Cedar Bluff

Cedar Bluff. Cedar Bluff Blockade. , On September 30, 1864, Union Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge arrived in Cedar Bluff en route from eastern Kentucky to Saltville, Virginia. Burbridge led an army of 5200 men to raid the small town and capture the important saltworks located there. Confederate Gen. Edwin Trimble, warned by scouts who had spotted the advancing Union troops, met the Union advance in Cedar Bluff with a force of 400 men known as the 10th Kentucky-Virginia Cavalry. Trimble attempted to blockade the Union forces in the pass near the Cedar Bluff Post Office, resulting in a battle that delayed the Union advance for most of that day. The action gained time for Confederate reinforcements to reach Saltville. , During the afternoon, the post office and the home of Thomas M. Scott, the postmaster, were raided. Union soldiers also broke into the McGuire home in Cedar Bluff, plundering and stealing food. The front door of this home, which was damaged by the rifle bayonets of the Union soldiers, is on permanent display in the Civil War Exhibit at the Historic Crab Orchard Museum near Tazewell. , The casualty total is not known, but at least one Union soldier was killed and buried. Later he was disinterred and taken back to Kentucky. Trimble was killed at Saltville just days later, October 2, 1864, and is buried in the Maplewood Cemetery in nearby Tazewell. The historic Jones Chapel Cemetery in Cedar Bluff contains the marked grave sites of several Confederate soldiers.