On September 23rd, 1864, in a fight south of town, some of Lieutenant Colonel John S. Mosby's Rangers mortally wounded Lieutenant Charles McMaster, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, after he allegedly surrendered.
Union General Alfred T. A. Torbert's cavalrymen retaliated by executing six captured Rangers nearby.
They shot David L. Jones and Lucien Love behind the Methodist church, Thomas E. Anderson beneath an elm tree, and Front Royal resident Henry Rhodes in a field in front of Rose Hill; they hanged William Thomas Overby and a Ranger named Carter at the W. E. Carson house.
Mosby, believing General George A. Custer responsible, on November 6th ordered an equal number of his men executed near Berryville.
