On the steaming hot afternoon of June 17, 1863, troopers from Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s 2nd Virginia Cavalry clashed here with the 2nd New York Cavalry of Gen. Alfred Pleasonton’s Federal command. Stuart was screening Gen Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia as it marched toward Pennsylvania west of here along both sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Pleasonton, meanwhile, had orders from the Army of the Potomac to locate Lee’s army, initiating five days of intense cavalry fighting, the Battles of Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville, involving some 18,000 troopers just days before the Battle of Gettysburg. Fighting on June 17 also occurred on both the Ashby’s Gap Turnpike (Route 50) and Snickersville Pike (Route 734) that radiated from this quiet village. A fierce clash just west of Aldie along Route 50, the “Haystacks Fight,” and a second deadly battle along Route 734 northwest of Aldie were part of these fast-moving cavalry clashes.
