In September 1781, General George Washington directed the repair and clearing of roads leading to and from Wolf Run Shoals, the main ford of the Occoquan River, located seven miles upstream from the main ferry at Colchester. Prince William and Fairfax militiamen accomplished this arduous task, allowing Washington's Continental Army and Rochambeau’s French Expeditionary Force, complete with wagon trains and artillery, to cross the Occoquan on September 27, 1781, en route to the Battle of Yorktown. The road and ford continued to be used after the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War, defensive trenches and artillery batteries guarded the crossing. The ford became part of State Road 610 until it was flooded by the construction of Ryons Hydroelectric Dam in the late 1920s.
