After Gettysburg, Confederate troops led by General J.E.B. Stuart engaged Union forces under General John Buford in order to mask entrenching operations along the Potomac River by General R. E. Lee. The day-long battle east of the road resulted in 479 casualties. The Chaney house served as a hospital, and at the Keller home Major H.D. McDaniel, later Governor of Georgia, survived his wounds.