In June 1864, to deny Gen. Robert E. Lee use of the South Side R.R. and the Richmond and Danville R.R., Gen. Ulysses S. Grant sent Gen. James H. Wilson and Gen. August V. Kautz south of Petersburg on a cavalry raid to destroy track and rolling stock. After the Union defeat at Staunton River Bridge on June 25, the raiders raced back toward the safety of the Federal lines at Petersburg while Confederate cavalry harried them along the way. Here, about 300 men from Gen. Rufus Barringer’s North Carolina Brigade struck the rear of the column to keep pressure on the Federal force. At the same time, Lee directed combined Confederate cavalry, infantry, and artillery to set a trap for the raiders near Ream's Station. Mount Horeb Baptist Church began in 1855 when a group of men met under a large oak tree, a small weatherboarded frame church was dedicated in 1858, a new building was erected in 1890, and another was built in 1914.