MARKER NUMBER TWO:

“Butler’s Woods, Moler’s Cross Roads, and Uvilla”

300 ft South of 3333 Kearneysville Pike (West side) [SR 480] (Latitude: 39o 24.920'N; Latitude: -77o 50.274'W). Only marker with inscription: "COLONEL DRAKE 1st VA CAVALRY KILLED"

July 16, 1863. Action between Union cavalry and two brigades of Confederate cavalry led by Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and Gen. John R. Chambliss, Jr. Following the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate army retreated back to Virginia. The Confederate Cavalry was picketed from the Shenandoah to the Potomac River to warn of a Union advance. Union forces crossed the Potomac at Shepherdstown and ran into the Confederate pickets north of Kearneysville. The Confederates succeeded in pushing Union troops to Butler’s Woods and eventually back across the Potomac. “Colonel (James H.) Drake, of the First Virginia Cavalry, was mortally wounded, and died that night at Mr. Marshall’s. About 40 feet from Marker No. 2, measuring west, is the place where he was shot. He was an able officer.”

James H Drake