On the next day, skirmishing erupted at a Virginia & Tennessee Railroad bridge located about eight miles (13 km) east of the Dublin Depot.

[10] Grant ordered Brigadier General George Crook to attack the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad, including its bridge over the New River.

[15][Note 3] A potential target for Averell was the Austin lead mine located south of Wytheville in Wythe County.

[27][Note 5] When Grant met with Crook in March, he emphasized that he wanted the railroad's infrastructure destroyed in multiple places.

[41][Note 6] All three regiments at Cloyd's Mountain, and Colonel John McCausland, had gained experience in 1862 when they fought in the Kanawha Valley Campaign.

Trees were burned as the troops moved over the mountains to provide a smokescreen that concealed the size and movement of Crook's force.

[58] Brigadier General John H. Morgan and his brigade were relieved from duty in eastern Tennessee and ordered to report to Breckinridge.

[60] In correspondence dated May 4, Breckinridge was told by Confederate president Jefferson Davis to communicate with General Lee and protect Staunton against Sigel's army advancing south in the valley.

[61][Note 9] Breckinridge began moving most of his troops to Staunton via the Virginia Central Railroad's western terminal at Jackson River Depot.

When Crook's Union infantry arrived at Princeton on May 6, he encountered a small cavalry company that fled after token resistance—instead of an entire brigade.

[73] There had been some debate on placing artillery on top of the mountain and blocking the road, but others worried about losing cannons from a flanking maneuver.

[79] A cavalry detachment of about 750 riders from Brigadier General John H. Morgan's command was supposed to leave Saltville on May 8 by train.

[84] The cavalry attached to the 1st Brigade remained back "a mile or two" (1.6 to 3.2 km) protecting the rear and guarding the wagon train.

[90] According to the report of Colonel Daniel D. Johnson, commander of the 14th West Virginia, the Confederate infantry fighters were so well protected by a breastworks composed of logs and fence rails that fire from the guns could be seen—but no soldiers.

[91] Observing the Union retreat, Jenkins ordered Beckley's command, with support from two companies of the 45th Virginia Infantry, to counterattack.

Because of the woods and brush, Jenkins did not know that the 9th West Virginia and 91st Ohio Infantries were waiting behind a ridge to the rear of the two attacking regiments.

Confederate home guard and the 60th Virginia Infantry, unaware of the situation on their extreme right, left their fortifications to meet Hayes' soldiers.

Lieutenant Colonel E. H. Harman, who was commanding the left wing of the 45th Virginia Infantry, was mortally wounded shortly after the link up.

[99] McCausland reformed the 36th Virginia (with remnants of other units) for the purpose of delaying the Union pursuit, and he was assisted by one of the artillery pieces from the Ringgold Battery.

[101] Colonel John H. Oley commanded the cavalry detachment that consisted of portions of multiple regiments with horses that were not in good condition.

McCausland had Smith place his troopers near the road to protect the retreat, and they were initially effective in stopping the Union pursuit.

[104] Waiting to assist McCausland on the west side of the bridge was the Botetourt Artillery, which did not fight in the battle at Cloyd's farm.

He had his force cross the bridge to the east side, and it took five hours to move six pieces from the Botetourt Artillery across the river by boat.

[106] When Crook's soldiers entered the Dublin Depot, they found some telegraph dispatches (possibly planted) that incorrectly indicated Grant had been repulsed and was retreating in eastern Virginia.

Two guns from Union Captain David W. Glassie's 1st Kentucky Battery were able to hit the railway roundhouse at the railroad's Central Depot, which was about one mile (1.6 km) away.

[109] Believing that a Union infantry force had crossed the river at another location in an attempted flanking maneuver, McCausland withdrew toward Christiansburg.

[111] Averell's cavalry was unable to attack the salt works or lead mines, and was repelled in the Battle of Cove Mountain on May 10.

[114] Discounting early skirmishing and the pursuit, estimates of the duration of the main portion of the battle range from slightly less than one hour to 90 minutes.

[118] Union casualties listed in Crook's report, which include the skirmishes on May 8 and 10 (New River Bridge) in addition to the battle on May 9, total to 688.

[120] The 5th and 7th West Virginia cavalry detachments had no casualties listed despite a regimental history describing "riderless horses" and McCausland reporting them "repulsed with considerable loss".