Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's surplus artillery and wagon trains, under Brig. Gen. Reuben Lindsay Walker, passed here on the night of 7 April 1865, retreating westward along the Buckingham Plank Road. Lee, traveling with Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's combined First and Third Corps, followed the next day. The Federal Sixth Corps under Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright was in close pursuit. The columns proceeded through the small village of New Store, about five miles west of here. On 9 April, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.