Campbell's Choice | Big Stone Gap Publishing

Samuel Truehart Who Fought at Saltville with the
5th U.S. Colored Cav.

The Confederate defenders were under the command of Gen. John Breckenridge, among whose troops was a cavalry Capt. Champ Ferguson. Breckenridge had been Vice President of the United States. These troops were also largely from Kentucky. The officer in charge of the onsite defense was General Alfred E. “Mudwall” Jackson, who laid out the earthworks. Not knowing if the Union attack would come from the west, as it later did with Stoneman, or from the south, or the northeast, the entire Town of Saltville was encircled with defensive forts and earth works. To this day these earthworks are admired as the best example of West Point textbook defensive structures of that era yet in existence.

But Burbridge chose to descend the North Fork of the Holston from near its source. Even though the river meanders some within its narrow valley, the valley itself is straight and unforgiving. Clinch Mountain lies to its north, and Walker’s Mountain to its south. As the river and valley approach Saltville the passage is further constricted by Little Mountain between the river and Clinch Mountain, and Chestnut Ridge between the River and Walker’s Mountain, where Cedar Branch crosses the road. This arrangement allows for no room for an attacking force to maneuver, or to turn the defender’s flanks. It was head on or nothing.

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CAMPBELL'S CHOICE	Page
INTRODUCTION	1
SALTVILLE GEOLOGY	1
SALTVILLE INDIANS	4
LEGAL MECHANISMS OF LAND TITLE OWNERSHIP IN VA.	6
THE SETTLEMENT OF SALTVILLE	13
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AROUND SALTVILLE BETWEEN THE PIONEER PERIOD AND THE CIVIL WAR	27
SALTVILLE IN THE CIVIL WAR	31
AFTER THE WAR	47
A MODERN CHEMICAL FACTORY	52
EPILOGUE	57
BIBLIOGRAPHY	61
INDEX	66

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