The Battle of Marion, Virginia:
After being repulsed at Saltville on
October 2nd, the Union had left the mountainous region of the
Virginia arrowhead alone. However, the industrial capacity --- salt and lead
--- of the area was ever becoming more crucial to the shrinking Confederacy’s
war effort. On this day, Major General George Stoneman U.S.A. led 5,000 mounted
men through the mountains of eastern Tennessee into the Virginia arrowhead,
where they wreaked havoc on the local infrastructure until they reached the
town of Marion.
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| General George Stoneman, U.S.A. |
Marion
itself was bitterly politically divided, with a local Unionist militia fighting
a local Confederate militia in the area. About 1,500 Confederate regulars were
in Marion itself.
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| General John C. Breckinridge, C.S.A. |
In
what became a two-day battle, the Union cavalry were at first repulsed by the
Confederates, who knew the lay of the land and held the high ground (much as
like at Saltville). A frustrated
Stoneman detached several hundred men to raid the local smelting plant and
lumber mills. This forced the Marion Confederates to divide their forces to
protect these valuable assets. As the first day ended, the Union troops were
bottlenecked at a local covered bridge.
On
the morning of the second day, the firefight continued --- but so did the
raiding. Stoneman’s detached riders managed to destroy the local Confederate
supply dump, leaving the Rebels with no powder and shot other than what they
had. And although the Confederates pinned down the Federals at the covered
bridge and elsewhere, inflicting heavy casualties, they eventually ran out of
ammunition.
At
that point, Stoneman ordered a cavalry charge. The Confederate commander,
Brigadier General John C. Breckinridge (once Vice-President of the United
States, and a Presidential candidate in 1860) ordered his men to scatter, and
most of them made their way south into western North Carolina through the
winter mountains. Without food, weapons and ammunition, weakened and suffering
from exposure, and in the midst of heavily Unionist territory, Breckenridge’s
men were rendered hors de combat.
Within
the next several days, Stoneman took and destroyed Saltville putting its salt
mines out of production, and wrecked the lead mines at Marion. He also
destroyed rolling stock and wrecked the railroad.
Though
a “small” and essentially unknown battle, the Battle of Marion had long-term and
severe consequences for the South. The Army of Northern Virginia lost the last
source of its precious salt supply, and the loss of the lead mines meant that
there were no raw materials to produce bullets.
The Union raids
are memorialized in the song The Night
They Drove Old Dixie Down:
". . . Till Stoneman's cavalry came, and they tore up
the tracks again . . .”
