In the first phase of the Battle of Yellow Tavern on 11 May 1864, Brig. Gen. Williams C. Wickham and his Confederate cavalry were posted just south of this location below Old Francis Road. Wickham's men fired on Brig. Gen. George A. Custer's Union troopers as they charged Brig. Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax's line on the Federal left flank, preventing Custer's advance. Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, the Federal commander, then sent Col. George H. Chapman's regiment to attack Wickham's line. This freed Custer to continue up Telegraph Road, where one of his men mortally wounded Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart later that day.
