At the end of the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain on May 9, 1864, Union Gen. George Crook's force of 6,555 men and 12 artillery pieces advanced toward Dublin to destroy the New River Bridge on the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad. After the main action three miles away at the base of the mountain, Crook's men encountered Confederate Gen. Albert G. Jenkins with three infantry regiments, the local home guard, and ten cannons. Following an hour of intense fighting and hand-to-hand combat, the Confederates retreated down the turnpike toward Dublin, leaving Jenkins mortally wounded in Federal hands. Confederate cavalry reinforcements, fighting dismounted, then made a stiff rearguard stand here and stalled Crook's advance. The Confederates retreated through Dublin and by nightfall had established defenses on the eastern side of the New River. After an artillery duel over the river the next day, Crook's men destroyed the bridge and headed back to West Virginia before Confederate reinforcements could arrive. More than 1,200 casualties occurred on both sides, including Capt. Christopher Cleburne, brother of Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne, who was mortally wounded in the rearguard action here and asked to be buried where he fell; in 1968, his body was reinterred nearby to make way for the modern road.