Famous Cavalry Charges... NOT!

[5fish]

I am wondering about cavalry charges during the civil war. There are famous charges but they are all done by infantry like Pickette's charge, Franklin, and few others so where are the cavalry charges that could go down in the history of the civil war. I have not found anything like the Charge of the Light Brigade, or Alexander Companion Cavalry Charge at Granicus or Hannibal's Numidian cavalry at Cannae.

The civil war had cavalry charges but it seems none ever became famous. There is Brandy Station or Third Winchester but nothing on the scale Pickett's charge or Franklin. The civil war has all these great cavalry men like Stuart, Forrest, Shelby, Morgan, Buford, and Custer but no famous charges done by any of them. Even WWI and WWII both claim to have the last ever cavalry charge. Our civil war claims no famous cavalry charges for history to recall and make memorable. There has to be at least one cavalry charge that can claim it place in history either as victorious or as futile in effort from our civil war... any ideas or thoughts...

 

[diane]

Have you not heard of the gallant Charge of the Mule Brigade?

http://civilwarpoetry.org/union/battles/mules.html

Weren't there at least a couple good charges at Brandy Station? It was the biggest cavalry fight on the continent at that time. Forrest's charge at Fallen Timbers was definitely a qualifying one but it was only a few hundred charging on infantry.

 

[MaryDee]

There were a number of cavalry officers whose motto seemed to have been to charge first and think later. Custer was one. I'm thinking of what Eric Wittenberg calls "Custer's First Last Stand" at Trevillian Station. An even worse example was Judson Kilpatrick (aka "Kill-Cavalry").

 

[Booner]

I can think of two cavalry charges at Gettysburg; the one at the East cavalry field between Stuart and Gregg/Custer, and the one down by little Round Top between "Kill Cavalry" Kilpatrick and the right wing of the Confederate Army; both on 3 July

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

Third Winchester featured a five brigade mounted charge. That's quite large--the line was more than 2 miles long.

 

[MaryDee]

I had forgotten that one! Chased 'em miles down the Valley, as I recall! ("Down" as in south)

 

[5fish]

See!! I thought of Custer at Gettysburg and Kilpatrick's sent men on a futile charge as well at Gettysburg but neither ever got memorialized or romanticized as Chamberlain simple bayonet charge. I thought of Third Winchester massive cavalry charge but if you are not a civil war junkie you would not know about it. It was never memorialized but history. I thought of Forrest charge near in Okolona Mississippi after the death of his brother. It just part of Forrest lore not known to history. See!! the civil war is without any epic cavalry charges for lore to romanticize...

I notice there are no memorial lore of cavalry chasing down routed troops during battle or at the end. Where was the cavalry when Jackson flanked and route the union army at Chancellorsville? Where was the cavalry at when the union army was routed at the second battle of Bull Run? Cavalry historically is at one of its best when charging and killing route armies from the battlefield. The civil war is a dearth of epic cavalry charges or of running down routed armies. Heck! there is not even a first or last cavalry charge of the civil war...

I was think if like 2000 cavalry had follow in behind Jackson army in that flank attack at Chancellorsville maybe the war could have been over that day...

 

[Jamieva]

I had forgotten that one! Chased 'em miles down the Valley, as I recall! ("Down" as in south)

South is up the valley

 

[Dave G]

The Kellys Ford battle saw several charges, first by Averell's attempts to cross the ford against a Confederate picket line. Later, Fitz Lee's cavalry launched a useless charge against dismounted feds behind a stone wall. The feds under Duffie charged back, but Averell then decided that nobody would move without his explicit orders so the battle that could have been won by the Union troops ended in another stalemate.

 

[Rio Bravo]

The Battle of Parker's Crossroads should be included, where Forrest attacked the Union Brigade of Col. Cyrus Dunham, and then he was surprised by a 2nd Union Brigade commanded by Col. John Fuller attacking him from behind !
Forrest's response was to "charge 'em both ways". His troops pushed back Fuller and then moved around Dunham's already battered forces to cross the Tennessee river !

 

[Rebforever]

I am wondering about cavalry charges during the civil war. There are famous charges but they are all done by infantry like Pickette's charge, Franklin, and few others so where are the cavalry charges that could go down in the history of the civil war. I have not found anything like the Charge of the Light Brigade, or Alexander Companion Cavalry Charge at Granicus or Hannibal's Numidian cavalry at Cannae.

The civil war had cavalry charges but it seems none ever became famous. There is Brandy Station or Third Winchester but nothing on the scale Pickett's charge or Franklin. The civil war has all these great cavalry men like Stuart, Forrest, Shelby, Morgan, Buford, and Custer but no famous charges done by any of them. Even WWI and WWII both claim to have the last ever cavalry charge. Our civil war claims no famous cavalry charges for history to recall and make memorable. There has to be at least one cavalry charge that can claim it place in history either as victorious or as futile in effort from our civil war... any ideas or thoughts...

Read a Forrest book!

 

[Aussie Billy Sherman]

You hardly ever hear about the union cavalry charge from kilpatrick at Gettysburg. Any good resources to learn about it online or good books?
History is mostly told as Pickett's Charge and then the retreat back to Virgina. The Custer east cavalry field fight is sometimes brought up but this charge is rarely mentioned

 

[Sbc]

See!! I thought of Custer at Gettysburg and Kilpatrick's sent men on a futile charge as well at Gettysburg but neither ever got memorialized or romanticized as Chamberlain simple bayonet charge. I thought of Third Winchester massive cavalry charge but if you are not a civil war junkie you would not know about it. It was never memorialized but history. I thought of Forrest charge near in Okolona Mississippi after the death of his brother. It just part of Forrest lore not known to history. See!! the civil war is without any epic cavalry charges for lore to romanticize...

I notice there are no memorial lore of cavalry chasing down routed troops during battle or at the end. Where was the cavalry when Jackson flanked and route the union army at Chancellorsville? Where was the cavalry at when the union army was routed at the second battle of Bull Run? Cavalry historically is at one of its best when charging and killing route armies from the battlefield. The civil war is a dearth of epic cavalry charges or of running down routed armies. Heck! there is not even a first or last cavalry charge of the civil war...

I was think if like 2000 cavalry had follow in behind Jackson army in that flank attack at Chancellorsville maybe the war could have been over that day...

Cav was unusable in the area around Chancellorsive

 

[E_just_E]

You hardly ever hear about the union cavalry charge from kilpatrick at Gettysburg. Any good resources to learn about it online or good books?
History is mostly told as Pickett's Charge and then the retreat back to Virgina. The Custer east cavalry field fight is sometimes brought up but this charge is rarely mentioned

Because:

a. it was really insignificant to the outcome of the battle, like most Cavalry actions in most major battles that involve whole armies

b. historians for a long while have been suggesting that Pickett's charge was the end action of the Battle of Gettysburg (another long propagated Bachelder myth)

 

[5fish]

As you have you notice there is no great cavalry charge coming from our civil war. I wonder did not Joe Shelby arrive a couple times at the last moment to save the day in a couple battles. I figure he was cavalry so would he not have charged into battle to save the day. Maybe history will look back one day and find one charge from our civil war to immortalize...

 

[AUG]

The charge of the 5th Texas Lancers (Company B of the 5th Texas Mounted Rifles) at Valverde:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/charge-of-the-5th-texas-lancers.89173/

Another would be the charge of the 5th U.S. Cavalry under Capt. Charles J. Whiting at Gaines' Mill - a counter-attack on the Confederate breakthrough at Boatswain's Swamp. However, it was stopped dead in its tracks by Hood's Texans. Hood even met some of the officers and men he had previously served with in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry before the war.

Of course none of these could compare to something like the Charge of the Light Brigade or those of the Napoleonic Wars in size. Cavalry in the ACW operated a lot differently than how it did in previous wars. To put it simply, it was a combination of not enough cavalrymen and horses and the resources required to provide for them - that combined with the terrain of North America. The cavalry arm just wasn't as large as it had been in previous wars and was not designed as a hard-hitting shock unit, but mainly for scouting and skirmishing.

 

[diane]

I don't think you'll find anything super large scale that would catch the imagination in the American Civil War, like this:

But there's some really good little ones!

 

[Jamieva]

You hardly ever hear about the union cavalry charge from kilpatrick at Gettysburg. Any good resources to learn about it online or good books?
History is mostly told as Pickett's Charge and then the retreat back to Virgina. The Custer east cavalry field fight is sometimes brought up but this charge is rarely mentioned

Werts book on gettysburg day 3 covers both cavalry actions

 

[Eric Wittenberg]

You hardly ever hear about the union cavalry charge from kilpatrick at Gettysburg. Any good resources to learn about it online or good books?
History is mostly told as Pickett's Charge and then the retreat back to Virgina. The Custer east cavalry field fight is sometimes brought up but this charge is rarely mentioned

I kinda wrote a book about it...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1611210704/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

 

[diane]

I kinda wrote a book about it...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1611210704/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

I think you know something about CW cavalry charges, Mr Wittenberg!