Battle of Marion
1864 CE.
Shown on the map at 36.852°, -81.487°.
The Battle of Marion was an action that occurred on December 17–18, 1864, during the American Civil War. The fight took place in southwestern Virginia's Smyth County near Marion. A Union Army under the command of Major General George Stoneman defeated a smaller Confederate Army under the command of Major General John C. Breckinridge. The fight was mostly a stalemate for about 36 hours as the Confederate troops held better field position. After realizing that his force was nearly surrounded and low on ammunition, Breckinridge stealthily withdrew his troops during the night, escaping to the south before heading east. The fight at Marion was one of several conflicts that occurred during a Union expedition known as Stoneman's 1864 raid. The objective of the raid was the destruction of Confederate economic and transport infrastructure—salt mines, lead mines, and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. All three were important to the Confederacy's war effort. After the victory at Marion, Union forces advanced to the salt mines and defeated a small militia in the Second Battle of Saltville. The lead mines and railroad infrastructure had already been ravaged.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Marion, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.