War Preservation Trust names Yadkin River Bridge Battlefield one
of America's 25 Most Endangered Cviil War Battlefields in 2008
and 2009. What You Can Do ... STONEMAN'S RAID: SALISBURY AND THE
YADKIN RIVER BRIDGE Facing the Yanks at Grant's Creek The people
of Salisbury awoke at first light on April 12, 1865. The distant
sounds of exploding artillery shells announced that Stoneman's
dreaded raiders had, at last, reached their doorstep. The Yadkin
House [Mansion House] hotel shook with every volley, and the
glass window This day, and part of the next, would be the most
terrifying they would ever know. As Margaret Beall Ramsey later
recalled, "Truly 'the despot's heel was at the door.'"2 For
months, Salisbury had braced for the invasion of Union troops.
William T. Sherman was marching through the eastern part of
North Carolina. Time would tell that Joseph E. Johnston would
surrender at Bennet Place on April 26th, and that Sherman would
not reach the Piedmont. Major General George Stoneman, an
imposing figure, c