In 1864, Confederates built an earthen redoubt to defend the strategic Virginia & Tennessee Railroad trestle over Ivy Creek. The six-gun battery of the Botetourt Artillery manned the redoubt and a position on the other side of Forest Road (Langhorne Road) crossing in front. To capture Lynchburg, Union Gen. David Hunter divided his army and sent Gen. Alfred N.A. Duffie’s cavalry to seize the city by turning the Confederate right flank. Gen. John McCausland’s cavalry moved to this location on the evening of June 17, after fighting a delaying action against Union forces near the Quaker Meeting House. Firing from the redoubt and shallow trenches on this side of the creek, McCausland repulsed several Federal assaults from the west. The fighting continued all day on June 18, until Duffie ordered a withdrawal and joined Hunter that night in retreat.