Out Flew the Sabres: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863

The Emerging Civil War Series:

The Aftermath of Battle: The Burial of the Civil War Dead

by Meg Thompson

Bloody Autumn: The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864

by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt

Bushwhacking on a Grand Scale: The Battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 18-20, 1863

by William Lee White

Calamity in Carolina: The Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville, March 1865

by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt

Dawn of Victory: Breakthrough at Petersburg, March 25-April 2, 1865

by Edward S. Alexander

Fight Like the Devil: The First Day at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863

by Chris Mackowski and Daniel T. Davis

Grant’s Last Battle: The Story Behind the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

by Chris Mackowski

Hell Itself: The Battle of the Wilderness, May 5-7, 1864

by Chris Mackowski

Hurricane from the Heavens: The Battle of Cold Harbor, May 26-June 5, 1864

by Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt

The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson: The Mortal Wounding of the Confederacy’s Greatest Icon

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

No Turning Back: A Guide to the 1864 Overland Campaign

by Robert M. Dunkerly, Donald C. Pfanz, and David R. Ruth

Out Flew the Sabres: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863

by Eric J. Wittenberg and Daniel T. Davis

A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8-21, 1864

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

Strike Them a Blow: Battle Along the North Anna River, May 21-25, 1863

by Chris Mackowski

That Furious Struggle: Chancellorsville and the High Tide of the Confederacy, May 1-5, 1863

by Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White

To the Bitter End: Appomattox, Bennett Place, and the Surrenders of the Confederacy

by Robert M. Dunkerly

A Want of Vigilance: The Bristoe Station Campaign, October 9-19, 1863

by Bill Backus and Rob Orrison

© 2016 by Eric J. Wittenberg and Daniel T. Davis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.

First edition, first printing

ISBN-13: 978-1-61121-256-3

eISBN: 978-1-61121-257-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015029216

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DAN: For my dad, Tommy Davis, and my brother, Matt, who remain my companions to Brandy Station and other Civil War battlefields

ERIC: For Clark B. Bud Hall, without whose ceaseless efforts to save the Brandy Station battlefield, it would have been destroyed years ago

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

TOURING THE BATTLEFIELD

FOREWORD by Kristopher D. White

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1: The Confederate Cavalry Concentrates

CHAPTER 2: Stuart’s Grand Reviews

CHAPTER 3: The Union Plan of Attack

CHAPTER 4: The Battle Begins

CHAPTER 5: A Charge of Conspicuous Gallantry

CHAPTER 6: To the Stone Wall

CHAPTER 7: Gregg’s Arrival

CHAPTER 8: The Desperate Struggle for Fleetwood Hill

CHAPTER 9: Out Flew the Sabres

CHAPTER 10: The Fight at Stevensburg

CHAPTER 11: A Reluctant Withdrawal

CHAPTER 12: This Battle Made the Federal Cavalry

POSCRIPT by Daniel T. Davis

APPENDIX A: The Four Battles of Brandy Station by Eric J. Wittenberg

Appendix B: The Winter Encampment by Mike Block

Appendix C: The Battle of Kelly’s Ford by Daniel T. Davis

AFTERWORD by O. James Lighthizer

ORDER OF BATTLE

SUGGESTED READING

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

The road near St. James Church (Tour Stop 4) (cm)

List of Maps

Maps by Hal Jespersen

Driving Tour

Area of Operations

Brandy Station Area

Buford’s Advance

St. James Church

Fleetwood Hill

Yew Ridge

Stevensburg

The Battle of Kelly’s Ford

Acknowledgments

We would like to graciously thank Theodore P. Savas and Sarah Keeney of Savas Beatie Publishing and Chris Mackowski, the editor of the Emerging Civil War Series. Once again, they have helped bring a manuscript full circle to fruition. Hal Jespersen worked with us to build a superb set of maps. We thank our colleagues, the wonderful authors at Emerging Civil War—in particular Kris White, who took time away from his schedule to write an excellent foreword that properly framed the battle within the overall context of the Gettysburg campaign. Rob Orrison also contributed some fantastic pictures. Mike Block, vice president of the Friends of the Cedar Mountain Battlefield, contributed an excellent appendix on the Army of the Potomac’s 1863-64 Winter Encampment in Culpeper. Jim Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Trust, wrote an afterword detailing the preservation efforts at Brandy Station. Thanks to the monumental efforts of the Trust, future generations will be able to visiting and walking the battlefield.

DAN: I owe a debt of gratitude to Ted and Chris but especially to Eric Wittenberg for bringing me onto this project. Having the opportunity to work with someone of Eric’s stature and expertise was both humbling and a wonderful learning experience. My beautiful wife, Katy, continues to be a source of inspiration. To my parents, Tommy and Kathy, along with my brother, Matt, and his wife, Candice, for their continued support. Also to my mother-in-law, Cathy Bowen, and my sister and brother-in-law, Becca and Andy. I also owe a thanks to the rest of my family, friends and battlefield companions: Kristin Simmler, Mike Swartz, and Mia Nam. Lastly, I am especially grateful for my late father-in-law, Tom Bowen. Tom always put others first, whether they were family, friends, or the people he met on his many mission trips. He is missed by those who love him, but we take comfort knowing he is watching over us still.

Buford’s Knoll (Tour Stop 5) (cm)

ERIC: Thank you to Dan Davis for wanting to do this project with me. Dan is a fine historian in his own right, and it was a pleasure to work with him on this book. Thank you to Bud Hall for being the best teacher a student could ever want. I am, as always, endlessly grateful to my wonderful wife, Susan Skilken Wittenberg, without whom none of this could ever occur. Finally, I am grateful to Chris and Ted for their fine work with the Emerging Civil War Series.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mike Block (mb); Daniel T. Davis (dd); Library of Congress (loc); Chris Mackowski (cm); U. S. Army History and Education Center (usahaec); University of South Carolina (usc); Virginia Historical Society (vhs); Williams College (wc); Eric J. Wittenberg (ew)

For the Emerging Civil War Series

Touring the Battlefield

The battle of Brandy Station and the events related to it cover a wide expanse across Culpeper County. Directions to each stop follow at the end of each chapter.

While much of the driving tour route is along secondary roads, you will have to use major highways such as Route 15/29 and Route 3. Traffic can be heavy along these roads; please exercise caution at all times.

Additionally, there is property along the route that may not be owned by a preservation organization. Please be mindful of all posted signs and respect the owners’s rights.

Eric Wittenberg spends considerable time on the Brandy Station battlefield. (cm)

You will also have the opportunity to leave your vehicle and walk the battlefield. The Civil War Trust has installed and maintained trails at stops 3, 4, 5 and 7. Although no trail exists, you may wish to follow the walking directions in chapter 6 to see the stone wall on the Cunningham Farm. Always secure all valuables and lock your vehicle. Additionally, be aware of poison oak and wildlife, especially snakes.

The tour begins—Tour Stop 1—at the Graffiti House, located off Carrico Mills Road.

A historical marker near Stuart’s Review Field, between Brandy Station and Culpeper, foreshadows the coming Gettysburg campaign. (dd)

Foreword

BY KRISTOPHER D. WHITE

I have just received information, which I consider reliable, penned Brig. Gen. John Buford, that all of the available cavalry of the Confederacy is in Culpeper County. More than 9,500 Southern horsemen were massed in the fields around the hamlet of Culpeper, Virginia. Buford, who was arguably the best cavalry officer in the Federal Army of the Potomac, located what would be the vanguard unit of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s famed Army of Northern Virginia as it embarked on its summer campaign.

Four days later, Buford’s troopers splashed across Beverly’s Ford and engaged the enemy in combat, and in the process, touched off the largest cavalry battle of the Civil War.

There is great irony in the fact that the battle of Brandy Station was the first large engagement of what many believe to be the turning point of the American Civil War, the Gettysburg campaign. Although the battle was a Federal defeat, Brandy Station itself stands as a turning point of sorts. It was here that the Federal cavalry finally matured to the point that it could stand toe-to-toe with its Southern counterpart.

*    *    *

By the late spring of 1863, a Confederate offensive headed by Lee’s army had been a long time coming. Since his defeat at Sharpsburg, Lee had yearned to regain the initiative that he lost on the banks of Antietam Creek. His dramatic victory at Chancellorsville, in May, 1863, was the catalyst Lee needed for a second campaign across the Potomac. In the days following Chancellorsville, Lee gained the approval from the Confederate high command to keep the momentum and press north towards Maryland and Pennsylvania. Throughout late May, he tirelessly reorganized his army and, by the first week of June, was ready to take the offensive.

AREA OF OPERATIONS—After Brandy Station, the opposing cavalry continued to spar as the two armies march north from Fredericksburg. The next clash came in the Loudoun Valley in the middle of June. Stuart battled Pleasonton in quick succession at Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville as the Federals tried to locate Lee’s army. The mounted arms met again north of the Mason Dixon line at Hanover, Hunterstown, and Gettysburg.

Lee’s move was a calculated one. Victory at Chancellorsville buoyed Southern hopes of ultimate victory, yet the Southern victory came at a high cost.

More than 13,000 Confederates were casualties as a result of the battle, including Lee’s third in command, Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson. Lee also lost nine of his 28 brigade commanders and 64 of 130 regimental commanders. By the time the first Southern soldier stepped off towards Pennsylvania, on June 3, more than one-third of all of Lee’s infantry brigade commanders were new to their posts, as were two-thirds of his corps commanders.

Despite the heavy attrition in the officer corps, and the reorganization of the army, the time to strike was now. Major General Ulysses S. Grant was threatening the city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. The loss of this key city would give the Union navy unmitigated control of the Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in two. Even though Vicksburg was 1,000 miles away, Lee was pressured to send troops to relieve that sector. Lee felt that [t]he distance and the uncertainty of the employment of the troops [transferred there] are unfavorable. In Lee’s mind, the best way to ease the pressure on the west "would