First Battle of Saltville
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
The First Battle of Saltville (1 October – 3 October 1864), was fought near the town of Saltville, Virginia, during the American Civil War. The battle was fought by both regular and Home Guard Confederate units against regular Union troops, including one of the few black cavalry units, over an important saltworks in the town. The Union troops were led by Brig. Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge. The murder of captured and wounded black soldiers after the battle has been called the Saltville Massacre.[1]
Contents
Saltville Massacre
The battle was a Confederate victory, but it has become better known for a massacre that happened afterward. Both Confederate soldiers and irregular guerrilla forces under the notorious Champ Ferguson murdered white and black Union soldiers, who had been wounded and captured. Ferguson was tried after the war in Nashville, Tennessee, for these and other non-military killings. He was found guilty and executed.[1]
Brig. Gen. Felix H. Robertson had bragged to another officer that "he had killed nearly all the Negroes."[2] His conduct was such that when Robert E. Lee learned of it he communicated to John C. Breckinridge his dismay "that a general officer should have been guilty of the crime you mention" and instructed Breckinridge to "prefer charges against him and bring him to trial."[3]
Estimates of the dead vary with the most detailed analysis of the National Archives records by Bryce Suderow, Phyllis Brown, and David Brown concluding that 45-50 members of the black regiment were murdered by Confederates.[2]
Second battle
The Second Battle of Saltville occurred two months later at Saltville. In that encounter, Union general George Stoneman defeated Confederate defenders and burned the saltworks.
See also
- Saltville Battlefields Historic District
- Second Battle of Saltville
- 5th United States Colored Cavalry
- Champ Ferguson-hanged in 1865 on murder charges.
- See the entry on John C. Breckinridge who attempted to have Felix Huston Robertson tried for killing black soldiers.
- Salt in the American Civil War
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Encyclopedia Virginia: "Saltville During the Civil War"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Was there a Saltville Massacre in 1864?" David Brown's analysis
- ↑ McKnight, Brian D. Contested Borderland: Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky and Virginia. University Press of Kentucky, 2006. p. 211
Cite error: <ref> tag with name "cwsac" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.
<ref> tag with name "nps" defined in <references> is not used in prior text.Further reading
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Coverage by Harper's Weekly; continued here
| History | |
|---|---|
| Types |
|
| Food usage | |
| Commerce and industry |
|
| By region | |
| Culture | |
| Miscellaneous | |
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
 |
This article about a battle of the American Civil War is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Pages with reference errors
- Burbridge's Raid
- Battles of the Western Theater of the American Civil War
- Confederate victories of the American Civil War
- African Americans in the Civil War
- History of salt
- Smyth County, Virginia
- Battles of the American Civil War in Virginia
- Conflicts in 1864
- 1864 in Virginia
- American Civil War battle stubs
