On July 28, 1863, some of Confederate Gen. Matt W. Ransom's men were bathing in the Boone's Mill pond when Union Col. Samuel P. Spear's cavalry surprised them near Jackson while racing to destroy the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad bridge over the Roanoke River at Weldon. As Ransom and his staff galloped across the mill bridge under fire, naked soldiers scrambled for their weapons, but four companies of the 24th North Carolina Infantry were already entrenched with two Macon Light Artillery guns near the millpond, and eight companies of the 49th North Carolina were camped nearby. Confederate skirmishers advanced against the Federals, but the 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry and two guns from Stewart's Mounted Battery pushed them back. As the Pennsylvanians formed for a mounted attack, the 1st New York Mounted Rifles arrived to strike the Confederate left and right flanks, and the Federal battery shelled the earthworks, but Spear's flanking attempts failed in the fading light. With his brigade isolated, Spear withdrew through Jackson to Winton, which the Federals then evacuated. Ransom had one man wounded, while Spear lost six killed and 25 wounded. The fight at Boone's Mill saved the Weldon railroad bridge and allowed much-needed supplies to continue to Richmond.