CHAPTER X

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.

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.

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.