Near Cedar Lane, two Confederate ambush attempts failed within a week in July 1861. On July 5, Confederate Lt. Col. Charles D. Dreux of the 1st Louisiana Battalion was killed after setting an ill-considered ambush without orders. On July 12, Confederate Maj. John Bell Hood's cavalry instead turned the tables on the 7th New York Volunteer Infantry. That morning, the German-born New Yorkers of the "Steuben Guard" advanced from their camp along the Great Warwick Road to gather wood, and a detachment pushed farther west without orders, nearer the Confederate camps. After learning of the Union position, Hood's troopers struck their flank, forced them from their wooded cover, and sent them fleeing in disorganized flight toward the river and the house of Nelson Smith, an English sea captain who professed neutrality. Hood's men then charged and captured Lt. Oscar von Heringen, Lt. Frederick Mosebach, and ten privates, while losing only one horse. Gen. John Magruder called the skirmish "a brilliant little affair," while Union Gen. Benjamin Butler rebuked the New Yorkers for disobedience and insubordination. Despite the defeat, Union forces continued to press west beyond Newmarket Creek and Hampton, while Confederates based at Young's Mill on Deep Creek kept harassing Federal troops in the no man's land between the creeks until the following spring.
