The price of freedom: the battle of Saltville and the massacre of the Fifth United States Colored Cavalry

Abstract

The battle of Saltville Va. (Oct. 3, 1864) and the subsequent massacre of wounded prisoners from the 5th United States Colored Cavalry has been a neglected and misinterpreted topic. The narrative follows the Federal advance from Kentucky to southwest Virginia including Confederate delaying actions. The work studies the Southern victory and the massacre in detail and introduces new evidence that clarifies the extent of the carnage. The study rates Saltville as the worst battlefield atrocity of the American Civil War.