Lee assigned the job of slowing down the Union columns and protecting the Confederates' route to General J.E.B Stuart, a cavalry commander he trusted.

Grant's orders to his cavalry chief, General Philip Sheridan, were to cut the route the Confederates would take to Spotsylvania and to take and hold the crossroads.

While Stuart's cavalry was tactically defeated, Sheridan failed to cut the Confederate route to Spotsylvania, resulting in the bloody battle that ensued there.

Yet, the delay caused by Sheridan's cavalry prevented Lee from gaining the advantages that an unhindered march to Spotsylvania would have garnered.

Today, there is information about the battle in the area provided by the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.