In June 1864, to deny General Robert E. Lee the use of the South Side Railroad and the Richmond and Danville Railroad, General Ulysses S. Grant sent General James H. Wilson and General August V. Kautz south of Petersburg on a cavalry raid to destroy track and rolling stock. After accomplishing most of his mission and racing pursuing Confederate cavalry toward the safety of Union lines at Petersburg, Wilson paused near here on June 28 to choose between a longer route past Jarratt’s Station or a shorter route by Stony Creek and Ream’s Station, which he had understood before the raid would be in Federal hands on his return. Wilson chose the shorter route to Ream’s Station. Federal advance forces met Confederate pickets skirmishing across the Double Bridges but pushed on to the Stony Creek Depot.