Oct. 2- 5, 1864 - Custer Fights in Bridgewater, VA

Oct. 2-5, 1864

Custer in Bridgewater

Bridgewater, VA (Rockingham County)


Bridgewater
"A Beautiful Village"

Confederate soldiers appeared to walk on water on May 19, 1862, as they crossed the North River in front of you on a makeshift bridge. The existing span had been burned, and spring rains made the water too deep to ford, so the Confederates pushed large cargo wagons into the waterway to create a footbridge. The soldiers were part of Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's army, which had defeated Federals at McDowell on May 8. They were hurrying north to strike a Union detachment in Front Royal. One of the units was the hometown Bridgewater Grays, now Company D of the 10th Virginia Infantry Regiment. Situated along the Warm Springs Turnpike, Bridgewater as a hub of Civil War activity. Mills lined the river, a Confederate remount center allowed cavalrymen to obtain well-rested mounts, and a two-story log cabin was used as a government storehouse for "tax-in-kind" meats, produce, and grain that had been levied from citizens to support the Confederate war effort. When Federals approached in September 1864, the commissary officer urged townspeople to take whatever they wanted, then burned the remainder to keep it out of Union hands. On October 2, 1864, Confederate cavalry splashed across the river here and attacked Union cavalry under Gen. George A. Custer, routing U.S. pickets before the Federals counterattacked and drove them back. 

[map caption] Gen. George Custer's cavalry division occupied Bridgewater on September 30, 1864. On October 2m Confederate troopers rattled down Main Street and attacked Custer's picket line. They were soon driven back, but Custer withdrew his division on October 5. 

[picture cation] Main Street (Warm Springs Turnpike). A Confederate soldier described Bridgewater as a "beautiful village...buried in trees and flowers." Image by E.G. Furry from Bridgewater. Sesquicentennial Edition- 1835-1985.




Map of cavalry engagement near Bridgewater, Va.,
Oct. 4th and 5th, 1864
(from the Library of Congress)

Somewhere in Bridgewater there is /was a sign that says:

 "The town of Bridgewater was a center of Confederate logistical activity during the Civil War. It also sent one company of infantry, the Bridgewater Grays, to the 10th Virginia Infantry Regiment, which fought in most of the major battles in Virginia as well as at Gettysburg." A Confederate remount station for cavalrymen from states other than Virginia was located a few blocks behind you. Confederate partisan ranger chief Capt. Charles Woodson of Missouri got mounts for his men here when they operated in the Valley in the summer and fall of 1864.Bridgewater was also a collection point for Confederate tax-in-kind supplies, when Virginians with little cash paid their taxes in meat (live and cured), produce, tobacco, wool, hides, and anything else useful to the Confederate war effort. The town collection center was a two-story log cabin near here. At the approach of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's Union army on the fall of 1864, the revenue agent let townspeople take whatever they wanted and then burned the rest on the cabin lawn to keep it out of Federal hands. Gen. George A. Custer's U.S. Cavalry division occupied Bridgewater from September 30 to October 5, 1864."


https://www.virginia.org/listing/bridgewater-during-the-war/4438/

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