Christiansburg supported the Confederacy during the war, and its strategic location in the New River Valley made it a military objective, prompting President Abraham Lincoln to order Federal troops toward the area in 1861. Men from Christiansburg volunteered for Confederate service, many in the 4th and 54th Virginia Infantry regiments, and the nearby Montgomery White Sulphur Springs resort was converted into military hospital. The town also supplied material to the Confederacy through the Crush and Wade Sword Company, a local coal mine, and Lattimer's and Chrisman's mill, which made leather goods and grain. Although Union raids struck Salem and Wytheville in 1863, fighting did not reach Christiansburg until May 1864, when Union attempts to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, Virginia's vital supply line, led to the Battles of Cloyd's Mountain and New River Bridge. Retreating Confederates filled every house on Main Street with wounded, and pursuing Federal cavalry frightened local residents. Soon Union sympathizers, called the Heroes of America or Red Strings, along with Confederate deserters, also plundered townspeople. Colonels Robert Trigg and R. T. Preston then imprisoned 100 men alleged to be disloyal to the Confederacy in the local stockyards, and because many were kinsmen and neighbors, ill will grew on both sides. When news of General Robert E. Lee's surrender arrived in May 1865, a sizable Federal force occupied the town, the large Confederate army in the area disbanded, and the townspeople could finally begin to return to normal life.