Into the Valley of Death

Battle of Wytheville (Into the Valley of Death)

On July 13, 1863, Union Col. John T. Toland led 872 officers and men of the 34th Regiment Mounted Ohio Volunteer Infantry from Camp Piatt,West Virginia, into Southwest Virginia to attack the railroads, telegraphs,and salt and lead mines essential to the Confederate cause. Five exhausting days later, the raiders arrived near where you are now standing for their first view of the valley before the Battle of Wytheville.

The day after the march began, Toland fought the first engagement of the raid at Piney Creek, West Virginia, killing and wounding nine Confederate soldiers. Toland lost two killed and three wounded. On the, same day, Toland received orders directing him to "move immediately upon the railroad at Wytheville,Virginia." Later, six miles west of Raleigh(present-day Beckley),West Virginia, the regiment dismissed the wagon train that carried the supplies.The train, including serviceable horses and men unfit for combat, returned to Camp Piatt.

After bivouacking overnight at Jeffersonville (modern-day Tazewell),Virginia, on July 17, Toland broke camp about 3 a.m. to march to Wytheville to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad tracks. He placed thirty-five prisoners of war, several African Americans, and 20 horses captured at Abb's Valley in the rear of the column. Toland's force probably arrived here about 3 p.m. on July 18.
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