"Destroy both those roads"

— Wilson - Kautz Raid —

In June 1864, Gen. U.S. Grant began to confine Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia within the Richmond and Petersburg defenses. The South Side R.R., connecting Petersburg and Lynchburg, and the Richmond and Danville R.R. supplied Lee's men. The two lines formed a junction in Burkesville. Seeking to deny their use to Lee, Grant directed Gen. James H. Wilson's 3,000-man cavalry division and Gen. August V. Kautz's division (2,500 cavalrymen) with three batteries of regular U.S. artillery to "destroy both those roads to the greatest extent possible, continuing their destruction until driven from it by such attacks of the enemy, as you can no longer resist." The detachment left from Mt. Sinai Church in Prince George County at 2 a.m. on June 22, in a column containing 30 to 40 supply wagons and two to four mountain howitzers in Kautz's command. Federal II and VI Corps attempts to seize the Weldon Railroad in the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road helped cover the raider's departure.

"Left camp at daybreak with five days rations; had been up nearly all night making preparations?. We were informed that we must make our five days' rations last ten days. Wagonloads of provisions had been sent out to supply the officers. Several of us clubbed together and bought enough coffee and sugar to last us?. A sergeant in Wilson's command whom I met, in speaking of our proposed raid said we would have a kedaddle' before we got back?. In thinking of his remark afterward [I] thought he had been prophetic." - Trooper George L. Cruikshank, Co. A, 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry

Sidebar: The present Prince George County courthouse, with its 1929 arcade, was completed in 1884 to replace the 1810 courthouse that Federal troops burned in 1864. The older building, which was restored after the war but later demolished, stood about a quarter-mile west.

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