During the Civil War, most Confederate states operated furnaces or contracted with operators in Saltville to supply salt for their people, and salt was vital as a preservative for food. A first Federal attempt to destroy the saltworks failed after a fierce battle in October 1864 north of town at Cedar Branch. On December 20, 1864, during his raid through southwest Virginia, U.S. Gen. George Stoneman launched another attempt by attacking Saltville from two directions: U.S. Gen. Alvin Gillem advanced from Glade Spring along the railroad entering the southern end of the valley, and U.S. Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge advanced by the Pike Road from the east. That afternoon Union skirmishers came close to the defending forts, held by only a few hundred Confederate reserve troops, but could not break through the valley's defenses. After nightfall some of Gillem's troops overran Ft. Breckenridge, opening the way into the valley and beginning the destruction of the saltworks, though Burbridge's force did not join them until early the next morning. Federal troops broke hundreds of kettles, burned many of the 300 structures in the valley, dismantled two locomotives, and choked wells with cannonballs and railroad steel. Confederate Col. Robert Preston retreated from Saltville up the North Road with three cannon and the rest of his reserve troops. In bitterly cold weather, the Union army withdrew from Saltville on December 22, and within a few weeks the furnaces were fired again and salt was once more being produced for the Confederacy.