Other Names: Fleetwood Hill
Location: Culpeper County
Campaign: Gettysburg Campaign (June-August 1863)
Date(s): June 9, 1863
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. Pleasonton [US]; Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart [CS]
Forces Engaged: Corps (22,000 total)
Estimated Casualties: 1,090 total
Description: At dawn June 9, the Union cavalry corps under Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton launched a surprise attack on Stuart’s cavalry at Brandy Station. After an all-day fight in which fortunes changed repeatedly, the Federals retired without discovering Lee’s infantry camped near Culpeper. This battle marked the apogee of the Confederate in the East. From this point in the war, the Federal cavalry gained strength and confidence. Brandy Station was the largest cavalry battle of the war and the opening engagement of the Gettysburg Campaign.
Result(s): Inconclusive
CWSAC Reference #: VA035
Preservation Priority: I.3 (Class B)
USNPSThe Battle of Brandy Station on June 9, 1863 was the biggest cavalry battle of the Civil War. It occurred as Lee was making his march towards Pennsylvania, ultimately resulting in the horrific Battle of Gettysburg the first three days of July, 1863. Click here to see an exerpt from Catton's book (pp. 161-2) to get some of the background.
Justus G. Matteson also covers a lot of ground in a few words in this letter to his future wife about Brandy Station, Middleburg, Upperville, and Gettysburg in his letter of July 10, 1863. To see this letter, click here.
The following exerpt is from Catton's book pp. 161-2 (Biblio-2):
"Apparently Lee retained certain reservation. He got his army into shape, and by the end of May he could record a total, present for duty, of all arms, of nearly 75,000 men. He divided this army into three corps, keeping stout Longstreet as one corps commander and giving the other two corps to newly created lieutenant generals, Richard S. Ewell (Who had fought so well under Jackson in the faraway Valley campaign) and A. P. Hill, a good leader and a furious fighter; each would command some 20,000 men, and for the most part the men were veterans of high morale. Yet even as he made these arrangements Lee notified Mr. Davis that he began to fear that "the time has passed when I could have taken the offensive with advantage," saying that "there may be nothing left for me to do but fall back." He also told Secretary Seddon that Hooker apparently planned to turn the Confederate left while Federal Troops on the peninsula advanced directly on Richmond. This last was a serious threat. The Federal commander at Fort Monroe, Major General John A. Dix, had some 32,000 men arrayed on both sides of the James, and to oppose him Richmond had fewer than 8000 under Major General Arnold Elzey. Richmond could get some help from Major General D. H. Hill's 20,000 in North Carolina but it probably could not get very much because Hill was under a good deal of pressure himself. A simultaneous advance by Hooker and Dix could present a most difficult problem.
"But anything was better than to wait idly for the storm to break, and on June 3 [1863] Lee began to move. Longstreet's corps started for the Blue Ridge, with Ewell following, while Stuart's cavalry rode off to screen the move and Hill stayed in Fredericksburg to guard the rear. The army would go through the Blue Ridge gaps and move on down the lower Shenandoah Valley [in a northerly direction] for the Potomac crossings, and although for a while it would be badly strung out Lee believed that Hooker could be deceived long enough to make the march relatively safe. By June 8 Lee himself, with the two leading army corps, was in the vicinity of Culpeper Courthouse, and Stuart jauntily put on a grand review of his cavalry for the edification of the commanding general.
"Perhaps the review was a mistake. It had the scent of holiday warfare, with pretty ladies applauding the gallant cavalrymen, and Stuart gave it just a little too much of his attention; the result being that on the next day Federal cavalry crossed the Rappahannock unexpectedly and brought on the biggest cavalry battle of the war on the fields and hills near Brandy Station. Yankee cavalry was no longer totally outclassed by Confederate cavalry, it knew how to ride and fight now, and this battle was a hard one. Stuart's men gave ground, and for a time seemed in danger of being driven from the field altogether, and although Stuart rallied them and at last forced the federals back to their own side of the river he had obviously been taken by surprise, which was most humiliating. Also, the new federal cavalry commander, Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton, had discovered what was going on, and he was able to tell Hooker that Lee's army was going north. Pleasonton got a major general's commission for his efforts, and Hooker began to suspect that Lee was making a bad move. He thought that he himself ought to march at once for Richmond."
Another short account of the battle is from Ward (Biblio-16):
"Union cavalry, under Alfred Pleasonton, sent to discover what Lee was up to, surprised Jeb Stuart and his Confederate raiders at Brandy Station on the Rappahannock. Twenty-one thousand mounted men clashed along the river for twelve hours, the biggest cavalry engagement in American history. It was a standoff, but the North now knew the Confederates were on the move."
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