Gen. Winfield Hancock's Union Second Corps left Spotsylvania Court House after sunset on May 20, 1864. It trudged south along dark roads, headed toward Milford Station on the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. Grant had ordered Hancock to Milford in the hope of luring the Confederated army out of its Spotsylvania trenches to a place where he could attack it and have the advantage.

Hancock reached Guinea Station about dawn, May 21. Pickets of the 9th Virginia Cavalry fired at the Union column, then disappeared to spread the alarm. Hancock continued south. As soon as his troops left Guinea Station, the Confederates begain tearing up the Downer's Bruidge, less than a mile behind you. A spirited attack by the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteers saved the bridge for the Union, however, enabling Warren's Fifth Corps to cross the river there later in the afternoon.