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. At Tug Ridge in Abb’s Valley, on July 17, Toland surprised and captured a small company of Confederate pickets commanded by Capt. J.E. Stallings of the 45th Virginia Infantry. As Toland’s raiders descended to the foot of Walker Mountain, Confederate Maj. Andrew J. May followed close behind with about 250 cavalry men, having pursued and harassed Toland’s rear guard for more than a hundred miles under Gen. John S. Williams’s orders to advance and check them at advantageous positions. There May struck a sudden blow in a brief engagement, freed all thirty-five soldiers taken by Toland at Abb’s Valley, killed eight of Toland’s men, and captured twenty, as well as a number of citizens and Negroes. The attack reduced the strength of the 34th Regiment Mounted Ohio Volunteer Infantry to 802 officers and men, while Confederate losses are unknown. Despite the assault, Toland pressed on toward Wytheville and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, marching into Wytheville on July 18, 1863, by the Stony Fork Road.

Photo: Don Morfe

Photo: Don Morfe