While reconnoitering on 13 Oct. 1863, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart found himself and two cavalry brigades cut off from the Army of Northern Virginia by the Union II Corps. The Confederates concealed themselves all night just north of here in a ravine only half a mile from the Federals. The next morning, as Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's infantry corps marched to aid him, Stuart opened fire with seven pieces of horse artillery on Union Brig. Gen. John C. Caldwell's division on a nearby hill and scattered it. Stuart and his men then charged Federal infantry approaching from Auburn and broke through to safety.
