Piedmont Passages: Raiders burned supplies

Editor’s note: The late George Raynor was managing editor of the Salisbury Post for 30 years and editor for eight years before retiring in 1982. This essay appeared in the Post on April 13, 1983.

Lee had surrendered three days earlier in Virginia and Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston soon would to General Sherman at Durham. But the telegraph lines were severed, and Salisbury was unaware of the surrender. Editor J.J. Bruner had written in The Daily Carolina Watchman of April 11 that “the most extravagant of all the many rumors was that Gen. Lee and his staff had been captured.” Probably Gen. Stoneman knew of this. If so, he didn’t let it deter him, for the war was not over yet and he was determined to put out what sparks of rebellion might glow, even faintly.

That morning of April 12, 1865, must have had much in common with April 1983. It had been raining heavily; the Rev. A.W. Mangum wrote on March 20 that “The mud here has been enormous. It together with the clouds and rains is enough to make anyone sigh for a quiet country home where he can get out of view of this sea of mud and water.” And certainly the woods and yards, as today, were full of dogwood bloom and wild flowers. Small though Salisbury was, it had fine homes and elms that arched over its streets. But there could have been no joy of the season for Salisbury as that day dawned.

Rumors fly

Couriers, travelers and rumors, seemingly self-fueled, had reached Salisbury telling of the advance of Stoneman’s troops.

And they were not exaggerated: Stoneman’s raiders were moving out on the dirt road that led to Salisbury. The time the advance reached South River is not recorded in the Union account; Margaret Beall Ramsay’s later reminiscences suggest it was early: “At last the sun rose but as its beams struggled through the morning mist, they brought little ease to our broken spirits. After eating a hasty breakfast, I gathered my children about me, went to my bedroom on the second story, sat down at a front window and was watching and waiting breathlessly when the storm of Stoneman’s cavalry, numbering 4,000 swooped down upon us. That was April 12, three days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.”

Gen. Alvan Gillem’s detailed account reports Col. John K. Miller’s brigade met no opposition from a few Confederates on the banks of the South River. He fails to mention how the cavalry crossed the river, but a ford was the most likely way. Once across, the troops had a choice of two routes to Salisbury. The new road (now U.S. 601 through Franklin) or the old Mocksville highway which then, as now, joins the “new” road about a half mile from the river. The main forces chose the new road while a battalion of Kentucky cavalrymen was sent to create a diversion at Grants Creek, presumably where the old road still crosses the creek near Overton School.

Stoneman sent three other units still farther down Grants Creek. But the main thrust along with new road was the only one that met opposition. The Confederates’ artillery and infantry fired on the advancing Yankees, obviously not effectively. The defenders had removed floor boards from two spans of the bridge. Once Yankees had relaid the flooring, Colonel Miller’s troops charged across and the engagement was at an end. The defenders scattered, many hiding themselves in thick woods that stood between Grant’s Creek and Salisbury, probably in the Catawba College area.

Weak defense

One Salisburian later gave an unfavorable opinion of the quality of the defensive forces. She wrote: “As to the fight two and a half miles from Salisbury — ’tis all a myth. The highest estimate of our troops is eight hundred — some reckon the number 200 fewer — ! ‘Twas a motley crowd — a hundred or more Virginians who happened to be here en route for some other point — several companies of foreigners or galvanized Yankees — who had sworn out of prison — a few companies of Lenior reserves — some home guards — citizens, etc.” (Most of the “galvanized” Yankees made little effort to fight; in fact, a battery manned by them fired over the heads of the invaders and then greeted them with cheers as they neared.)

“Batteries were posted on various roads — and these troops scattered about so as to man these batteries — nowhere more than 150 at a point. But little resistance was made — for it was clearly of no avail — the town was ‘captured’ by the Yankees riding into the public square with drawn swords in their hands and oaths in their mouths. Everyone here falls into a giggle over the battle with the 3,000 and hosts of prisoners... artisans in the government shops — some prominent citizens — negroes etc. Most of these came straggling back in a few days.” (These comments were by Ellen Summerell, wife of Dr. John Summerell and mother of Hope Summerell Chamberlain, the noted author of This Was Home.)

Terror begins

For the residents of the town the terror was just beginning. At this time and with handy access to hindsight, the student of history might wonder why there was so much fear.

Resistance was at best perfunctory, and there is no reason to expect that it would be other. These hastily-gathered youths and grey beards, transients and former Yankee soldiers, fully aware that the cause was for all practical purposes lost, were no match for disciplined, well-trained and well-armed cavalrymen used to warfare.

Those who would have defended the town were off defending Greensboro, a town that Stoneman bypassed. They had been ordered to return but breaks that Stoneman’s troops had made in the railroad line had delayed their return. The only other Confederate troops were on the bluffs across from the present N.C. Finishing Co. and were assigned to the defense of the railroad bridge.

So the fear expressed and shown by the inhabitants of Salisbury was a normal reaction.

They weren’t aware, as historians were later, that Stoneman was a strong disciplinarian who had ordered his troops to treat the civilians with respect and to avoid pillaging.

His orders weren’t always followed to the T; there were among his troops many Southerners from areas of Union sympathy — called “Home Yankees” — who were brutal and ruthless in their treatment of fellow Southerners. Their families had also been mistreated.

Dr. Ina Van Noppen, whose book “Stoneman’s Last Raid” is the best account of the raid, commented on this aspect of Stoneman: “These two days (April 12 and 13) must have seemed an eternity to residents of Salisbury, although Stoneman’s moderation in treatment of civilians evoked surprise and respect from southerners who had expected worse treatment, basing their fears on depredations of bushwhackers who called themselves soldiers and newspaper accounts of Sherman’s march through Georgia. Mrs. Cornelia Phillips Spencer said that this was an example of gentlemanly conduct of a raid. A resident of Salisbury wrote in September 1895, ‘Salisbury people will always hold Stoneman to grateful remembrance for the strict control over his troops. Again and again he stated that no private property should be plundered — and his officers seconded him — whether willingly or not.’”

There was fear in Salisbury and, despite orders, there was considerable disorder and plundering. But the Yankee troops were probably too busy with the torch to get into as much pillaging as they committed in the mountain towns on their return trip.

Supplies burned

They had to see to the assembling of mountains of supplies that were piled up along Main Street to be burned the next day. Tradition says the raiders permitted the poor to take from the pile such necessities as clothing and blankets; others say these items were salvaged from the fire. In any event, the fire undoubtedly was the largest in Salisbury’s history.

General Gillem listed these supplies as having been burned: 10,000 stand of arms, 1,000,000 rounds of small ammunition, 10,000 pounds of artillery ammunition, 6,000 pounds of powder, 75,000 uniforms, 250,000 English blankets, 20,000 pounds of leather, 3 magazines, 6 depots, 10,000 bushels of corn, 6,000 bushels of bacon, 100,000 pounds of salt, 20,000 pounds of sugar, 27,000 pounds of rice, 10,000 pounds of salt peter, 50,000 bushels of wheat, 80 barrels of turpentine, $15,000 in Confederate money, and medical stores worth $100,000.

The giant bonfire was the source of the light that flickered over Salisbury through the night.

That light was reportedly seen from as far away as Statesville and The Post in later years published an eyewitness account of the flames from a man in Woodleaf.

They didn’t burn ol’ Salisbury down that night, but many of its largest buildings were converted to cinders. This included the notorious prison camp, surely a deserved burning and one that must have given the raiders great satisfaction.

Determined that Confederates would have no access to buildings to resume manufacturing of armaments after they left, Stoneman’s troops fired the foundry, a steam distillery, an arsenal, ordnance warehouses, the railroad buildings of the Central and Western roads, including the large office building, a big passenger shed, a car shed, two freight shops and a machine shop.