Battle of Yellow Tavern The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11 , 1864 , as part of the Overland Campaign of the American Civil War . Union cavalry under Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan was detached from the Army of the Potomac to conduct a raid on Richmond , Virginia , and challenge legendary Confederate cavalry commander Maj . Gen . J . E . B . Stuart . The Confederate force was outnumbered and outgunned and Stuart was mortally wounded while attempting to rally his men , dying the next day . Background . The Overland Campaign was Union Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant ' s 1864 offensive against Gen . Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia . The two had fought an inconclusive battle at the Wilderness and were engaged in heavy fighting at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House . Up to this point , Union cavalry commander Maj . Gen . Philip Sheridan was dissatisfied with his role in the campaign . His Cavalry Corps was assigned to the Army of the Potomac , under Maj . Gen . George G . Meade , who reported to Grant . Meade had employed Sheridan ' s forces primarily in the traditional role of screening and reconnaissance , whereas Sheridan saw the value of wielding the Cavalry Corps as an independently operating offensive weapon for wide ranging raids into the rear areas of the enemy . On May 8 , 1864 , Sheridan went over Meade ' s head and told Grant that if his Cavalry Corps were let loose to operate as an independent unit , he could defeat " Jeb " Stuart , long a nemesis to the Union army . Grant was intrigued and convinced Meade of the value of Sheridan ' s request . On May 9 , the most powerful cavalry force ever seen in the Eastern Theater — over 10 , 000 troopers with 32 artillery pieces — rode to the southeast to move behind Lee ' s army . They had three goals : first , disrupt Lee ' s supply lines by destroying railroad tracks and supplies ; second , threaten the Confederate capital in Richmond , which would distract Lee ; third , and most important , defeat Stuart . The Union cavalry column , which at times stretched for over , reached the Confederate forward supply base at Beaver Dam Station that evening . The Confederate troops had been able to destroy many of the critical military supplies before the Union arrived , so Sheridan ' s men destroyed numerous railroad cars and six locomotives of the Virginia Central Railroad , destroyed telegraph wires , and rescued almost 400 Union soldiers who had been captured in the Wilderness . Battle . Stuart moved his 4 , 500 troopers to get between Sheridan and Richmond . The two forces met at noon on May 11 at Yellow Tavern , an abandoned inn located north of Richmond . Not only did the Union outnumber the Confederates by three divisions to two brigade s , it had superior firepower — all were armed with rapid - firing Spencer carbine s . The Confederate troopers tenaciously resisted from the low ridgeline bordering the road to Richmond , fighting for over three hours . A countercharge by the 1st Virginia Cavalry pushed the advancing Union troopers back from the hilltop as Stuart , mounted on horseback , shouted encouragement . As the 5th Michigan Cavalry streamed in retreat past Stuart , a dismounted Union private , 48 - year - old John A . Huff , a former sharpshooter , turned and shot Stuart with his . 44 - caliber pistol , from a distance of 10 - 30 yards . Stuart died in Richmond the following day . The fighting kept up for an hour after Stuart was wounded , Maj . Gen . Fitzhugh Lee taking temporary command . Aftermath . The Union cavalrymen suffered 625 casualties , but they captured 300 Confederate prisoners and recovered almost 400 Union prisoners . Sheridan disengaged his men and headed south toward Richmond . Although tempted to burst through the modest defenses to the north of the city , they continued south across the Chickahominy River to link up with Maj . Gen . Benjamin Butler ' s force on the James River . After resupplying with Butler , Sheridan ' s men returned to join Grant at Chesterfield Station on May 24 . Sheridan ' s raid achieved a victory against a numerically inferior opponent at Yellow Tavern , but accomplished little overall . Their most significant achievement was killing Jeb Stuart , which deprived Robert E . Lee of his most experienced cavalry commander , but this came at the expense of a two - week period in which the Army of the Potomac had no direct cavalry coverage for screening or reconnaissance .