The
Battle of Seven Pines took place nearby in 1862. It was second only to the
Battle of Shiloh in its number of casualties up to that time. The battle was brutally fought and inconclusive, but had a profound impact on the trajectory of the war. After General
Joseph E. Johnston's injury, President
Jefferson Davis appointed
Robert E. Lee as Commander of the Confederate Armies. Lee then initiated the
Seven Days Battles, which drove the Northern forces into a retreat in late June. This was the closest the North had come to
Richmond, Virginia in this offensive. During World War I, a number of homes were built in the area for both
non-commissioned officers and
enlisted men. After the war, an investment group headed by
Oliver J. Sands bought the land and buildings as surplus property. The community was named Sandston after Oliver Sands, the president of the Richmond and Fairfield Railway, the electric
street railway line which ran through
Highland Springs and
Fair Oaks to the
National Cemetery at
Seven Pines. The community was later served by the Fairfield Transit Company, which operated a bus barn extant at Seven Pines in 2005 and the earlier
trolley car barn in Richmond on North 29th Street. The road from Richmond, through Highland Springs, to Seven Pines was named "Nine Mile Road" because of the distance of the streetcar/trolley line.
Richmond International Airport is located in Sandston. ==Demographics==