Bibb's Crossroads

During the Battle of Trevilian Station, a 9,300-man Union cavalry force under Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, raiding to destroy parts of the Virginia Central Railroad, camped a few miles east on June 10, 1864. The next morning, Gen. Wesley Merritt's brigade, followed by Col. Thomas C. Devin's brigade, left camps near the Buck Chiles and Woolfolk farms about 5 a.m. and, with Gen. Alfred T.A. Torbert in personal command, marched southwest along the Fredericksburg Stage Road toward Trevilian Station. At Bibb's Crossroads, pickets of the 4th South Carolina Cavalry of Confederate Gen. Matthew C. Butler's brigade surprised Merritt's troopers and fired the first shots of the main battle. Merritt and Devin quickly formed their men into line of battle, and Col. J. Irvin Gregg's brigade with three batteries of horse artillery came up in support, while Butler deployed his own troopers and the Georgians of Col. Gilbert J. Wright's brigade in a heavy dismounted engagement along the Fredericksburg Stage Road.

Virginia · United States