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The Selective Telling of the Saltville Massacre
Most People Have Never Heard of It
I’d never heard of the Saltville Massacre until Rahab Mitchell mentioned it in response to another story. It took place in Saltville, VA, in an Appalachian Mountain valley. Two major Civil War battles were fought there, referred to as the First and Second Battles of Saltville. The Confederate Army won the first battle, with Union soldiers taking the second.
During the first battle, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Stephen G. Burbridge, then commander of U.S. forces in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, led the U.S. Army troops, including two Black cavalry units of the United States Colored Troops. Horses were a valuable commodity during the war, and it especially enraged Confederate soldiers to see Black men mounted. The Southerners were upset to see white men fighting alongside colored soldiers. Gen. Burbridge was there to destroy the saltworks that provided salt to much of the Confederate army. Saltville was the largest salt mine under Confederate control; sales in 1864 exceeded $100 million.
With the battle in full swing and the Black cavalry on the front lines. Gen. Burbridge received word from Gen. Sherman his troops were urgently needed elsewhere. He hastily retreated, leaving his wounded soldiers on the battlefield. When the rebel army retook the field, they killed…
