Engagement at James City

G-28a

On 10 October 1863, Confederate cavalry commanded by Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart engaged Union cavalry and infantry under Brig. Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick and Maj. Gen. William H. French at James City (present-day Leon). The two forces confronted each other atop the ridges on either side of the village, and an artillery duel ensued. James City virtually disappeared in the smoke. A Confederate detachment captured the Union signal station on Thorofare Mountain, a mile to the south. Late in the day Stuart repulsed a Union cavalry charge, and during the night the Union force withdrew toward Culpeper. This engagement was the only instance during the war when Stuart led a force without a Virginia regiment.

Department of Historic Resources, 1997

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Monroe Papers Collections, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; Monroe Papers Collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts Collections, Early Gregg Swem Memorial Library, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia; Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971); Philip Alexander Bruce, History of the University of Virginia, 1819-1919, V vols. (New York: The Macmillan Company 1920-22).