The Battle of Tom's Brook was fought on October 9, 1864, in

Shenandoah County, Virginia Shenandoah County (formerly Dunmore County) is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 44,186. Its county seat is Woodstock. It is part of the Shenandoah Valley region of Virgini ...

, during Philip Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign of the American Civil War. It resulted in a significant Union victory, one that was mockingly dubbed The Woodstock Races for the speed of the Confederate withdrawal.National Park Service battle description
/ref> After his victory at Fisher's Hill, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan pursued

Jubal A. Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate States of America, Confederate general during the American Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early r ...

's Confederate army up the Shenandoah Valley to near Staunton. On October 6, Sheridan began withdrawing, as his

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

burned everything that could be deemed of military significance, including barns and mills. Reinforced by Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw's division, Early followed. Maj. Gen.

Thomas L. Rosser Thomas Lafayette "Tex" Rosser (October 15, 1836 – March 29, 1910) was a Confederate major general during the American Civil War, and later a railroad construction engineer and in 1898 a brigadier general of volunteers in the United States Army ...

arrived from

Petersburg Petersburg, or Petersburgh, may refer to: Places Australia *Petersburg, former name of Peterborough, South Australia Canada * Petersburg, Ontario Russia *Saint Petersburg, sometimes referred to as Petersburg United States *Peterborg, U.S. Virg ...

to take command of Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's Confederate cavalry division and harassed the retreating Federals. On October 9, Brig. Gen.

Alfred Torbert Alfred Thomas Archimedes Torbert (July 1, 1833 – August 29, 1880) was a career United States Army officer, a Union Army General commanding both infantry and cavalry forces in the American Civil War, and a U.S. diplomat. Early life Torb ...

's Union troopers turned on their pursuers, routing the divisions of Rosser, whose cavalrymen were repulsed by Custer in a flanking maneuver along the base of Spiker's Hill off of Back Road, and

Lunsford L. Lomax Lunsford Lindsay Lomax (November 4, 1835 – May 28, 1913) was the fourth president of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and an officer in the United States Army who resigned his commission to join the Confederate Army at the outbr ...

, who was positioned in the vicinity of the Valley Pike, at Tom's Brook. With this victory, the Union cavalry attained overwhelming superiority in the Valley. Jubal Early later commented sourly about Rosser's Laurel Brigade, "The laurel is a running vine".

Battlefield preservation

The Civil War Trust (a division of the American Battlefield Trust) and its partners have acquired and preserved of the Tom's Brook battlefield.
American Battlefield Trust "Saved Land" webpage. Accessed May 29, 2018.

References

National Park Service Battle Summary

CWSAC Report Update

Battlefield preservation

See also

References

Further reading