Near this site on March 1, 1864, Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry engaged Brig. Gen. George A. Custer's Union cavalry in what is called locally the Battle of Stanardsville. To divert Stuart from Richmond, Custer led his troopers down this road to Charlottesville, destroying the railroad bridge over the Rivanna River there and breaking communications between Gordonsville and Lynchburg. Passing through Stanardsville again after the raid, taking prisoners and burning Confederate supplies, Custer fought a brief engagement with Stuart, then pressed on toward Orange Court House. Custer's postwar military career ended at the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana in 1876.