Qualla: Action at Mount Zion Church

Action at Mount Zion Church: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Major William H. Forbes drew his cavalry saber and lunged at John Singleton Mosby on a rolling field in Loudoun County, Virginia, on July 6, 1864. Ranger Thomas Richards saw it coming and threw himself between the blade and his commander, taking the steel in his own shoulder. Mosby, free for a second, emptied his revolver into Forbes's horse. The animal collapsed beneath him; Forbes hit the ground and surrendered. The fight - what Civil War histories call the Action at Mount Zion Church - lasted about an hour. Mosby's Rangers killed 12 Union cavalrymen, wounded 37, captured 57 including Forbes himself, and took every horse not killed. They lost one man dead and six wounded. It was one of the most complete victories the Rangers ever scored.

Action at Mount Zion Church: The Calico Raid

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On July 2, 1864, Mosby learned from Jubal Early's quartermaster that Early was preparing to invade Maryland and march on Washington. Mosby decided to support the movement by cutting the telegraph line that ran along the Potomac from Washington to the Union garrison at Harpers Fer...

Action at Mount Zion Church: Lowell Sends a Hunting Party

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

While Mosby was raiding Maryland, Colonel Charles Russell Lowell - Boston Brahmin, abolitionist, husband of Josephine Shaw Lowell - dispatched a hunting party to catch the Rangers. The force consisted of 100 troopers from the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry and 50 from the 13th New Yor...

Action at Mount Zion Church: The Charge and the Saber

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Mosby positioned his howitzer on the crest of the ridge with Sam Chapman to command it and formed his Rangers in columns of four on the Turnpike, with twelve skirmishers in advance under Lieutenant Harry Hatcher. Forbes assembled his men in two lines in a field south of the pike....

Action at Mount Zion Church: Captain Goodwin Stone

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Among the Union dead was Captain Goodwin Stone of the 13th New York Cavalry, killed during the initial Ranger charge. The 12 killed, 37 wounded, and 57 captured - including Forbes himself - amounted to 71% of the original Federal force. Every Union horse that was not killed was t...

Action at Mount Zion Church: Mount Zion Church Today

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Mount Zion Old School Baptist Church, the small brick chapel at the center of the action, was built in 1851. It still stands at the intersection of Route 50 and Mount Zion Road in Loudoun County, about a mile east of Aldie. The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority now mainta...