Crook's Occupation of Union
Confederate Union under Federal Control
In May 1864, as Union Gen. George Crook led his force through Union on a Sunday morning after his victory at Cloyd’s Mountain, VA., on May 9, “there was a Sabbath stillness, scarcely anyone to be seen.” Although some of the Federals thought that Union was especially pious village and everyone was in church, in fact, many residents had fled to the Knobs (the hills above the town) with their livestock and other property. “Everyone was collecting their little valuables, and racking their brain to find some place of concealment where the cunning Yankees would not think of searching,” Union resident Isabella Caperton wrote.
The “10,000 men, 200 wagons, 35 ambulances, 213 prisoners, {and} over 100 negroes” of Crook’s army took six and a half hours to march through town and spread out for miles to camp and forage. The population of Monroe County was less than half the size of the army that occupied Union. Future presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley both marched through. Hayes referred to the town as “the fine village of Union.”
Gen. William W. Averell, who had decided not to attack the salt works at Saltville, VA., after he heard that they were strongly defended, joined Crook here. Their meeting was the culmination of a wide-ranging raid that destroyed a Confederate supply depot in Dublin, VA., the railroad bridge spanning the New River, and several sections of railroad track. The cavalrymen remained in town for five days, liberating slaves and Unionists.
Marker is at the intersection of Main Street (U.S. 219) and Nota Street, on the right when traveling north on Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
