Custer's Expedition WY6
CUSTER'S EXPEDITION

On July 20, 1874, General George A. Custer, leading the first official government exploring expedition in the Black Hills, crossed at this point en route to the Black Hills to investigate rumors of gold in paying quantities. The trail in the foreground was left by his party which consisted of 110 wagons, 2000 animals and 1000 men, including engineers, scouts, geologists and practical miners. This expedition was in violation of the Treaty of 1868, which guaranteed the region to the Indians. In 1875, after government negotiations with the Indians to purchase the Black Hills broke down, miners and settlers poured into this area.

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Union Occupation of Charlottesville Q22
On 3 Mar. 1865, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s Union Army of the Shenandoah entered Charlottesville to destroy railroad facilities as the 3rd Cavalry Division led by Bvt. Maj. Gen. George A. Custer arrive from Waynesboro. Mayor Christopher H. Fowler, other local officials, and University of Virginia professors Socrates Maupin and John B. Minor and rector Thomas L. Preston met Custer, just east of here. Fowler surrendered the town, and the professors asked that the university be protected, "for it would always be a national asset." Custer agreed and posted guards during the three-day occupation. The University suffered little damage, unlike the Virginia Military Institute, which had been burned in June 1864.

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Executions of Mosby's Men J9
On 23 Sep, 1864, in a fight south of town, some of Lt. Col. John s. Mosby’s Rangers mortally wounded Lt. Charles McMaster, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, after he allegedly surrendered. Union Gen. Alfred T.A. Torbert’s Cavalrymen retaliated by executing six captured Rangers nearby. They shot David L. Jones and Lucien Love behind the Methodist church, Thomas E. Anderson beneath an elm tree, and Front Royal resident Henry Rhodes in a field in front of Rose Hill; they hanged William Thomas Overby and a Ranger named Carter at the W.E. Carson house. Mosby, believing Gen. George A. Custer responsible, on 6 Nov ordered and equal number of his men executed near Berryville.

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Double Tailgate J18
Early in the 19th century, three important roads crossed here: Nineveh Turnpike leading to Front Royal, Winchester Turnpike leading to the north, and Newtown Turnpike connecting Stephans City and the Shenandoah River via the Winchester and Berrys Ferry Turnpike. Two tollgates served the roads. During the mid-19th century, the intersection was called Highland Corners. A Civil War cavalry engagement occurred here on 11 Aug. 1864 between Confederates led by Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden and Union forces commanded by Brig. Gen. George A. Custer.

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Stanardsville Engagement D21
Near this site on 1 Mar. 1864, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart’s Confederate cavalry engaged Brig. Gen. George A. Custer’s Union cavalry in what is called locally the Battle of Stanardsville. To divert Stuart from Richmond, Custer led his troopers down this road to Charlottesville, destroying the railroad bridge over the Rivanna River there and breaking communications between Gordonsville and Lynchburg. Passing through Stanardsville again after the raid, taking prisoners and burning Confederate supplies, Custer fought a brief engagement with Stuart, then pressed on toward Orange Court House. Custer’s postwar military career ended at the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana in 1876.

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Early's Last Battle W160
On the ridge west of Waynesboro occurred the last engagement of Confederate forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early. Portions of Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s army, including cavalry led Maj. Gen. George A. Custer, attacked and routed Confederate troops under Brig. Gen. Gabriel C. Wharton. Early and the remnants of his army retreated, leaving Sheridan in control and ending the Shenandoah Valley campaigns.

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The Farm Q27
The Farm stands on a 1020-acre tract acquired by Nicholas Meriwether in 1735 and later owned by Col. Nicholas Lewis, uncle of Meriwether Lewis. A building on the property likely served as headquarters for British Col. Banastre Tarleton briefly in June 1781. In 1825, Charlottesville lawyer and later University of Virginia law professor, John A. G. Davis, purchased a portion of the original tract and engaged Thomas Jefferson’s workmen to design and build this house. It is considered one of the best surviving examples of Jeffersonian residential architecture. Maj. Gen. George A. Custer occupied the house as his headquarters for a brief time in March 1865.

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Stanardsville W217
The village of Stanardsville was founded by William Standard (died 1807), of Roxbury plantation, on land that was part of his 6,000 acre inheritance from the Octonia Grant of 1729. The grant included part of what is presently northern Greene County and Stanardsville. The Virginia General Assembly incorporated the town on 19 Dec. 1794. Stanardsville became the county seat of Greene County in 1838 when Greene was formed from Orange County. Brig. Gen. George A. Custer skirmished with Confederate cavalry here on 29 Feb. 1864, during his raid enroute to Albemarle County.

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Wickham's Line EA6
In the first phase of the Battle of Yellow Tavern on 11 May 1864, Brig. Gen. Williams C. Wickham and his Confederate cavalry were posted just south of this location below Old Francis Road. Wickham’s men fired on Brig. Gen. George A. Custer’s union troopers as they charged Brig. Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax’s line on the Federal left flank, preventing Custer’s advance. Maj. Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan, the Federal commander, then sent Col. George H. Chapman’s regiment to attack Wickham’s line, thereby freeing Custer to continue up Telegraph Road where Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart was mortally wounded later that day.

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Skirmish at Rio Hill W197
On February 29, 1864, General George A. Custer and 1500 cavalrymen made a diversionary raid into Albemarle County. Here, north of Charlottesville, he attacked the Confederate winter camp of four batteries of the Stuart Horse Artillery commanded by Captain Marcellus N. Moorman. Despite the destruction to the camp, 200 Confederates rallied in a counterattack which forced Custer’s withdrawal. Few casualties were reported.

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