Battle of Wytheville

Battle of Wytheville. St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery. , Behind St. John's Lutheran Church to your right lies the church cemetery, where Union soldiers were buried after being killed in the Battle of Wytheville., On July 18, 1863, Union Col. John Toland led a raiding force over the mountains to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad near Wytheville, an effort that climaxed with the battle in the city streets. The Union troops withdrew the next day, leaving behind their dead, including Col. Toland., Another Union officer, Capt. Dennis Delaney, was killed in the fighting, along with between 7-14 enlisted men (reports varied). Thirty years after the battle, a Wytheville Dispatch reporter wrote that "seven of the attacking forces lay in the streets dead" the following morning, and that "Colonel Toland and one other officer [were] buried at the Catholic cemetery, and the other Federal dead men were interred at the Lutheran cemetery, by St. John's Church.", According to local history, those enlisted men were buried, and still remain, in a mass grave behind the church, near a stand of hemlocks.,

"If we had not given them that blow, there is no telling what they would have done. Had Colonel Toland lived, the lead mines, the salt works, and the railroad bridges near Wytheville would have been at their mercy." , - Rev. J.M. Whatley, one of the civilian volunteers who fought in the battle

, [Sidebar:] , "Madness to attempt anything more" , Although they captured Wytheville, Union troops did little damage to the railroad. Union. Col. William Franklin, who was left in command after Toland was killed and the second-in-command, Col. William H. Powell, was wounded, knew Confederate reinforcements were swarming to the area, and felt it would be madness to attempt anything more and risk the capture or destruction of the command. The Union troops left Wytheville early on the morning of July 19 and reached the safety of Union lines on July 23., [Captions:] , Union Col. William Powell was seriously wounded by friendly fire during the battle., This is Step 6 of 6-stop trail following the story of the Wytheville Raid.