Dublin Core
Title
First Contact
Description
Having reached Louisa Court House on June 10, 1864, Gen. Wade Hampton's cavalry divisions bivouacked around the Virginia Central Railroad and across Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's route to Gordonsville. About 3 A.M. on June 11, Gen. Williams C. Wickham's Virginia cavalry brigade left camp and rode up the Marquis Road (Rte. 669). The troopers captured a scouting party of the 7th Michigan Cavalry about a mile north of town and then continued north toward Clayton's Store. At daybreak, they encountered the 7th Michigan's pickets arrayed on the opposite bank of Nunn’s Creek.
The Virginians attacked, firing the first shots of the Battle of Trevilian Station, and skirmished for about 45 minutes in what a member of the 4th Virginia Cavalry later described as “a considerable fight.†Gen. George A. Custer, camped a short distance to the north, heard the engagement and ordered the 1st Michigan to reinforce the 7th, causing the Virginians to break off the engagement and withdraw to Louisa Court House. By 8:45 A.M., Custer's entire Michigan Brigade and Pennington’s Battery of horse artillery were in motion, headed down Nunn's Creek Road to its junction with the Gordonsville Road west of Louisa Court House.
The Virginians attacked, firing the first shots of the Battle of Trevilian Station, and skirmished for about 45 minutes in what a member of the 4th Virginia Cavalry later described as “a considerable fight.†Gen. George A. Custer, camped a short distance to the north, heard the engagement and ordered the 1st Michigan to reinforce the 7th, causing the Virginians to break off the engagement and withdraw to Louisa Court House. By 8:45 A.M., Custer's entire Michigan Brigade and Pennington’s Battery of horse artillery were in motion, headed down Nunn's Creek Road to its junction with the Gordonsville Road west of Louisa Court House.