Battle of Cloyd's Mountain

The battle of Cloyd's Mountain. All that's left in remembrance of this Civil War battle is this sign, smack dab in the middle of the road near Dublin, VA. 

Just down the road from Virginia Tech, lies a piece of history that often gets overlooked in the textbooks. You drive by the battlefield today and all you will find is a residential area, cow pasture, and a lonely creek. We wouldn't even have known about it, had it not been for the locals. 

What a treasure it is to speak to those whose families have lived in these hills for decades and are willing to share the stories of the past. While standing in the valley of a historic battle where hundreds of men died in just one hour, our feet stood where a pond used to be. Union soldiers stood on one side. The Confederates on the other. As we listened to the stories of the landowners, you could see the bullets flying, soldiers charging and bodies covering the battlefield as those willing to share their knowledge took us back into history. 

"Over there was a hospital where the wounded would be taken," one man shared as he pointed to a nearby hill. "Over there, you would be able to walk across the creek without your feet getting wet because of a the dead bodies piled in the ford," one man said his great-grandmother remembered as a child.

Though there is not much to see, there is much to learn. 

And dig.

We received permission from one land owner to metal detect to see if we could find any Civil War relics. "Sure, but we get asked that question so often, it's been detected to death- I doubt you'll find anything!"

We figure we would try. Within the first hour, we found the best find of the day, a Confederate Gardner Civil War bullet. Shortly after that, my son found a knapsack hook from that time period as well. We were pretty excited to find these pieces of history and will certainly be back. Once we get these relics cleaned up, I'll be sure to share them with you!