Join the Appomattox Petersburg Preservation Society on Saturday, October 21, 2023, from 10:00am-12:00pm for "The Austerlitz of the Wilson Raiders," chronicling the ill-fated Wilson-Kautz Raid of 1864, a peripheral Federal excursion deep behind Confederate lines during the opening operations of the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia. 

On June 22, 1864, 5,500 Federal cavalry troopers, along with sixteen pieces of artillery, pierced deep into the heartland of Southside Virginia. Their goal: "destroy the lines of communication to the south." Though the Raid itself was not as successful as it had been planned, it shook the sense of security of the entire region, which had previously been largely untouched by the ravages of war.

Join APPS historian Zachary Pittard as he accounts the intensity and desperation of the ten-day raid while walking the actual grounds. The tour will commence at the Clover Center at the Staunton River Battlefield.  After introducing you to events precipitating the Raid and its initial planning, the tour will take a short hike to the original earthen fortifications still standing guard over the Staunton River Bridge, and then cross the bridge and explore the battlefield, where the final events of the Raid will be brought to life in vivid detail.

After the tour has concluded, all members and tour guests are invited to continue the journey to Mulberry Hill Plantation, the former home of Judge Paul Carrington (1733-1818), which served as Federal Brigadier General James Wilson’s headquarters and temporary field hospital.

Coffee and donuts will be provided before and throughout the tour.

Fall Tour Pricing:

For APPS Members: $15- Single, $25- Family

For Non-Members: $25-Single, $45- Family  

Register online: