Union Camp

Union Camp. Prelude to Battle of Droop Mountain. On November 5, 1863, Union Gen. William W. Averell established his command post and camp on the wide plain in front of you known as the Little Levels. Averell came here with his combined force of infantry and cavalry while conducting a raid on the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. He also hoped to cut off and defeat Confederate Col. William L. Jackson’s 750-man force in the area. After a skirmish at Mill Point three miles north of here, Jackson and his men fell back through here to the summit of Droop Mountain and began to construct defensive works as Averell pushed south on the Lewisburg road to this point. Confederate Gen John Echols arrived on the mountain with reinforcements and took command., While camped here, Averell developed his plan of attack. Under cover of artillery fire on November 6, he sent one column to climb the northern flank of Droop Mountain and demonstrate against the Confederate center. Meanwhile the remainder of his force made its way along a little-known route that passed west of Hillsboro and struck the flank. The Confederate line collapsed after an hour and a half of fighting, and the men fled down the south slope of Droop Mountain. The Union victory broke the Confederates’ hold on the area; they never again conducted a significant campaign there. It also made Federal railroad raids into Virginia and the railroad more likely., "Around 6 o'clock, we were all sitting around the breakfast table unaware of there being any soldiers in our neighborhood, when we heard the firing of army guns just outside the house." - County resident Calvin L. Stulting, then eight years old, and later the uncle of noted writer Pearl S. Buck, (Sidebr): The house of Col. Paul McNeal, who had been a county delegate in the Virginia Secession Convention in 1861 and whose son was a Confederate officer, stood within sight of the camp.