SWANNANOA GAP ENGAGEMENT
★ ★ ★
Blocking the Way
STONEMAN’S RAID
On March 24. 1865, Union Gen. Geage Staianan led 6,000 ankyma from Tennessee into souttmestem Urgnia
and Heston Noth Cadwa to disnipt the Confedoate supply fate by destroying sections of the \irgna and
Tennessee Rairoad, the North Carina Railroad. and the Pierknont Radroad. He stnid at Boone on Modi 28, headed
into Virginia on Apr! 2, and returned to Nath Carofina a week lata. Staianan s Raid aided at Ashetie ai April 26,
the day that Confederate Gen. Joseph L Johnston smendaed to Union Gen. ttfan t Sherman near Durham.
On April 20, 1865, Union
Gen. Alvan C. Gillem, leading
two of Gen. George Stone-
man’s brigades, attempted
to cross the Blue Ridge at
Swannanoa Gap en route to
Asheville. Confederate Gen.
James G. Martin sent his
entire command to the gap
and stopped Gillem at Royal
Gorge (in front of you to the left). Pvt. Charles
White recalled, “Our Home Guard got busy on
the mountain sides and cut big trees across the
roads leading to Swannanoa and Lakey’s Gaps.
We succeeded in making a barricade that no cav¬
alry force would soon cross or clear away, but
those of us (25 or 30) working on the road to the
Gen. Alvan C. Gillem
Library of Congress
Swannanoa Gap were trapped in the gorge by
a too early appearance of a part of Stoneman’s
men and were quickly taken prisoners.” Gillem,
who reported Swannanoa Gap “effectually block¬
aded and defended,” left Col. John K. Miller’s
brigade to hold the Confederates in place with
feigned attacks while he led the rest of his men
to Rutherfordton, 40 miles south of here.
Two days later, the raiders approached
Asheville after “a forced march of sixty-nine
miles” through Rutherford, Polk and Henderson
Counties. Then, wrote White, “The Yankees got
word of General Lee’s | April 9 1 surrender and
soon all of their prisoners were given freedom to
go where they chose.” The 17 -year-old White
returned to his home on the Broad River while
Stoneman’s raiders continued toward Asheville.
“I regarded the possession of one of the
gaps of the Blue Ridge as being absolutely
necessary to the safety of my command.”
— Gen. Alvan C. Gillem
MYSTERY CRAVE
Near here is a mysterious grave.
Its occupant is unknown, and Con¬
federate veterans told two conflict¬
ing stories about it. In one version,
a Union scout was stabbed in a
scuffle with a Home Guardsman.
The other scouts retreated, calling
out to him. “Come on. Bill." The Home Guard buried the man with
a crude gravestone inscribed “Bill." According to the other account,
a Union deserter named Carver, en route from Asheville to Morganton
with other prisoners, overpowered and shot a guard named Bledsoe
while resting at a Swannanoa Gap spring. Carver was shot and killed,
too. One version says that both men were buried on the site, while
another says that Carver was buried there and Bledsoe returned to
Asheville. In 1914. the Winston-Salem Union Republican claimed that
Carver was exhumed and buried in a Henderson County churchyard.
To Hillsville, Wytheville, Christiansburg,
and Martinsville, Va. (April 2-101
Morristown
(March 231
„
F<?rt Wilkesboro
J™mbv . (March 291
(March
Caison House APfil 151
(April 19}
Taylorsville
(April 141
N
Asheville
(April 26)
? You Arc Here
T Howard sVAP,il2°l
I Gap
I (April 221
Hendersonville
(April 231
X
Morganton
(April 17>
Hickory
(April 15}
Statesville
(April 13}
Salent
(April 10}
Lincolnton
. (April 16}
Salisbury
(April 12}
-ff Civil War
Trails Site
Rutherfordton
(April 21}
Л
Route of Stonemans Raid in
Tfennessee. Virginia, and North
Carolina, March-April 1865.
