During the night of March 16th, Union troopers stripped pews out of a church to use as firewood

The Union cavalrymen lacked the courage, expertise, and leadership to confront Stuart despite having better equipment, a surplus of men, and federal horses on their side. One of Stuart's most important subordinates and the nephew of General Robert E. Lee, Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, led 400 soldiers in a raid on February 25, 1863, in Stafford County, about 9 miles northwest of Fredericksburg.

Averell first led his column on a 32-mile ride to Morrisville, Virginia, in order to get to the ford. On the 16th, just before midnight, the 6th Ohio regiment arrived in the town and stopped to rest. The troopers utilized the church pews from one of the town's abandoned churches as kindling under their coffee pots because they were unable to find an appropriate supply of fuel elsewhere. It seems difficult to degrade places of worship in this manner, but it's likely that the doctrines of secession and the divine right of one man to own another have been preached from the pulpit, Captain Delos Northway admitted to his diary. Well, let it go; its time has come.