Custer's First Last Stand

Custer's First Last Stand (HM2NR)

Location: Louisa, VA 23093 Louisa County
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Country: United States of America
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N 38° 3.053', W 78° 4.439'

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Inscription

A "Living Triangle"

— The Battle of Trevilian Station —

Nearby stood Trevilian Station, south of which Confederate Gen. Wade Hampton had parked his wagon train on the evening of June 10, 1864. At daylight the next day, Gen. Matthew C. Butler and Col. Gilbert J. Wright advanced north on the Fredericksburg Stage Road to probe for Federals.

About 8 a.m., Union Gen. George A. Custer's Michigan Brigade turned west onto the Gordonsville Road from the Nunn's Creek Road at Mildred Crossing, with Col. Russell A. Alger's 5th Michigan Cavalry leading the way. Alger, seeing Hampton's parked wagons and horses, charged and captured most of them. His charge, however, carried him beyond the wagon park and into Gen. Thomas L. Rosser's brigade, which was galloping south to counterattack. Rosser drove Custer's troopers and the captured wagons east into Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's division, which was approaching from Louisa Court House. Butler and Wright turned back to join the fighting and help surround Custer's command, which spent four hours along in a "living triangle" and suffered heavy losses.

During the fighting, Custer's guidon bearer was mortally wounded and handed the brigade's flag to Custer, who ripped it from its staff and stuffed it into his shirt. Custer later carried a badly wounded trooper of the 5th Michigan Cavalry to safety and personally led a dismounted charge that retook one of his artillery pieces. Lee's men recovered Hampton's wagon train and horses and captured Custer's wagon train, including the headquarters wagon and all of Custer's personal effects.
Details
HM NumberHM2NR
Series This marker is part of the Virginia Civil War Trails series
Tags
Placed ByVirginia Civil War Trails
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, October 25th, 2014 at 6:52am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17S E 756745 N 4215503
Decimal Degrees38.05088333, -78.07398333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 38° 3.053', W 78° 4.439'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds38° 3' 3.18" N, 78° 4' 26.34" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)540, 804, 434
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 17437-17551 State Rte 613, Louisa VA 23093, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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