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 days later, on Tazewell Street Hill 400 yards north of here, Toland ordered his men into Wytheville about 7 p.m. to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Capt. George W. Gilmore led two 1st West Virginia Cavalry companies down the street, while Col. William H. Powell and five 2nd West Virginia Cavalry companies followed in support. Maj. Thomas M. Bowyer, a Confederate artillery officer, improvised the town's defense. He led "two small and newly organized companies" (about 130 men and two artillery pieces) into Wytheville on a commandeered passenger train and distributed arms to local citizens. Gilmore's superior force soon compelled Bowyer's recruits to retreat; the Confederates occupied dwellings and fired on the Federals while withdrawing. Toland, directing his men through Wytheville's streets, fell dead here with a bullet through his heart, fired from an upstairs window of a house. The Federals soon departed, their raid, in Confederate Gen. Samuel Jones' opinion, "a most signal failure .... The damage done the railroad was repaired by three or four hands in less than an hour." However, the Federals were the victors as the Confederates retreated early in the battle. According to Jones, the most serious destruction occurred when the Federals "burned several of the best private houses in the place" in retaliation for their use during the battle.

Photo: Bradley Owen