In late May 1864, as Union Gen. David Hunter led an army south through the Shenandoah Valley toward Staunton, Confederate Gen. William E. Jones hastily assembled a force to stop him and first placed it at Mt. Crawford, where Gen. John D. Imboden positioned the troops along the North River. After Hunter turned southeast to Port Republic on June 4, Jones shifted his force to Piedmont to block the route south. On the morning of June 5, Jones deployed his infantry 250 yards behind this site, with the right near the road and the left on the bluffs above the Middle River, on the edge of a tree line where they built breastworks of fence rails and logs, while Imboden's cavalry moved forward to Mount Meridian. Imboden repelled the first Union advance, but his counterattack nearly collapsed when Union Gen. Julius Stahel's cavalry overwhelmed his men and drove them back toward Piedmont. Jones then sent two cannons near this location and rushed 500 Confederates under Maj. Richard H. Brewer 175 yards to the front, helping save Imboden from disaster. During the crisis, Imboden challenged the infantry's placement and Jones asserted his command, then rode the line with him as soldiers cheered and Jones urged them to aim low and make every shot count. Union artillery then forced the advanced Confederate guns to withdraw, and Union Col. Augustus Moor's infantry pushed Brewer back to the main Confederate line, setting the stage for the Battle of Piedmont.