Tom's Brook was a Civil War engagement fought in Virginia, 1864. It was a Union victory.
After his victory at Fisher's Hill, Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan pursued Early's army up the Shenandoah Valley to near Staunton. On October 6, Sheridan began withdrawing, as his cavalry burned everything that could be deemed of military significance, including barns and mills. Reinforced by Kershaw's division, Early followed. Maj. Gen. Thomas Rosser arrived from Petersburg to take command of Fitz Lee's cavalry division and harassed the retreating Federals. On October 9, Torbert's troopers turned on their pursuers, routing the divisions of Rosser and Lomax at Tom's Brook. With this victory, the Union cavalry attained overwhelming superiority in the Valley.
Near Tom's Brook in Shenandoah County, Virginia, Union and Confederate forces clashed on October 9, 1864, as part of Philip Sheridan's broader Shenandoah Valley Campaign during the Civil War. The engagement ended in a decisive triumph for the Federals, and afterward wits derisively labeled it the Woodstock Races, a jab at how quickly the Confederates fled the field.
The fight grew out of events following Sheridan's success at Fisher's Hill, after which he chased Jubal A. Early's army northward through the valley toward Staunton. Then, on October 6, Sheridan reversed course and began pulling back, and as his horsemen moved they set fire to anything of possible military use, barns and mills included. Early, now bolstered by the arrival of Maj. Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw's division, pressed after him. Meanwhile Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Rosser had come up from Petersburg to take charge of Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry division, and his troops harried the withdrawing Union columns.
Matters shifted on October 9, when Brig. Gen. Alfred Torbert's cavalry wheeled about and struck back at the men chasing them. The Confederate divisions broke under the assault: Rosser's horsemen were driven back by Custer, who executed a flanking movement near the foot of Spiker's Hill along Back Road, while Lomax's men, stationed close to the Valley Pike at Tom's Brook, suffered the same fate. The victory left Union cavalry with clear and lasting dominance throughout the Valley.
Custer, so admired by the Yanks, was the target of Rosser's boast that he would give him the worst beating of his life that day. Early himself later made a bitter remark about the Laurel Brigade under Rosser's command, observing dryly that "the laurel is a running vine."
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