Lacey Spring is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
located in
Rockingham County, in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. It is located south of
Timberville, just south of
Mauzy along Route 11, parallel to
Interstate 81
Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island ...
.
Two historical markers in the area commemorate a cavalry skirmish during the
U.S. Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. On 21 December 1864, part of the 3rd Cavalry Division under the command of Union Brevet Colonel
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
came under attack from Confederate Major General
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 ...
’s Laurel Brigade, forcing Custer to withdraw to the north. Rosser captured forty of Custer's men along with horses and camp equipment. Custer and Rosser were friends and members of the class of 1861 at
West Point
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
, and may have briefly been roommates. Rosser resigned from West Point in May 1861, two weeks prior to graduation, to join the Confederacy.
"Lacey Spring: West Point Classmates at Odds," Bernard Fisher, Historical Marker Database, October 4, 2009
/ref>
References
Unincorporated communities in Rockingham County, Virginia
Unincorporated communities in Virginia
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