were already in the Lynchburg area and that an escape west through the mountains via railroad was no longer an option.

Miller’s men crossed the New River at midnight, losing one man who drowned. They reached Wytheville at dawn on April 5th. There they destroyed five railroad bridges, and four boxcars, including one carrying five tons of gunpowder. The explosion alerted Confederate cavalry nearby. Confederate General John Echols and 7,000 troops were headed east toward Appomattox to unite with General Lee. Over 500 Kentucky rebels under Colonel Henry L. Giltner quickly drove Miller out of Wytheville and back across the New River. The Yankees cut the Virginia-Tennessee Railroad and knocked out the lead mines that supplied one-third of the South’s ammunition. Miller suffered 35 casualties. There was at least one rebel killed. Wagner and his men reached Salem on the afternoon of April 5th and they destroyed track and railroad bridges by the 7th. They made it to within six miles of Lynchburg where they met significant resistance. All toldStoneman’s men destroyed over 150 miles of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.

On the 7th Stoneman headed back to North Carolina. The 2nd and 3rd brigades headed south through Patrick County. However, Palmer’s brigade misinterpreted their orders and went back through Martinsville by mistake. Only part of his brigade was supposed to go that way, while the remainder should have followed Stoneman to Taylorsville, VA (Stuart, VA). The 10th MI Cavalry stumbled into an encampment of Confederate cavalry in a ravine west of the Henry County Courthouse in Martinsville on April 8th. The ensuing skirmish was one of the bloodiest fights of Stoneman’s Raid. The engagement is described in the markers below.

Confederate Colonel James T. Wheeler and about 250 cavalrymen bivouacked the night before on Jones’s Creek on their way to join General Joseph E. Johnston’s army in North Carolina. Wheeler’s unit included recruits from Middle Tennessee, detachments from Wheeler’s 6th Tennessee Cavalry Regiment and the 9th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion, and some local Henry County men. At dawn on the 8th, Palmer’s 10th Michigan Cavalry, collided with Wheeler’s troopers at Henry Court House. This engagement could have been disastrous for the 10th MI Cavalry if they had been alone, as ordered. However, the arrival of the rest of Palmer’s force caused the remaining rebels to retreat from Martinsville. Both sides claimed victory in the brief but sharp engagement. Federal officers reported that “we remained masters of the field” and that “after a brisk skirmish, the Confederates were chased from the town.” Wheeler, however, reported that he took several prisoners and that “the enemy, after a spirited fight, were repulsed.” The 1st Brigade rested briefly at Martinsville and reunited with Stoneman the next day at Danbury, N.C.

On April 8th while Stoneman’s 1st Brigade was fighting its way through Martinsville, the general and his 2nd and 3rd Brigades camped 30 miles west near Taylorsville, VA (modern day Stuart, VA).

Sources

Stoneman’s 1865 Raid in Central North Carolina by Chris J. Hartley. Blue and Gray Magazine Volume XXVI #6, 2010.

Stoneman’s Raid, 1865 by Chris J. Hartley.

The 1865 Stoneman’s Raid Begins Leave Nothing for the Rebellion to Stand Upon by Joshua Beau Blackwell.

The 1865 Stoneman’s Raid Ends Follow Him to the Ends of the Earth by Joshua Beau Blackwell.