A month after the Battle of Antietam, on October 10-11, 1862, Confederate Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart was ordered through Maryland to Pennsylvania to destroy bridges, gather supplies, and take hostages for later exchange for Confederates and southern sympathizers held by the Union. After procuring Federal property and supplies in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Stuart's cavalry column of 1,800 men, four pieces of artillery, 1,000 confiscated horses, and 30 military and civilian hostages reentered Maryland and passed through Woodsboro on the night of October 11 on the return route to Virginia. On that rainy fall evening, five young men returning home from a nearby meeting in Woodsboro rode into the passing cavalry column and were made prisoners by the Confederate raiders. John H. Custshall, George Myrers, Joseph Ebberts, and James and John Ledgewood were taken to Richmond, Virginia, and held until October 23, when they were exchanged and returned home.