On the evening of 27 June 1863, Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, operating well east of Gen. Robert E. Lee, consolidated three brigades of about 5,000 cavalry and horse artillery here. Separated from Lee by the vast Union army crossing the Potomac River just upstream at Edwards Ferry, Stuart's command traveled this road toward the treacherous and little-known Rowser's Ford. Under total darkness, Stuart's troopers completed their crossing of the half-mile-wide, rain-swollen Potomac in the early hours of 28 June. This crossing was one of several obstacles that inhibited Stuart's timely arrival at Gettysburg.
