Early in April 1865, Union Gen. George Stoneman’s cavalry moved from Tennessee into Virginia and then south through Danbury to destroy railroad track, warehouses, and supplies that supported Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Stoneman led 4,000-5,000 men with a long train of supply and ambulance wagons, artillery pieces and caissons, and pack mules. Expecting resistance in Stokes County, he found none. While in Danbury on April 9-10, Stoneman established his headquarters at Moody’s Tavern, whose second floor offered a commanding view from east- and west-facing rooms that allowed him and his staff to observe their camp and any approaching enemy forces. During his occupation of the county, his men put the nearby Moratock Iron Works out of commission. The Confederacy relied on this and similar charcoal-fired furnaces to furnish iron for foundries that produced cannons, swords, and rifles. Stoneman soon received word of Lee’s surrender in Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender near Durham, North Carolina, on April 23 effectively ended the war, and Stoneman led his men back to Tennessee.