Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/99

Rh a large quantity of army stores, and also some railroad bridges and factories, Hunter's command pushed on to Liberty. The force consisted of the brigades Hunter had originally had with him and also the commands under General Crook and General Averil. The determination was to give the enemy no time to safeguard the railroads. Averil's cavalry had already destroyed large portions of the Lynchburg and Charlottesville railroad, and now the united forces moved in the direction of Lynchburg.

But for once the Union commanders had not calculated truly about the force of the enemy to be overcome. From Richmond Lee had sent reënforcements to Lynchburg. These came up on the 17th of June, and a skirmish took place, which was renewed on the day following. Hunter was short of ammunition, and fearing the enemy was now too strong for him, started to withdraw. The Confederates followed to Salem, captured a number of guns, and then Hunter fell back to a position in the mountains. By the South this was claimed as a victory.

It was at Salem that the Twenty-third Ohio had a severe brush with the enemy.