Confederate cavalry under Gen. Wade Hampton arrived here on May 28, 1864, hoping to locate the Federal army, but Hampton’s leading column collided with Gen. David Gregg’s Union cavalry division near the Haw’s Shop crossroads one mile ahead. After a brief mounted fight, the Confederates fell back, dismounted, and hastily built protective works on both sides of the road behind the church. The two sides then fought indecisively for several hours until the arrival of Gen. George Custer’s Michigan brigade turned the stalemate into a Federal victory, as Custer’s troopers charged on foot down the road toward the church and scattered the Southern defenders. Union casualties totaled 365, including the mortally wounded John Huff, whom some credited with fatally shooting Confederate cavalry chief J.E.B. Stuart at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, while Hampton’s losses in the nearly seven-hour action were about 380. The battlefield closely resembles its wartime appearance, and in the distance stands Oak Grove, the home of John Haw, which served as a field hospital.
