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movements.
Before
Stoneman was ready to move,
Sherman had marched so far and so triumphantly that the aid of the former was not needed, and he was ordered to march eastward and destroy the Virginia and Tennessee railroad, as far toward
Lynchburg as possible.
He concentrated the cavalry brigades of
Colonels Palmer,
Miller, and
Brown, of
Gillem's division, about six thousand strong, at
Mossy Creek, on the 20th of March.
He moved eastward to
Bull's Gap, where he divided his forces, sending
Miller toward
Bristol, to make a feint, and moving with the rest of his command to
Jonesboroa, when he crossed over
Stone Mountain into
North Carolina, to
Boone.
There, after a sharp skirmish,
he captured two hundred Home Guards.
Thence he moved through mountain gaps to Wilkesboroa, where the advance skirmished
and captured prisoners and stores.
Continuing his march, he crossed the
Yadkin River at
Jonesville, and, turning northward, went on to Cranberry Plain,
in Carroll County, Virginia.
From that point he sent
Colonel Miller to
Wytheville, to destroy the railway in that vicinity, and with the main force he moved eastward to
Jacksonville, skirmishing with Confederates at the crossing of Big Red Island Creek.
From
Jacksonville,
Major Wagner advanced on
Salem, and sweeping along the railway eastward, destroyed it from New River Bridge to within four miles of
Lynchburg.
At the same time
Stoneman, with the main body, advanced on
Christiansburg, and, sending troops east and west, destroyed the railway for about ninety miles,
1 and then returned to
Jacksonville.
Having performed his prescribed duty,
General Stoneman turned his face southward, and, on the 9th of April, struck the North Carolina railroad between
Danville and Greensboroa.
At
Germantown several hundred negroes, who had joined the column, were sent back into
East Tennessee.
At the same time
Colonel Palmer was sent to destroy the railroad between
Salisbury and Greensboroa, and the factories at
Salem, in North Carolina; while the main column moved on
Salisbury, forcing the
Yadkin at
Huntsville,
and skirmishing near there.
Palmer performed his duty well, and near Deep River Bridge, he captured a South Carolina regiment of four hundred men.
Salisbury was a prisoner-depot, and a considerable Confederate force was stationed there, under
General W. M. Gardiner.
They were about three thousand strong.
They were found at
Grant's Creek, ten miles east of
Salisbury, early on the 12th,
with eighteen guns, under the direction of
Pemberton,
Grant's opponent at
Vicksburg, now reduced from a lieutenant-general to a colonel.
This force was gallantly charged by the brigades of
General A. C. Gillem and
Colonel Brown, of the Eleventh Michigan Cavalry, and instantly routed.
Its guns were all captured, and over twelve hundred of its men were made prisoners.
The spoils, besides the cannon, were three thousand small-arms, and a vast quantity of stores of every kind.
Those of the
Confederates who fled were chased several miles.
In
Salisbury were found a vast collection of ammunition, provision, clothing,
