The battle was part of Union Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's attack upon southwest Virginia, aimed at destroying Confederate industrial infrastructure near Saltville and Marion.

[4] Through two days of fighting, a Confederate force under the command of John C. Breckinridge—totalling 1,200–1,500 infantry and cavalry—was successful in holding defensive positions in and around the town of Marion.

[5][6] On the first day, successive Union attacks were defeated by a well-coordinated Confederate defenses near a covered bridge outside of Marion.

With casualties for both sides approaching 300,[7] Union forces proceeded to destroy the salt mines, lead works, and other beneficial Confederate infrastructure in Marion and Saltville.

As Union forces defeated Confederate armies in the northern reaches of the CSA, Gen. William T. Sherman began his march to the sea, which would eventually succeed in destroying 20% of the agricultural production in Georgia.

[12] In November 1864, George Stoneman—deputy commander of the Department of the Ohio and in charge of all Union cavalry units in eastern Tennessee—proposed an expedition into southwest Virginia to disrupt the production of supplies and facilities beneficial to the Confederacy.

The next day, Stoneman and his cavalry went into camp at Glade Spring, Virginia, which was approximately 13 miles (21 km) west of Marion.

[4] On the night of December 18, Breckinridge and his troops moved out of Saltville, Virginia, in an effort to stem Stoneman's advance.

[21] Taking the regular troops with him, Breckinridge left Col. Robert Preston in charge of the 500 militia men to defend the salt works.

By about 4 a.m., they reached the main road near Seven Mile Ford, Virginia where Breckinridge halted to wait for daylight before continuing.

[23] Stoneman also sent two regiments of cavalry to destroy the lead mines and smelting facilities that were located about 10 miles (16 km) from Wytheville.

[4] As the rest of Breckinridge's troops began to arrive on the scene, Stoneman's soldiers secured elevated positions overlooking the river.

[25] The rest of Giltner's Brigade also joined in the charge, routing the Union soldiers and allowing the Confederate forces to use the defensive positions themselves.

[26] When the Union regiments advanced on the hills, Confederate infantry and cavalry inflicted heavy casualties, slowing Burbridge's progress.

[10] Columns of Union soldiers moved across the fields, subjected to heavy defensive fire from Breckinridge's Confederate forces.

The number of men wounded and killed had depleted his troops to a point that he judged that he could no longer hold back the Union forces at his front lines.

[17] With their supplies destroyed by Stoneman's troops at the towns of Wytheville and Abingdon, there was little hope of being resupplied or reinforced in the near future.

[10] Although the vastly outnumbered Confederates had inflicted casualties and slowed the Union advance on Saltville, they were incapable of halting it.

Finding their own path to Saltville's defenses blocked, Breckinridge and his men retreated further south, while a Union company advanced.

[14] Salt had always been in short supply in Virginia and after the destruction of the salt-mines became "practically nonexistent", giving Lee's sutlers "no means of preserving what little meat they could lay hands on ... for the hungry men in the trenches outside Petersburg and Richmond".

[1] In a memoir, Stoneman wrote that his troops captured 34 officers and 845 enlisted men during the attack into Marion, Virginia.