Second Battle of Saltville
1864 battle of the American Civil War
The Second Battle of Saltville (December 20–21, 1864), was fought near the town of Saltville, Virginia, during the American Civil War. The battle was a Union victory, and marked the end of a Union excursion known as Stoneman's 1864 raid or Stoneman's raid into Southwest Virginia. The Union objective at Saltville was to destroy a salt works that produced over half of the salt used by the Confederacy to preserve meat—including that used to supply the Army of Northern Virginia.
After the defeat of Brevet Major General Stephen G. Burbridge's expedition against Saltville (First Battle of Saltville) earlier in the year, Union Major General George Stoneman reassembled a force to again try to destroy the saltworks there. Stoneman's force included Burbridge's Division and a brigade under Brigadier General Alvan C. Gillem. Starting in Tennessee and moving to Southwestern Virginia, Stoneman defeated a Confederate force in Virginia's Battle of Marion on the December 17–18. In that battle, Union forces drove away a Confederate force commanded by Major General John C. Breckinridge.
After the action at Marion, Stoneman's force advanced to Saltville. Breckinridge was not present, but he had 500 men at Saltville under the command of Colonel Robert Preston. Union Brigadier General Gillem led the Union advance and attacked first.
The public source identifies “Second Battle of Saltville” as 1864 battle of the American Civil War. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Second, Battle and Saltville.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3477167. Authority coordinates are 36.865, -81.767. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1864.
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This entry incorporates text from “Second Battle of Saltville” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.