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Part I - The Battle Opens
The cavalry battle at Brandy Station on the Orange & Alexandria R.R. had its origins in the Union defeat at Chancellorsville the previous month. Following that reverse, Union General Joseph Hooker pulled his army back on the north side of the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers and awaited the move of his adversary, Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lee decided on the bold move to the north which ultimately led to Gettysburg, and began shifting his forces in the direction of Culpeper, Virginia, enroute to the Shenandoah Valley invasion corridor. Hearing of some of these moves, Hooker ordered the commander of his Cavalry Corps, Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, to verify the truth of the rumors by locating the position and numbers of the opposing Confederate cavalry.
Pleasonton had only recently taken charge of the three-division corps of horsemen and was aware of the concentration of the Confederate cavalry division of Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart in the Culpeper area and the sounds of cannon fire and mock battle coming from that direction. For his part, Stuart had been reveling in the largest aggregation of Southern horsemen yet seen and had celebrated the event by staging two huge reviews, one featuring the sounds of battle heard by Federal scouts. The second and more sedate of these reviews was held for General Lee and other dignitaries on June 8, following which Stuart dispersed his command in brigade camps scattered over the countryside around the village of Brandy Station surrounding his headquarters on nearby Fleetwood Hill.
Attribution: Map by Hal Jespersen, www.posix.com/CW (Note: the actual date of the battle was June 9, 1863.)
Pleasonton divided his corps by its divisions and largely due to geographic considerations: there were two useable fords on the Rappahannock, Beverly's and Kelly's, that provided access to the Culpeper area where he expected to find Stuart. Pleasonton accompanied the northernmost division of Brig. Gen. John Buford, reinforced by some infantry from the brigade of Adelbert Ames, to Beverly's Ford. Brig. Gen. David Gregg led his own division and that of Alfred Duffie, plus more of Ames' infantry, to Kelly's Ford. Duffie, whose division was supposed to lead the column, took the wrong road and thereby retarded half of what was supposed to have been a simultaneous early morning river crossing.
Buford's column crossed at Beverly's Ford with little delay, brushing aside the few surprised Confederate pickets, but suffered a quick setback when the commander of his leading brigade, Col. Benjamin "Grimes" Davis, was shot through the head by a Rebel lieutenant as he escaped on his wounded horse. The brigade he belonged to, that of Brig. Gen. William "Grumble" Jones, was alerted and rushed to oppose Buford's men in the area above; the Federals approached from the background toward Jones' position in the foreground. Pressed by overwhelming numbers, Jones fell back to the area of his camps around St. James Church where most of Stuart's artillery had taken position.
The view above is essentially the same as that in the woodcut below showing the charge of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry on the right and the 6th U. S. Regular Cavalry on the left against the position in the treeline of Jones' dismounted troopers and the horse artillery battalion of Maj. Robert F. Beckham. The Confederates here were also being reinforced by the brigade of Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton which extended Jones' line to the east of Beckham's guns. ( To the left in the pictures. ) Charging Union troopers were savaged by the fire concentrated against them and quickly recoiled, leading Buford to conclude on a different approach. Leaving some of Ames' infantry and a few mounted troops to face Jones, he led the bulk of his command to the west where he hoped he could bypass the Confederates to the north of St. James Church.
By moving west, Buford soon encountered the brigade of Brig. Gen. W. H. F. "Rooney" Lee, son of the Confederate commander, whose men were rushing toward the scene of the action. Lee placed his men on the edges of a terrain feature called Yew's Ridge on the Cunningham and Greene farms, which were separated by a series of low stone fences and walls. The photo below looks from Buford's position and the hill topped by his artillery toward Lee's positions at the fences, the first of which was in the low ground marked by the first line of trees. Buford was able to push Lee's dismounted skirmishers from this position to the second treeline in the distance, but then no farther. For a time, a stalemate set in as the main action shifted to the south where Gregg's Division was finally making its belated appearance.
Next time, the battle moves south.
The cavalry battle at Brandy Station on the Orange & Alexandria R.R. had its origins in the Union defeat at Chancellorsville the previous month. Following that reverse, Union General Joseph Hooker pulled his army back on the north side of the Rappahannock and Rapidan Rivers and awaited the move of his adversary, Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Lee decided on the bold move to the north which ultimately led to Gettysburg, and began shifting his forces in the direction of Culpeper, Virginia, enroute to the Shenandoah Valley invasion corridor. Hearing of some of these moves, Hooker ordered the commander of his Cavalry Corps, Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, to verify the truth of the rumors by locating the position and numbers of the opposing Confederate cavalry.
Pleasonton had only recently taken charge of the three-division corps of horsemen and was aware of the concentration of the Confederate cavalry division of Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart in the Culpeper area and the sounds of cannon fire and mock battle coming from that direction. For his part, Stuart had been reveling in the largest aggregation of Southern horsemen yet seen and had celebrated the event by staging two huge reviews, one featuring the sounds of battle heard by Federal scouts. The second and more sedate of these reviews was held for General Lee and other dignitaries on June 8, following which Stuart dispersed his command in brigade camps scattered over the countryside around the village of Brandy Station surrounding his headquarters on nearby Fleetwood Hill.
Pleasonton divided his corps by its divisions and largely due to geographic considerations: there were two useable fords on the Rappahannock, Beverly's and Kelly's, that provided access to the Culpeper area where he expected to find Stuart. Pleasonton accompanied the northernmost division of Brig. Gen. John Buford, reinforced by some infantry from the brigade of Adelbert Ames, to Beverly's Ford. Brig. Gen. David Gregg led his own division and that of Alfred Duffie, plus more of Ames' infantry, to Kelly's Ford. Duffie, whose division was supposed to lead the column, took the wrong road and thereby retarded half of what was supposed to have been a simultaneous early morning river crossing.
Buford's column crossed at Beverly's Ford with little delay, brushing aside the few surprised Confederate pickets, but suffered a quick setback when the commander of his leading brigade, Col. Benjamin "Grimes" Davis, was shot through the head by a Rebel lieutenant as he escaped on his wounded horse. The brigade he belonged to, that of Brig. Gen. William "Grumble" Jones, was alerted and rushed to oppose Buford's men in the area above; the Federals approached from the background toward Jones' position in the foreground. Pressed by overwhelming numbers, Jones fell back to the area of his camps around St. James Church where most of Stuart's artillery had taken position.
The view above is essentially the same as that in the woodcut below showing the charge of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry on the right and the 6th U. S. Regular Cavalry on the left against the position in the treeline of Jones' dismounted troopers and the horse artillery battalion of Maj. Robert F. Beckham. The Confederates here were also being reinforced by the brigade of Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton which extended Jones' line to the east of Beckham's guns. ( To the left in the pictures. ) Charging Union troopers were savaged by the fire concentrated against them and quickly recoiled, leading Buford to conclude on a different approach. Leaving some of Ames' infantry and a few mounted troops to face Jones, he led the bulk of his command to the west where he hoped he could bypass the Confederates to the north of St. James Church.
By moving west, Buford soon encountered the brigade of Brig. Gen. W. H. F. "Rooney" Lee, son of the Confederate commander, whose men were rushing toward the scene of the action. Lee placed his men on the edges of a terrain feature called Yew's Ridge on the Cunningham and Greene farms, which were separated by a series of low stone fences and walls. The photo below looks from Buford's position and the hill topped by his artillery toward Lee's positions at the fences, the first of which was in the low ground marked by the first line of trees. Buford was able to push Lee's dismounted skirmishers from this position to the second treeline in the distance, but then no farther. For a time, a stalemate set in as the main action shifted to the south where Gregg's Division was finally making its belated appearance.
Next time, the battle moves south.
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