I worked for Bob Hubbard from 1987 until his retirement in 1992. The details have slipped away over the years, but at some point Bob and I discussed the area around Sangster’s Station and the fight at the blockhouse. Bob recalled having once seen a small monument at the scene of the fight. He also…
Back in the 1980s, when I first became aware of this fight, I was intrigued by the identification of the regimental standard captured by the Confederates that evening. The flag was identified as belonging to the 164th New York Infantry, but the blockhouse was defended by men from the 155th New York Infantry. The accounts…
Rosser’s attack on the blockhouse was not the first skirmish to take place near Sangster’s Station. Union and Confederate cavalry clashed nearby on March 9, 1862. The Southerners were driven off but Lt. Henry Hidden, 1st New York Lincoln Cavalry, was killed. Lieutenant Hidden is believed to be the first Union volunteer cavalry officer killed in…
In mid-December 1863, just as Jeb Stuart’s troopers thought they were heading into winter quarters, Union general William Averell launched a raid against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Another Union force targeted the town of Saunton, Virginia. The Southern troops in the Upper Shenandoah Valley were outnumbered, and in danger of being overwhelmed. In an effort to aid…
Susan Caldwell lived in Warrenton, with her four children, while her husband worked in Richmond. Throughout their years of separation, Susan wrote to her husband regularly, and with a keen eye for the events transpiring around her. In a letter begun on April 17, Caldwell explained how word of the Yankee’s approach reached the Southern troopers…
Small But Important Riots 