On October 19, 1863, during the last action of the Bristoe Station Campaign, Gen. J.E.B. Stuart used Gen. Wade Hampton’s cavalry division as bait and positioned Gen. Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry division to cut off Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s retreat, setting a trap for a Union cavalry brigade on Chestnut Hill after luring it west from Buckland Mill along the Warrenton Turnpike. When cannon fire from the east signaled that Lee’s Confederates had struck the Union rear guard at Buckland, Stuart’s three brigades charged with a rebel yell and turned an organized Federal withdrawal into a chaotic flight back toward Buckland. Gen. George Custer, however, delayed his advance to Chestnut Hill after sensing the trap, and by remaining near Buckland he frustrated Fitz Lee’s attempt to block Kilpatrick long enough for most of the Federals to escape. Stuart took 250 Union prisoners rather than two entire brigades, and the action became known as the Buckland Races.
