Cayuga exists only as a scattered cluster of houses, but in 1863 it was a flourishing farming community. Union Maj. Gen. Peter Osterhaus' division occupied the town on the afternoon of May 5. Osterhaus threw out infantry patrols in all directions. One went to Halls Ferry, but the steamboats which he had been told were there were gone (if indeed they had ever been there). Another patrol continued northeast along the Cayuga-Raymond road to the Telegraph road, and then north toward Edwards to a point about one mile south of Fourteenmile Creek (probably near the modern Pleasant Green Church).

Union Brig. Gen. Andrew J. Smith's division camped in and around Cayuga on the night of May 10. The other three divisions of the XIII Corps were camped along the line of Fivemile Creek, several miles to the north and northwest.

Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, accompanied by Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, passed through Cayuga on May 11, at which time they were accosted by Mrs. Jane Fisher Smith, who demanded protection from Union foragers for her home. She had greatly assisted a Union cavalry patrol two days earlier. Her request was immediately granted.

This site has local significance because of its association with military activities and events that achieved or affected important local objectives of the Vicksburg campaign.