Nottoway River Crossings

Several important river crossings took place over the Nottoway River during two wars. Revolutionary War cavalry commander Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe led British forces across the river in this area on 11 May 1781, as he rode south to join Gen. Charles Cornwallis. In mid May, Cornwallis marched north from North Carolina, crossed the Nottoway River nearby, and reached Petersburg on 20 May. During the Civil War, at the end of Gen. James H. Wilson's and Brig. Gen. August V. Kautz's railroad raids, a portion of Gen. Wilson's forces crossed the river nearby on 28 June 1864, on their way back to Union lines near Petersburg.