During the Civil War, Lynchburg served primarily as a supply and
hospital center, and was spared most of the destruction that befell
other Virginia cities and towns. Lynchburg did see battle action,
however, in June of 1864,  when
Confederate forces successfully fought off a Union attack. On
June 17, Union General David Hunter approached the city from the west
after moving down the Shenandoah Valley burning farms and towns. On
the morning of June 17, Crook was ordered ``to march across to the main
road at New London." He arrived there at 10:00 A.M. and stopped to
wait for Union General Jeremiah C. Sullivan's division. At 4:00 P.M.,
Crook led the two divisions forward on the main road to Lynchburg.
Averell was marching ``on a road to the right, which intersected the
main road some four miles from Lynchburg" and when Crook reached
the intersection, Averell was engaging the Confederates ``at the church
on the hill beyond." After a series of delaying
actions by Confederate General John McCausland, the Union troops managed
to force back a Confederate line positioned at the old Quaker Meeting
House, and took the nearby Sandusky House (c. 1808, pictured left) for
use as a temporary headquarters. On June 18 following the fallback, 
Confederate forces, now reinforced by General Jubal Early, maintained
positions along a 3-mile line west of the town (extending from what is
now Fort Early to McCausland Ridge).
The best
information to be obtained at this point of the enemy's forces and plans
indicated that all the rebel forces heretofore operating in the Valley
and West Virginia were concentrated in Lynchburg, under the command of
General [John C.] Breckinridge. This force was variously estimated at
from 10,000 to 15,000 men, well supplied with artillery, and protected
by strong works.
During the night the trains on the different railroads were heard
running without intermission, while repeated cheers and the beating of
drums indicated the arrival of large bodies of troops in the town, yet
up to the morning of the 18th I had no positive information as to
whether General [Robert E.] Lee had detached any considerable force for
the relief of Lynchburg
The night before a train had scurried up and down the tracks as if it
brought in reinforcements to Lynchburg and bugles and drum rolls could
be heard by even Hunters men. It was a ploy that even the townspeople
took part in, with bands playing and citizens screaming. Hunter became
convinced Lee had sent an army in. On the turnpike outside the city near
the old Quaker church, McCausland was at the right flank, somewhere
between the river and creek. Crook was going to attack McCausland's men
but decided it unwise. The day grew hot and the soldiers suffered from
exhaustion, fear, heat and dust. The constant noise of the artillery
filled the air on and off throughout the day. The battle ended sometime
after 2:00 p.m.
McCown reported that the Thirteenth ``did not get up to the front until
9 o'clock P.M., when it was assigned to its place in line of battle for
the next day."
On June 18 ``. . . at sunrise the enemy opened heavily with
artillery."
Crook took his division to see if he could turn the enemy's left, but
decided against it. As he was returning, the Confederates suddenly came
out of their works and attacked him on the Bedford Turnpike, hoping to
cut his line in half. Sullivan, however, was able to hold the enemy
until Crook had safely returned.
That afternoon, however, Hunter wrote: ``It had now become
sufficiently evident that the enemy had concentrated a force of at least
double the numerical strength of mine, and what added to the gravity of
the situation was the fact that my troops had scarcely enough of
ammunition left to sustain another well contested battle."
Hunter began preparing to retreat as soon as darkness came, but
meanwhile, because there were still five hours of daylight left, he
ordered the army to continue fighting.
The Thirteenth was ``deployed in the line of battle in front of brigade
at 1:00 P.M., and slowly advanced under a heavy artillery and musketry
fire toward the enemy's works."
The Confederates were ``repulsed with loss" and ``fell back to
their works and kept a desultory fire until 8 o'clock P.M., when
learning that the enemy had been re-enforced [sic] by Earleys [sic]
Corps from Richmond, we were ordered to withdraw"
At 8:00 P.M., they were ordered to march ``one mile beyond the village
of New London" where they camped for the night.
Their losses stood at six wounded and missing.
The
soldiers were stunned. Private William B. Stark, a member of the
Thirty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteers, expressed their feelings in
these words: ``After the battle, Hunter made preparations to retreat . .
. but we did not think such a thing possible. We must and would take
Lynchburg at all hazards; rations we must have and we could get them
only in Lynchburg. We could never retreat, that was impossible; if we
were not all captured we should most certainly starve."
We thought when
we were going to Lynchburg that we had an awful large army and nothing
could stand before it. We have since learned, to our cost, that it was
too small to go where we went. We also found that it was not impossible
to overcome us. The troops are not so very differently constituted.
Rebel soldiers fight splendidly and there is no better soldiers to bear
burdens or suffer privations or defeats.
We were hundreds of miles away from reinforcements and supplies. Our
amunition was nearly exhausted and we had no rations or place to get
any. We were already worn with hunger and exhaustion from the last 4
days and nearly sleepless nights. Some . . . had no control of
themselves. They fell and were of course gobbled
After inconclusive fighting, the Union troops withdrew under the false
impression they were facing a larger Confederate force. Part of the
deception arose from a continuous series of train movements on several
rail lines, giving the impression that reinforcements were arriving at a
steady pace. The following day, General Early chased the Union troops
back towards Liberty (now Bedford), overtaking them and inflicting heavy
casualties. The course of these events turned to favor the Confederates
and now the Federals fled. That morning Major Genera. R. Ransom joined
McCausland's brigade as they sped to Buchanan in an effort to cut off
Hunter. The day became hot and the roads thick with dust. Kyd Douglas
noted, as they went, "ransacked houses, crying women, clothes ...
draggled in the road, the garments of little children, here and there
... a burning house marked ... Hunter's retreat ... and ... I felt that
vengeance ought not be left entirely to the Lord." McCausland hoped
to take General David Hunter prisoner, and on the 19th caught up with
Hunter's rear guard at Liberty (now Bedford, Va) ten miles west of
Lynchburg. McCausland then captured part of Hunter's supply train,
destroying part of it and then resumed the chase.
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