“S” is for Stoneman's Raid (May 1865). This minor cavalry raid through the South Carolina upstate occurred in the weeks following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the flight of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his cabinet from Richmond, Virginia. In mid-April 1865 General William T. Sherman ordered two brigades of General George Stoneman's federal cavalry into South Carolina to search for Davis and the fugitive confederate government. Entering South Carolina in May 1865 federal troops occupied Greenville and seized Anderson. In Greenville physical damage and civilian casualties were minimal but cavalrymen plundered shops and warehouses along Main Street. In Anderson resistance to the raiders seemed to have been sharper and there were at least two casualties. After evacuating Anderson, the federal units of Stoneman's brigade remaining in South Carolina were ordered back to Tennessee.
“S” is for Stoneman's Raid (May 1865)
