THE BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION
1863
Soon after the battle of Chancellorsville, Lee’s army was reenforced by
the return of Longstreet’s corps, which had been for some time at
Suffolk, Va., and the cavalry was increased by the addition of new
regiments from North Carolina and the Shenandoah Valley. Lee’s total
forces were now about 80,000 and his men, encouraged by their recent
victory, were in good fighting trim. Lee decided to carry the scene of
war once more into northern territory. He hoped to form a line of battle
near the Susquehanna river in the fertile fields of Pennsylvania, where
he could force the Federals to fight on ground of his own choosing. The
next weeks were spent in preparation for this northward movement.
On June 6, there was a cavalry review on the open plain between Culpeper
Courthouse and Brandy Station. Great preparations had been made for this
review. Each trooper had burnished his weapons and trappings and rubbed
down his much-enduring charger, in order that they might make the best
appearance possible. Visitors, especially many ladies, from all the
country round attended the magnificent spectacle.
Stuart and his entire staff took their position on a little grassy
knoll. Eight thousand troopers and sixteen pieces of horse artillery
passed before him in columns of squadrons,—first at a walk, then at a
gallop—while the guns of a battery on a hill opposite the reviewing
stand fired at regular intervals.
An eyewitness of the scene tells us that Stuart “was superbly mounted.
The trappings on his proud, prancing horse all looked bright and new and
his sidearms gleamed in the morning sun like burnished silver. A long
black ostrich plume waved gracefully from a drab slouch hat cocked up on
one side and held by a clasp which also stayed the plume.”
The same authority, Gunner Neese, tells an amusing story about himself
during this review. He says that, as acting first sergeant of his
battery, he was riding at the head of the horse artillery, mounted on a
mule with ears about a foot long. Just before the artillery arrived at
the reviewing stand, the searching eye of General Stuart, who was very
fastidious in all things, spied the waving ears of the mule and he
quickly dispatched an aide to tell the captain to order the mule and his
rider off the field. Neese says that he was not greatly surprised at the
order, but that the mule was.
For sometime General Hooker had wanted to know what was going on behind
the dense screen of cavalry that Stuart had collected at Culpeper, for
it was evident that General Lee was planning an important movement. Just
two days after the big review, Hooker sent to find out, and for once the
Federal cavalry took Stuart by surprise. General Pleasanton marched
cautiously to the north bank of the Rappahannock, at Beverly’s Ford,
with three divisions of cavalry and five brigades of infantry. No fires
were allowed in the Federal camp, and every precaution was taken to
prevent the Confederate pickets on the south bank from discovering the
presence of the large force.
Stuart’s brigades, under Fitz Lee, Robertson, W. H. F. Lee, and Jones,
were encamped near the fords of the Rappahannock in readiness to cross
the river the next morning and protect the flank of Lee’s army which was
already beginning its northward movement. Four batteries of horse
artillery were encamped in the edge of the woods, in advance of Jones’s
brigade, near St. James Church. This church was about two hundred yards
to the west of the direct road to Beverly’s Ford and was about two miles
from the ford.
Stuart himself camped on Fleetwood Hill, half a mile east of Brandy
Station and four miles from Beverly’s Ford. As an early start was
ordered for the next morning, all of Stuart’s camp equipage was packed
in wagons in readiness for the move. Pickets were placed at all fords
and the weary men slept, unaware of the lurking enemy.
At dawn on June 9, General Pleasanton divided his command into two
columns and sent one, under Brigadier-General Gregg, to cross the river
at Kelly’s Ford, four miles below the railroad bridge, and to gain the
road to Culpeper Courthouse. The other column, under General Buford, was
ordered to cross at Beverly’s Ford and proceed toward Brandy Station.
This advance was gallantly disputed by the Confederate pickets at the
ford, but being greatly outnumbered they were retiring slowly toward St.
James Church when Major Flournoy with about one hundred men charged down
the road upon the advancing regiments. The colonel who was leading the
Federal charge was killed and the troops were driven back.
But the skirmishes of the picket force and the charge of Major Flournoy
had given General Jones time to draw up his men in line of battle and to
withdraw the artillery from its exposed position. General Jones then
charged to the support of Major Flournoy. This charge was repelled by
the Federals, and Jones retired to his line of battle at St. James
Church where he was soon joined by the brigades of Hampton and W. H. F.
Lee.
[Illustration: MAP OF BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION]
From ten o’clock in the morning, the battle raged furiously. The
Confederates advanced, but were met by Federal troops that charged
gallantly across an open field up to the very muzzles of the cannon
which were sending forth shell and canister into their midst. They
advanced, however, too far beyond their guns and, being attacked on both
flanks, they retreated with heavy loss.
Stuart, who had hastened to the front to dispute the march of Buford,
was suddenly threatened by more serious danger in the rear.
The gallant Colonel Butler had been left with a regiment of South
Carolina cavalry to guard Brandy Station, two miles in the rear of St.
James Church and just half a mile from Fleetwood Hill where Stuart’s
headquarters had been located for several weeks. While on duty at Brandy
Station, Colonel Butler was informed by a scout that a body of Federal
cavalry was moving toward Stevensburg. This was a part of the column
that had been sent to Kelly’s Ford early in the morning. General Gregg
had driven in the Confederate pickets at the ford, and although General
Robertson moved at once to the help of his pickets, he was too late to
prevent General Gregg from sending a considerable force toward
Stevensburg which was on the direct road to Culpeper Courthouse where
General Lee was encamped. General Gregg himself, with the remainder of
his force, marched on toward Brandy Station.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF BRANDY STATION]
Colonel Butler knew that it was most important to keep the Federals from
finding out that Lee’s army was at Culpeper, and as soon as he heard
that they were marching along the Stevensburg road, he advanced without
orders down that road. After a fierce fight, he stopped the advance of
the Federals who turned back to join Gregg at Brandy Station.
In the meantime, General Gregg had marched to the station where, Colonel
Butler being absent, he met no opposing force. From this point, he
immediately passed on to Fleetwood Hill which that morning had been
vacated by General Stuart as headquarters. Stuart had left there Major
H. B. McClellan and several couriers, with orders for all brigades and
regiments to communicate with him at that place. These staff officers
saw Gregg’s large forces approaching and knew that they must hold the
hill at any cost, as it was the key to Stuart’s whole position.
In Major McClellan’s _Life of Stuart_ he gives us a very vivid and
accurate account of the combats which raged up and down and over the
crest of Fleetwood Hill. He says that every vestige of the camp had been
removed and there remained upon the hill only McClellan and the
couriers. A six-pound howitzer, which for want of ammunition had been
sent back from the fight going on at St. James Church, was halted at the
foot of the hill and later proved their salvation. As soon as the young
major saw the long Federal columns approaching, he dispatched a courier
to General Stuart with information of this movement. For fear that some
accident might befall the first courier, he sent a second, praying for
help lest the entire force be enclosed between the divisions of Buford
and Gregg.
Finding some round shot and imperfect shells in the limber chest, Major
McClellan ordered the howitzer to be brought up the hill and a slow fire
to be opened upon the rapidly-advancing Federals. The fire caused
surprise and a halt. It seemed to indicate the presence of a
considerable force.
General Gregg, therefore, made preparations for a serious attack upon
the hill, and opened fire with three rifled guns. But Major McClellan
and the men with their one gun, held the hill until help came.
Reenforcements promptly sent by General Stuart arrived just as the
lieutenant in charge of the gun had fired his last cartridge and the
Federal cavalry was advancing “in magnificent order of columns of
squadrons, with flags and guidons flying.”
There now followed a number of combats which for dash and bravery have
rarely been equaled. First the Confederates, then the Federals, seemed
to have possession of the hill. Stuart himself soon arrived, bringing
Hampton and Jones from the other firing line to help hold this important
position. Back and forth swept the blue and the gray, each fighting
stubbornly and well. For a brief space of time, the New Jersey cavalry
held the hill. Soon they were repulsed by a charge led by the Virginia
cavalry. There was a fierce contest at the foot of the hill over three
Federal guns. The Confederates charged and took the guns, but were
driven back by overwhelming numbers and forced to cut their way out.
About this time, Hampton came up with his four regiments formed in
columns of squadrons with a battery of four guns. As they advanced at a
gallop, they saw the crest of Fleetwood Hill covered with Federal
cavalry. Passing the eastern side of the hill, they struck the column
just beyond the railroad and there followed a fierce hand-to-hand fight.
When the smoke and dust of the conflict lifted, it was seen that Hampton
had won. The Federals were retiring. At the same time, a charge had been
made straight up the hill on the northeast side by Georgia and South
Carolina cavalry. A saber charge was made and the hill was cleared of
the opposing troops. As soon as the Confederates gained the summit of
the hill, three batteries were placed in position there.
Fleetwood Hill was now in the possession of the Confederates, but the
Federals still held Brandy Station. Stuart at once brought up a regiment
which charged on both sides of the road to the station, drove out the
Federals and pursued them for some distance.
While the battle was raging at Fleetwood Hill, W. H. F. Lee with a small
force held the Confederate lines near St. James Church. There was a lull
in the fighting while Buford was retiring some of his cavalry and
bringing up fresh troops, and so Stuart was able to withdraw both
Hampton and Jones, in order to repel the attack on Fleetwood Hill.
As soon as the Federals were driven from Brandy Station, Stuart formed a
new line of battle between the church and the station, where he received
a heavy Federal onset. This battle was waged with varied success, but at
last Gregg joined Buford and late in the evening the Federals retired
across the river,—defeated in spite of their superior numbers.
The losses in the battle of Brandy Station were heavy on both sides. The
Federal loss was nearly 1,000 officers and men, while the Confederate
loss was over 500. The Federals were forced to leave in the hands of the
Confederates three cannon, six flags, and nearly 500 prisoners.
Pleasanton was really driven back by Stuart and the cavalry, but he
claimed that as he had found out that there was a force of infantry at
Culpeper Courthouse, which was the information he had been sent to
obtain, he retired as soon as possible after he had been joined by
Gregg.
Gunner Neese tells us that several times during the day he saw General
Stuart, when the battle raged fiercest, dash with his staff across the
field and pass from point to point along the line, perfectly heedless of
the surrounding danger. During the engagement, Neese fired his faithful
gun one hundred and sixty times. Just before the battle closed in the
evening he saw the fire flash from the cascabel of his gun and found
that it was disabled forever—burnt out entirely at the breech.
We have described this battle at length because it is considered one of
the greatest cavalry combats of the nineteenth century.