Fighting occurred near his home because of the importance of fords on the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers. The Battle of Cedar Mountain was a Confederate victory on August 9, 1862, but skirmishes continued during the following fortnight. On June 9, 1863, the Battle of Brandy Station would be the war's largest cavalry engagement of the war. Although inconclusive, no longer would the Confederates dominate cavalry engagements. The Battle of Culpeper Court House returned the area to Union control in September 1863, although considerable fighting continued into 1864. Union troops wintered at Culpeper (General Ulysses Grant) and Stevensburg (Lt.Gen. Judson Kilpatrick). The village of Raccoon Ford was burned on February 6, 1864, during an abortive attach on entrenchments on the Orange side of Morton's Road. A nearby field would be nicknamed for the cannon balls later found there. General Lee climbed nearby Clark's Mountain to review the devastation for the last time on May 4, 1864. No wonder Morton later complained "The scourge of war has swept all from me, and . . . I stand a blasted stump in the wilderness."