Pilot Mountain, North Carolina

Virginia Dave

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Jan 3, 2019
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Waynesboro, Virginia
My father was from Mt. Airy NC, and I remember driving by Pilot Mountain when I was a small child. Later in life while traveling on business I had the opportunity to visit and took a few photos. One of which is posted here. The other is off of the internet concerning a battle in that area. I have only been able to find information on Pilot Knob in Missouri. Do anyone here have any information on this battle? Thanks
Pilot Mtn.jpg

Pilot mtn and Civil War.jpg
 
This article has a section about a "true account of the Battle of Pilot Mountain that never happened"
Wonderful information and the answer about the canon at the end.

But what about the cannon picture? We know that no Union troops were ever near Pilot Mountain. So whose cannon is that? My wild guess: The local Home Guard heard that Stoneman was on his way. Of course, they had no idea what they were up against, so they decided to watch and defend the two main north-south roads, one the current US 601 that connects Dobson with Mt. Airy, the other the current US 52, connecting Winston-Salem and Mt. Airy. If you look at the picture, you can see that the road at the bottom of the hill roughly corresponds with US 52. So the Home Guard went out there with what looks like a six pounder mountain cannon, determined to take on Stoneman’s 6,000 cavalrymen. Fortunately for them, Stoneman’s troops never came. The war soon ended. We have no way of dating the picture. The cannon may have remained there for years, even decades. But the picture is as real as all the horrors of war. At least we can rest easy that the mule down below was never really in danger.
 
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