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than was his raid to
Salem the previous year,
1 for he was there met by
Morgan and his men,
sent from
Saltville by
General W. E. Jones, and, after a sharp fight, was compelled to retire without accomplishing his object.
Meanwhile,
Crook had approached Dublin Station, and when within four miles of it, was met by
McCausland with an inferior force.
A battle ensued, and was fought gallantly by both parties.
It resulted in the defeat of the
Confederates, but with a loss on the part of the Nationals of over seven hundred men, of whom one hundred and twenty-five were killed.
Crook destroyed the railroad a few miles, when, on the appearance of a strong force sent by
Morgan from
Wytheville, before
Averill reached there, he withdrew and retreated to
Meadow Bridge, in the direction of the
Kanawha.
When
Averill retired from
Wytheville and marched to meet
Crook at Dublin Station, the latter had departed, and the former had no safe alternative but to follow.
General Hunter, on assuming command of
Sigel's troops, immediately advanced on
Staunton with about nine thousand men, some re-enforcements having arrived.
At
Piedmont, near
Middle River, a tributary of the
Shenandoah, in
Augusta County, not far from
Staunton, he encountered
an equal force of Confederates, under
Generals W. E. Jones and
McCausland.
These were all of the concentrated forces in that region,
Breckinridge having been called, with a greater portion of his command, to assist in the defense of
Richmond.
An obstinate and hard-fought battle ensued, which ended with the daylight, and resulted in the complete defeat and route of the
Confederates.
“A worse whipped or more utterly demoralized crowd of beaten men never fled from a field,” wrote one of
General Hunter's staff.
Their leader,
General Jones, was killed by a shot through his head, and with him many others were slain or wounded.
Fifteen hundred Confederates were made prisoners, and the spoils of victory were several battle-flags, three guns, and three thousand small-arms.
Three days after the
battle of Piedmont,
Hunter was joined, at
Staunton, by the forces of
Crook and
Averill, when the whole body, about twenty thousand strong, moved toward
Lynchburg by way of
Lexington.
That city was the largest in the western part of Old Virginia, in the center of a fertile and populous region around the upper waters of the
James River, with extensive manufactures, and in direct communication with
Richmond by railroad and canal, and also with
Petersburg and all the
South by railway.
It was the focal point of a vast region from whence
Richmond and
Lee's army must draw supplies, and on that account, and its relations as a strategic point with the struggle then going on for the possession of
Richmond, made it almost as important as the
Confederate capital itself.
This
Lee well knew, and, notwithstanding he was then most sorely pressed by the armies of the
Potomac and the
James, he sent a considerable force to assist in holding
Lynchburg.
Hence it was, that when
Hunter arrived before it, and made an attack
upon the southern side of the city, its garrison and the strong works around it were able to defy him.
Hunter soon perceived its strength, and the fact that an overwhelming force was gathering to crush him. Considering these things, and the alarming circumstance
