During the Civil War, the Orange & Alexandria Railroad was strategically important to both the Union and Confederate armies, and Sangster's Station was the site of at least two engagements. In March 1862, as Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston abandoned his northern Virginia lines and led his army south to defend Richmond, Union cavalrymen advancing from Alexandria encountered a Confederate rear guard at Sangster's Station on March 9 near the end of the Confederate withdrawal toward the Rappahannock River. During the fight, Lt. Henry B. Hidden of the 1st New York (Lincoln) Cavalry was killed while leading 14 dragoons in a charge, and the Confederates continued to withdraw. On the evening of December 17, 1863, during a winter lightning storm, Confederate cavalry of the Laurel Brigade, guided by local soldiers of the Chinquapin Rangers, attacked Sangster's Station and captured a Union stockade fort guarding the railroad there. The raid had begun near Fredericksburg and ended in the Shenandoah Valley, and along the way some troopers drowned crossing swollen waterways while others had their soaked clothing freeze to their saddles as cold rain turned to snow and sleet. In 1849, Edward and Mary Sangster sold part of their land to the Orange & Alexandria Railroad Company, a station house was built nearby, a post office opened in March 1852, and the county poor farm was located at Sangster's from 1842 to 1911.
