Battle of Cloyd's Mountain

[NW Mailing List]

Today, May 9th and tomorrow, May 10th, commemorates the 150th Anniversary of
the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad Raid
at Dublin and the bridge over the New River at Central Depot. 6500 Union
troops under Gen. Crook defeated 2400 Confederate troops under Gen. Jenkins
at Cloyd's Farm allowing the Union forces to proceed into Dublin, Virginia
and destroy the railroad and the military supply depot located there.

Confederate forces then retreated across the New River over the Wilderness
Road covered bridge at Ingles Ferry, upstream from the V&T RR bridge in
order to set up a defensive artillery position on the east, Central Depot,
side of the V&T's covered bridge over the New River. Gen. Grant had
instructed Crook to march from Charleston, WV to destroy this strategic
railroad bridge in order to sever the main supply line from Tennessee and SW
Virginia to Gen. Lee in eastern Virginia.  An artillery battle ensued at the
V&T New River bridge on May 10th with few casualties, but the Confederates
were forced to abandon the defense of the bridge when they ran out of
ammunition. Union forces set fire to the bridge while the Ohio regimental
band struck up a tune. The bridge was destroyed but Union forces had been
unable to bring demolition explosives with them on the long journey
therefore they were unable to damage or destroy the bridge piers. This was a
major blow to the V&T RR however the South was able to rebuild the bridge
within a few months and resumed critical rail service between Bristol and
Lynchburg.

Additional Union forces under Gen. Averell destroyed the depot at Bangs (now
Cambria/Christiansburg) at this same time. (The N&W freight station standing
in Christiansburg today was built in 1868 as a combination passenger/freight
depot to replace the one that Averell's forces had burned). A few days later
Union forces slipped back to the safety of West Virginia over Salt Pond
Mountain (i.e Mountain Lake) avoiding the dangerous route through the
Narrows.

Two future US presidents fought for the Union in these battles, Rutherford
B. Hayes and William McKinley.

We should honor  the brave soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who fought
and died for what they each believed was a just cause.

Attached: Photo of the current Norfolk Sothern bridge over the New River at
the site of the V&T RR battle (present day Radford) as well as photos from
the recent reenactment of the Battle of Cloyd's Mtn.

John S. Garner
Newport, VA

----
Moderator
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2014/20140509.IMG_8225.jpg
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2014/20140509.IMG_8208.jpg
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2014/20140509.IMG_8193.jpg



---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com