When the Civil War Came to Roanoke's Backyard

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Kevin C. Donovan

Forever on guard.

RCWRT - April 1865: The Role of Stoneman's Cavalry in the Danville & Martinsville Area (Or, When the Civil War Came to Roanoke’s Backyard)

In The Band’s 1960’s classic ballad The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, “Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train, till Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again…” Did you ever wonder about the real story behind those lyrics? Who was Stoneman, and what was his cavalry doing in Roanoke’s backyard during the Civil War? The answer is an intriguing story of the last days of the war in our region.

On April 2, 1865, Confederate president Jefferson Davis, along with the entire Confederate government, was forced to flee the capital at Richmond due to Gen. Robert E. Lee’s retreat from nearby Petersburg. Davis and his cabinet boarded trains and headed southwest towards the burgeoning town of Danville, an important town for the Confederacy. Arriving on April 3, it was in Danville where Davis and his cabinet would set up a makeshift capital and attempt to maintain the Confederate States government’s operations. Little did they know though that just one week later on April 9, Robert E. Lee would surrender his forces at Appomattox Court House. But even before that, Davis and his entourage had to face another threat.

Four thousand federal cavalry under Maj. Gen. George Stoneman were on a wide-ranging raid throughout Southwest Virginia. On April 5 a column of the U.S. troopers occupied Christiansburg. They tore up rail tracks and burned the depot there, then moved on to burn bridges in Radford and Big Lick (modern day Roanoke) and elsewhere, camping in Salem before proceeding south. On the morning of April 8, just 20 some miles to the west of the new Confederate capital and its refugee political leaders, a detachment of Stoneman’s cavalry led an attack against Confederate forces in Martinsville, with their sights set on an unguarded Danville. What would become of Davis, his cabinet, and any last hope of escape?

To answer the question and present this intriguing but little-known story about the Civil War in our own backyard, on Tuesday, November 11, the Roanoke Civil War Round Table—winner of a 2024 Kegley Award for Heritage Education [see https://roanokepreservation.org/preservation-awards/]—will host Jarred Marlowe.

Jarred Marlowe is a historian who currently lives in Collinsville, Virginia. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from the Virginia Military Institute and master’s degree from Johnson University. Jarred is a member of the Col. George Waller Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and the Social Media Director of the Blue & Gray Education Society.

Date, Time & Location: Tuesday, November 11 (7:00 pm), Chapel of the Residents’ Center at Friendship, 397 Hershberger Road, Roanoke, VA, 24012. Admission $5.00 for Non-Round Table Members (and becoming a Round Table member is welcome).