Hickory Nut Gorge - Chimney Rock, NC
Posted by: 
geodave88
N 35° 26.250 W 082° 14.472
17S E 387341 N 3922269
News of Jefferson Davis’s flight thru North Carolina and Johnston’s surrender at Durham (April 26, 1865) reached Union Gen. George Stoneman’s raiders near here while en route to Asheville. Troops camped here were then ordered to pursue Davis.
Waymark Code: WM5A6W
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 12/05/2008
Views: 22
Union Gen. Alvan C. Gillem led two brigades of Gen. George Stoneman's raiders into Rutherfordton County after finding his planned route to Asheville blocked at Swannanoa Gap on April 20, 1965. Gillem rode on to Hendersonville and ordered Col. William J. Palmer to set up headquarters in Rutherfordton, then follow Gillem's force. On April 26, the day Confederate Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered near Durham, Palmer's brigade marched about ten miles west of Rutherfordton and bivouacked, then rode another sixteen miles to Hickory Nut Gorge and the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The next day, Stoneman, having learned that Confederate President Jefferson Davis had fled south from Richmond, ordered Palmer to discontinue his march to Asheville and join in the pursuit of Davis: "Follow him to the ends of the earth, if necessary, and never give him up." Palmer, made a temporary general, turned around his disappointed men who had thought they were going home, marched down the mountain through the gorge, passed through Rutherfordton and then across Island Ford to the head of the Savannah River via Spartanburg. He continued the pursuit until May 15 when he learned that Davis had been captured in Georgia.
During this period, passage for wheeled vehicles through the gorge was difficult, and only rough roads and natural gaps provided access to the mountains, which sheltered both Union and Confederate deserters who hid by day and foraged by night. Others who used gaps such as Hickory Nut included escaped Union soldiers from Confederate prisons at Columbia and Salisbury en route to friendly lines in Tennessee.
"Our march today was through the grandest scenery... through Hickory Nut Gap. ...It was so imposing that the usual chat of the riders was hushed."
-Capt. Harry K. Weand, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry
Type of site: Transportation Route or Facility
Address:
Chimney Rock Village, NC
Admission Charged: No Charge
Website: [Web Link]
Driving Directions:
CWT sign located on Route 74A in the Chimney Rock Village.
Phone Number: Not listed
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