Principal Confederate commander(s): Major General Wade Hampton, Major General W.H.F. “Rooney” Lee, Major General Fitzhugh Lee, Brigadier General William Mahone
Union forces engaged: Wilson’s Cavalry Division (Army of the Potomac), Kautz’s Cavalry Division (Army of the James)
Number of Confederate soldiers engaged: Roughly 5,000
Result: Mixed
Planning for the Wilson-Kautz raid began on June 20, 1864.
On June 22, 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant and Major General George G. Meade dispatched the Third Cavalry Division of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Brigadier General James H. Wilson, along with the Second Cavalry Division of the Army of the James, commanded by Brigadier General August Kautz, on a raid against the Weldon Railroad, the Southside Railroad and the Richmond & Danville Railroad in central Virginia.
Brigadier General James Wilson was the overall commander of Union forces during the Wilson-Kautz Raid.
The primary objective of the Wilson-Kautz Raid was to demolish as much railroad track as possible in central Virginia in order to delay or prevent supplies from reaching General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in Richmond.
The Confederate victory at the Battle of Staunton River Bridge on June 25, 1864, was one of three major engagements of the Wilson-Kautz Raid.
The Confederate victory at the Battle of Ream’s Station I on June 29, 1864, was one of three major engagements of the Wilson-Kautz Raid.
By the time the raiders returned to Union lines on July 1, 1864, they had inflicted moderate damage to Confederate infrastructure in the area.
Generals Wilson and Kautz lost nearly 1,400 troopers, all of their artillery, and many horses during the Wilson-Kautz Raid.
General Ulysses S. Grant considered the Wilson-Kautz Raid a success. He later commented that “The damage to the enemy in the expedition more than compensated for the losses we sustained.”
