Western NC - Stoneman's Raid
On March 25, 1865, Union Gen. George Stoneman led 6,000 cavalrymen from Tennessee into western North Carolina and southwestern Virginia to disrupt the Confederate supply lines, destroy mines and ironworks and to free prisoners at Salisbury. Stoneman struck first at Boone on March 29, then moved briefly into Virginia. On April 12, three days after Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Stoneman entered Salisbury, burning public buildings and the deserted prison camp there. He then headed west encountering limited resistance from scattered Confederate forces. Stoneman was in or near Asheville April 26 when Johnston surrendered near Durham. Many of the Union troopers then returned to Tennessee while others pursued Jefferson Davis.