Battle of Tom's Brook - Toms Brook VA - Battlefields on Waymarking.com

From the HISTORICAL MARKER attached: Toms Brook-Sunday, October 9th
— 1864 Valley Campaign —During the evening of October 8, 1864, Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax reached this position with two brigades of Confederate cavalry commanded by Gen. Bradley T. Johnson and Col. William L. "Mudwall" Jackson. Gen. Wesley Merritt, in command of the Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's 1st Cavalry Division (three brigades) lay in camp some three miles north near the base of Round Hill. Merritt's troopers had, for the past week, been engaged in burning barns, mills, haystacks and driving livestock seized from the local population. During the several preceding days, they had been cautiously pursued and harassed by Lomax as they carried out Union Gen. U.S. Grant's directive to "clean out" the Valley.

At approximately 7 a.m., Merritt sent forward his three brigades. Simultaneously, Gen. George A. Custer, USA, commanded an attack against Gen. Thomas A. Rosser's, CSA, cavalry division which was in position south of Toms Brook on the Back Road, three miles due west of here. Merritt's plan of attack placed Col. Charles Russell Lowell's Reserve Brigade on the Valley Pike (modern Route 11) and Col. James Kidd's 1st Brigade to the extreme west, cooperating with Custer's advance. Col. Thomas Devin's 2nd Brigade was centered on the high ground between the Valley Pike and the Back Road.

As the Federals pressed the Confederate skirmishers toward this vicinity, Lomax unleashed a ferocious charge that drove Lowell's Reserve Brigade back in some confusion, yet caused the advancing Confederates to expose their left flank. Realizing the opportunity, Devin immediately ordered two regiments, the 1st N.Y. Dragoons and the 5th U.S. Cavalry, to charge the Confederate left as Lowell's Reserve Brigade regrouped and advanced again. Lomax, now pressed from the front and left, was forced to make a hasty but orderly withdrawal. The Confederates set up a defensive position astride the Valley Pike immediately north of Woodstock. There they were overwhelmed by a Federal Charge and fled in disorder to Mount Jackson. In the running fight that ensued (later nicknamed "The Woodstock Races"), Merritt's troopers, glorious in their victory, succeeded in capturing five of Lomax's six guns, more than 50 prisoners and wagons, many horses and much other equipage.

From WIKIPEDIA in part: The Battle of Tom's Brook was fought on October 9, 1864, in Shenandoah County, Virginia, 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.

After his victory at Fisher's Hill, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan pursued Jubal A. Early's Confederate army up the Shenandoah Valley to near Staunton. On October 6, Sheridan began withdrawing, as his 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 arrived from Petersburg to take command of Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's Confederate cavalry division and harassed the retreating Federals. On October 9, Brig. Gen. Alfred Torbert'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, 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.

That's General Custer, the Yanks are so proud of,
and I intend to give him the best whipping today that he ever got,

—?Confederate Major General Tom Rosser on the eve of the battle.
Jubal Early later commented sourly about Rosser's Laurel Brigade, "The laurel is a running vine"

Name of Battle: Battle of Tom's Brook Name of War: U.S. Civil War Date(s) of Battle (Beginning): 10/09/1864 Entrance Fee: Not Listed Parking: Not Listed Date of Battle (End): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/16/2021 Don.Morfe visited it