Cedar Creek Church - Site of Skirmish on October 19, 1864 Shenandoah Valley Virginia

Dwayne and Brian headed down the Shenandoah Valley to further explore the area around Cedar Run Church, Marlboro, Virginia which is where their great-grandfather, William Hein, was captured when Confederate General Thomas L. Rosser led a raid with the intent of capturing Union General George A. Custer in retaliation for a humiliating defeat a week earlier at Tom's Brook.  To make a long story short, Custer and Rosser were cadets and friends at the US Military Academy in West Point. Rosser left the academy to join the Confederate army and Custer remained with the Union.  Both quickly rose through the ranks and their cavalry units frequently fought against each other.  On October 9, 1864 Custer's cavalry achieved a stunning victory and routed Rosser's horsemen who fled down the Shenandoah Valley.  On October 17, Rosser lead his division on a night raid hoping to capture General Custer as retribution.  Custer's headquarters was at Cedar Run Church but moved to another nearby location just before Rosser's force attacked.  Instead of riding off with Custer as his prisoner, Rosser rode away with officers and men of the 1st Connecticut Cavalry taken as prisoners when they were overwhelmed during a brief skirmish.  William Hein spent the remainder of the war as a POW enduring months of confinement at the Confederate prison camp in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Cedar Creek Church

Farmhouse at Cedar Creek Church