Yadkinville in Yadkin County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

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Raiding Huntsville

Feeding and Pillaging

— Stoneman's Raid —

Raiding Huntsville Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Michael C. Wilcox, April 17, 2012

1. Raiding Huntsville Marker

Inscription.

Raiding Huntsville. Feeding and Pillaging. , On March 24, 1865, Union Gen. George Stoneman led 6,000 cavalrymen from Tennessee into southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina to disrupt the Confederate supply line by destroying sections of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, the North Carolina Railroad, and the Piedmont Railroad. He struck at Boone on March 28, headed into Virginia on April 2, and returned to North Carolina a week later. Stoneman's Raid ended at Asheville on April 26, the day that Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham. , , On April 9, 1865, Union Gen. William Jackson Palmer, commanding one of Gen. George Stoneman's cavalry brigades, led his men west from Salem to the Yadkin River. They camped for 36 hours on the east bank of the Shallow Ford Plantation, home of Confederate Congressman Richard C. Puryear. Puryear's daughter Betty Puryear Gibson, recalled that Palmer's soldiers found "everything sent to the woods for safety." What the soldiers could not eat, they carried away., The Carolina Watchman reported that "a small force of Yankees" entered Huntsville, just down the road ahead of you, "yesterday morning [April 11] at 6 o'clock." The Federals surprised the Home Guard, which fled, abandoning a hundred new Enfield muskets. In Huntsville, the cavalry burned the Red Store but spared the Kelly-Clingman Tavern and the White House, where U.S. Congressman Thomas Lanier Clingman (later a Confederate general) grew to manhood. During the raid, Clingman was at Shallow Ford Plantation recuperating from a wound he received in 1864., Near here, Mrs. Sarah Byrd Dalton, a Union sympathizer, was asked to serve breakfast for fifteen officers. As hungry enlisted men continued to arrive, she eventually fed a hundred Federals, and her corncrib supplied some of the almost 4,000 horses in the Union herd. The U.S. government later reimbursed her., Union soldiers pillaged the nearby house of plantation owner Joseph Anthony Bitting, while Federals attempted to rob Greenberry "Berry" Harding's dwelling. When Harding, recovering there from wounds, shot and killed on intruder, the other fled.

On March 24, 1865, Union Gen. George Stoneman led 6,000 cavalrymen from Tennessee into southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina to disrupt the Confederate supply line by destroying sections of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, the North Carolina Railroad, and the Piedmont Railroad. He struck at Boone on March 28, headed into Virginia on April 2, and returned to North Carolina a week later. Stoneman's Raid ended at Asheville on April 26, the day that Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union Gen. William T. Sherman near Durham.

On April 9, 1865, Union Gen. William Jackson Palmer, commanding one of Gen. George Stoneman's cavalry brigades, led his men west from Salem to the Yadkin River. They camped for 36 hours on the east bank of the Shallow Ford Plantation, home of Confederate Congressman Richard C. Puryear. Puryear's daughter Betty Puryear Gibson, recalled that Palmer's soldiers found "everything sent to the woods for safety." What the soldiers could not eat, they carried away.

The Carolina Watchman reported that "a small force of Yankees" entered Huntsville, just down the road ahead

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of you, "yesterday morning [April 11] at 6 o'clock." The Federals surprised the Home Guard, which fled, abandoning a hundred new Enfield muskets. In Huntsville, the cavalry burned the Red Store but spared the Kelly-Clingman Tavern and the White House, where U.S. Congressman Thomas Lanier Clingman (later a Confederate general) grew to manhood. During the raid, Clingman was at Shallow Ford Plantation recuperating from a wound he received in 1864.

Near here, Mrs. Sarah Byrd Dalton, a Union sympathizer, was asked to serve breakfast for fifteen officers. As hungry enlisted men continued to arrive, she eventually fed a hundred Federals, and her corncrib supplied some of the almost 4,000 horses in the Union herd. The U.S. government later reimbursed her.

Union soldiers pillaged the nearby house of plantation owner Joseph Anthony Bitting, while Federals attempted to rob Greenberry "Berry" Harding's dwelling. When Harding, recovering there from wounds, shot and killed on intruder, the other fled.

Erected by Civil War Trails.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Civil. In addition,

Photographed by Michael C. Wilcox, April 17, 2012

2. Raiding Huntsville Marker

it is included in the North Carolina Civil War Trails series list. A significant historical month for this entry is March 1866.

Location. Marker has been permanently removed. It was located near 36° 4.95′ N, 80° 31.76′ W. Marker was in Yadkinville, North Carolina, in Yadkin County. It was at the intersection of Courtney-Huntsville Road and Farmington Road, on the left on Courtney-Huntsville Road. Touch for map. Marker was at or near this postal address: 5104 Courtney-Huntsville Rd, Yadkinville NC 27055, United States of America.

We have been informed that this marker is no longer there and will not be replaced. This page is an archival view of what was.

Regionally, this marker was in North Carolina’s Piedmont.

It was also in the American South

and specifically in the Upper South.

Globally, it was in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it found itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within

Missing Raiding Huntsville Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Mark Parker, April 16, 2025

3. Missing Raiding Huntsville Marker

6 miles of this location, measured as the crow flies: Historic Huntsville Methodist Church (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); Shallow Ford (approx. 1.1 miles away); Stoneman's Raid (approx. 1.2 miles away); Jones Grocery Store (approx. 2.4 miles away); Daniel Boone / Greene and Cornwalis (approx. 4.6 miles away); Brock Memorial (approx. 5.1 miles away); Concord United Methodist Church (approx. 5.1 miles away); New Hope AME Zion Church (approx. 5½ miles away).

Credits. This page was last revised on April 24, 2025. It was originally submitted on April 20, 2012, by Michael C. Wilcox of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This page has been viewed 1,619 times since then and 60 times this year. Last updated on April 16, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 20, 2012, by Michael C. Wilcox of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 3. submitted on April 16, 2025, by Mark Parker of Hickory, North Carolina. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.