In this segment, Les Sinclair talks with historian Rick Britton about TODAY in U.S. HISTORY: One hundred and fifty-six years ago—on June 11th and 12th 1864—the Civil War’s largest all-cavalry battle was fought in Louisa County, about 40 miles to our east. It was called the Battle of Trevilian Station (or Trevilians). The Union Army of the Potomac was stalled northeast of Richmond after fighting the horrific Battle of Cold Harbor and Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant needed a diversion so he could get his large army across the James River to attack Petersburg. So, he ordered Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan to ride to the west with 9,300 troopers and tear up the Virginia Central R.R. He was intercepted at Trevilian Station—a whistle-stop on the Virginia Central—by Confederate Maj. Gen. Wade Hampton with 6,000 Southern horsemen. The first day of the battle was fought in a heavily wooded area, so most of the cavalrymen fought dismounted. Union Gen. George Armstrong Custer, with his brigade, rode into the Confederate rear during the fight, capturing Confederate wagons and horses, but was surrounded. Toward the end of the day’s combat, friendly forces broke through the encirclement, rescuing his brigade. Hampton withdrew to the west and dug in. On June 12, the cavalry forces clashed again to the northwest of Trevilian Station, where seven Union assaults, most of them dismounted, were repulsed with heavy losses. Sheridan withdrew his force to rejoin Grant’s army. The battle was a tactical victory for the Confederates. Both sides lost close to 1,000 men. AND THE LOCAL CONNECTION: Another of Sheridan’s goals was to link up with another Federal Army at Charlottesville and destroy the city’s railroad facilities. If that had taken place, would little downtown Charlottesville have been torched? It’s a possibility.