Appalachian History Series
On a frigid morning in mid December 1864, Major General George Stoneman’s mounted command reached the Holston at Kingsport with a clear purpose, to open the road into southwest Virginia and wreck the Confederate lifeline there. Before the columns struck railroad bridges, lead mines, and the salt works, they first had to force a crossing at Kingsport. What followed was a short, sharp fight that cleared the way for the rest of the raid.
The stakes at the Holston
By late 1864 Confederate defense in the mountain borderland hinged on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and on industrial sites around Wythe and Smyth Counties. Stoneman’s plan sent Kentuckians and East Tennesseans who knew the ground toward the river crossings, while other detachments aimed at depots and bridges. The Holston at Kingsport had bluffs that favored a small defender, and the old Ross Bridge nearby was reported unfit for foot traffic, so the Federals had to find a workable ford or sit under fire on the west bank. The geography made a minor action matter, because one delayed day would ripple through the whole timetable of the raid.
Who faced whom
Confederate troopers from Basil W. Duke’s command watched the crossings under Colonel Richard C. Morgan. About three hundred men held the east bank, thinly posted along the bluffs. Stoneman brought several thousand mounted troops to the west bank, including the East Tennessee regiments under Brigadier General Alvan C. Gillem and elements from Kentucky and Michigan, with Battery E, Kentucky Light Artillery attached. The imbalance in numbers favored the Federals, yet the river bend and high ground gave the Confederates a chance to sting and delay unless the Federals turned the position.
A plan that fit the terrain
While Union troopers demonstrated opposite the Confederate line to hold attention, a detachment moved upstream to Cloud’s Ford to cross the Holston. Local interpretation places the ford several miles above the main position. The flanking party, led in local memory by Colonel Samuel K. N. Patton of the 8th Tennessee, came down the east bank on the Confederate side of the river. That simple combination, a loud show in front and a quiet ford upstream, cracked the line on the bluffs.
“A short but decisive affair”
Once the flanking party reached the east bank and pressed in behind the line, the Confederate screen collapsed. Colonel Richard Morgan was captured, wagons and stores were taken, and the defenders were driven through town. Official summaries give Union losses as two killed and seven wounded for the day at Kingsport. Public history panels in Kingsport record heavier Confederate losses, with about eighteen killed and more than eighty captured, a result that tracks with the surprise at the ford and the disparity in numbers.
What the participants and the press said
Union veterans from the 13th Tennessee Cavalry remembered a hard winter ride over familiar ground and a neat pairing of demonstration and flank that opened the door into Virginia. Their 1903 regimental history sets Kingsport at the start of the push toward Bristol, Marion, and Saltville. On the Confederate side, Basil W. Duke’s narrative laments how scattered detachments could not hold the line that winter and how losses at places like Kingsport bled away experienced troopers he needed later in the month. Northern readers heard of the crossing in roundups such as the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer and in a New York Times summary headlined “Stoneman’s Great Raid,” which placed Kingsport as an early success on the march toward the salt works. The period press could miss details or inflate numbers, but the sequence and character of the fight match the veterans’ accounts.
Aftermath and meaning
Kingsport cleared the path to Bristol and the Virginia line. Over the next week Stoneman’s men fought at Marion, burned the railroad bridge at Wytheville, tore up the lead works, and on December 20 and 21 wrecked the salt works at Saltville, a blow out of proportion to any skirmish along the way. Measured against those later targets, Kingsport was small in scale, yet it mattered because it removed the first obstacle and showed how mountain rivers, fords, and local knowledge could decide an engagement.
Visit the ground today
Markers stand near Netherland Inn Road and along the Kingsport Greenbelt. They describe Burbridge and Gillem’s approach, Morgan’s line on the east bank, and the flanking movement from Cloud’s Ford. Start at the Netherland Inn Road trailhead for access to the river bend and interpretive panels, then follow the Greenbelt east to read the sequence on site.
Sources and further reading
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume XLV, Part I Reports and Part II Correspondence, covering operations in Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Georgia, November 14, 1864 to January 23, 1865. Digitized indexes and copies via Western Illinois University and Internet Archive. wiu.edu+1
Samuel W. Scott and Samuel P. Angel, History of the Thirteenth Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, U.S.A.Philadelphia, 1903. Firsthand regimental narrative with detail on December 1864 operations. Internet Archive+1
Basil W. Duke, History of Morgan’s Cavalry. Cincinnati, 1867. Confederate perspective from Morgan’s second in command, covering late 1864 operations in East Tennessee. Project Gutenberg text and archival scans. Project Gutenberg+1
Contemporary newspapers reporting Stoneman’s December raid, including the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, December 31, 1864, and New York Times roundup dated January 8, 1865. Virginia Chronicle+1
National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors battle and unit entries, which list Kingsport as an action on December 13, 1864 and give a brief Union casualty summary. Wikipedia
Virginia Tech, Center for Civil War Studies, overviews that frame the December 1864 raid into southwest Virginia. civilwar.vt.edu
Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, “Battle of Kingsport” trail pages with concise site history and estimated Confederate losses and captures. TN Vacation+1
Historical Marker Database, Battle of Kingsport entries that describe the approach, Cloud’s Ford flanking movement, and the capture of Col. Richard Morgan. HMDB+1