The Battle of Lynchburg was fought on June 17–18, 1864, as part of the American Civil War. Over 30,000 soldiers were at the battle, including cavalry and infantry. The fighting took place outside of Lynchburg, Virginia. The Union Army of West Virginia, commanded by Major General David Hunter, attempted to capture the city. Hunter took too much time moving his force to Lynchburg; allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive to defend the city. Hunter was repulsed by troops under the command of Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early. A portion of Early's troops arrived on the first day the battle. Following the battle, Confederate troops pursued the Union army as it retreated into West Virginia.
Lynchburg was important to the Confederate Army. It had three railroads, a navigable canal, military hospitals, and was a distribution center for food and military supplies. Telecommunication lines strung along the railroads enabled Confederate military headquarters in Richmond to communicate with regional headquarters in western Virginia and Tennessee. Because of its importance, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant wanted Hunter to attack the city and its railroads.
Hunter retreated west into West Virginia after his defeat at Lynchburg. This left the Shenandoah Valley open to the Confederate Army down to Maryland. Early moved down the valley and threatened Washington, DC, until his defeat in the Battle of Fort Stevens on July 11–12. After this battle, which took place less than four miles (6.4 km) from the White House, Early began a retreat back to the Shenandoah Valley. On July 30, cavalry sent by Early, and commanded by Brigadier General John McCausland, moved into Pennsylvania and burned the city of Chambersburg.
During March 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant became commander of all Union armies. Grant's strategy in Virginia was to attack the strongest Confederate army, Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, on multiple fronts. In western Virginia, Grant targeted Lee's support system. Western Virginia provided food and supplies for Lee's army that was positioned near Richmond. Two key depots were Staunton and Lynchburg, which were 99 miles (159 km) apart—and both were over 120 miles (190 km) west of the Confederate capital of Richmond. Both towns were located on railroad lines that were used to transport troops in addition to supplies, so the railroads were also targets for the Union Army.
In the case of Lynchburg, it was the eastern terminus of the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad, and also had the Orange & Alexandria Railroad and South Side Railroad that could be used to get to Richmond. The James River and Kanawha Canal was navigable between Lynchburg and Richmond, offering another (although slower) mode for transportation. Telegraph line enabled communication between Richmond and Lynchburg, and between Lynchburg and Knoxville, Tennessee. Lynchburg was also the storage site for medical supplies and the home of multiple hospitals.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
This page covers Hunter's Raid: Lexington to Lynchburg (Amherst County, 1864). A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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