St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-01-17

citizens in bands OF militia or nome
guard Early in the winter of lSG4-5 Gen
eral Gtoneman set ont from Tennessee
to raid southwest Virginia. That region
had never been touched by the large ar
mics, but the Confederates maintained
q show of force there which varied with
the fortunes Of their side in territory
adjoining twas in southwest Virginia
that Morgan's escaping raiders reform
ed ranks after their wild ride through
Ohio The Kentucky troopers, to the
number of 800, chung together in a SO
called brigade. General Basil W. Duke,
the noted Kentuckian, Morgan's right
hand man when the division was in its
glory, commanded this remnant.
Three other brigades belonged to the
forces occupying the region. 1t was call
ed the military department Of southwest
Virginia Breckenridge, also Kentuck-
ian, commanded the department. The
troops under him numbered $500. The
men were all Tennesseeans or Kentuck-
fans, Injured to war in its hardest phases
by their campaigns in the mountains.
The brigadiers besides Duke were Gilt
90, Vaughn and Cosby. Stoneman led
5000 men, and his first stroke was to
cut off Vaughn's brigade Of /, 400 men,
thus robbing Breckenridge Of more than
one-half his soldiers. But the prize at
stake called for forlorn hope defense,
and the handful remaining included
fighters, from generals to privates, who
would stand and die with Spartan cour-
age in the last pass. The prize was the
famous Kings salt works and the lead
mines, which furnished the Confederacy
with two Of its indispensable supplies.
Breckenridge held his troopers in
hand at Saltville, awaiting Stoneman's
first blow On the 10Th Of December his
scouts brought word that the raiders
were striking out for Wytheville, where
the lead works were located. Duke I'M
mediately started with $50 picked men
to harass the enemy's column. With
farmer for a guide he rode off in the
night and speedily came upon a Union
picket. At the first shot the guide
bounded from his horse and disappear
ed. In the enemy's camps there was a
martial stir and sound Of bugles call
ing "boots and saddles" 1t was plain
that the 100 rash raiders had fallen up
on Stoneman's main camp. 1t was very
dark, and after posting line of pickets
Duke bivouacked in cornfield with his
men. With cornstalks for touches, the
weary troopers slept soundly until
aroused, just before daybreak, by the
sentinels. Looking across the field, they
beheld in the dim light long line of
gigantic figures, enveloped in cavalry
overcoats, sitting on their horses like
grim warders before the palace of me-
di@val king. There were ], 900 or more
in the column, and they might have cir
cled about the sleeping Confederates,
bagging the whole command, but evil
IDENTIFY had overlooked them because
they were SO close. Duke couldn haz-
ard fight, and his foes evidently be-
Geved that his force was too strong for
them to deal with. The troopers ban
died words across the "bloody chasm"
for an hour Then the Kentuckians rode
back to their comrades at Saltville.
Breckenridge was loath to grant
Stoneman an open road to the lead
works and threw his entire force across
his path at point called Marion
heights. While waiting for the raiders
to appear a courier dashed into camp
with dispatches from the front. A self
constituted defender of the sacred soil,
Colonel Wycher-colonel, of course, al.
though he commanded but 60 men
had let loose his battalion of "independ-
ents" upon the TANKS of Stoneman's
raiders. Wycher's first message read,
1--WE are pushing them hard and giving
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