Toms Brook

As October 9, 1864, dawned, poorly armed mounted Confederate soldiers awoke along Jordan Run determined to strike back at Union cavalry that had spent the previous two weeks destroying mills, barns, and crops. In fog thickened by smoke from multiple fires, they saw a long Union column moving quickly toward them as Gen. Philip Sheridan, watching from Round Hill, launched an attack. Half of his force advanced through Toms Brook toward the Confederates there, while the other half moved to the left beyond the modern interstate. As Union soldiers pushed along the Valley Pike (U.S. Rte. 11), a fierce Confederate counterattack drove them back in confusion, but Union reinforcements then swept around the left of the road. That fresh attack, combined with action to the west, broke the Confederate line, and the retreat became a panic as Sheridan's troopers chased the Confederates toward Woodstock in what became known as the Woodstock Races.

Maurertown, Virginia · United States