Wytheville Raid

Virginia

About a hundred and twenty townspeople with single-shot muskets turned Wytheville's main street into what one Union soldier called an avenue of death.

militaryhistorical

On the evening of July eighteenth, eighteen sixty-three, a Union brigade of more than eight hundred mounted men rode toward Wytheville, Virginia. Word had reached the town first. Many residents fled south or hid. About a hundred and twenty stayed, home guard and ordinary citizens, alongside roughly a hundred and thirty Confederate soldiers. The Union cavalry came in first, charging in column down the main road into town. They rode into an ambush. Most of the local men and women fired their one-shot muskets from inside their own houses and shops. At the time, that kind of fighting was considered unconventional. One Union soldier called the road an avenue of death. Colonel John Toland, commanding the brigade, was killed. His second in command was badly wounded, left behind, and taken prisoner. Around eighty horses died in the streets. The Union force did take the town. Then it retreated, less than twenty-four hours after riding in.

This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
One Union soldier described the road as an "avenue of death".

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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