The Union Cavalry Comes of Age

THE UNION CAVALRY COMES OF AGE Roy P. Stonesifer, Jr. The cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac developed through difficulties of organization, command, and continuing defeat to a final position of dominance over the Confederate cavalry. Two years of field service were necessary before this body could successfully challenge its superb opponent, the cavalry corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. In the Gettysburg campaign, June 9—July 14, 1863, the northern horsemen finally began to emerge as an effective fighting force, better armed, equipped, and mounted than their enemy, with adequate generals in command and with a will to defeat the southerners who had outclassed them on so many previous fields of battle. From Brandy Station to Falling Waters, the Union horse fought hard, brutal combats with the Confederate cavalry and the results proved the rising predominance of the Union riders. Of the actions in this period, the battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville are representative. On June 4, 1863, General Joseph Hooker sent word to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, that the Confederates had removed several of their camps near Fredericksburg, Virginia. General Lee was beginning his march north into Pennsylvania. On June 5, Hooker told Major General Henry W. Halleck, General-in-Chief, that J. E. B. Stuart was preparing to launch a raid into Maryland with fifteen to twenty thousand men. Hooker possessed reports from scouts and spies that correctly identified the Confederate cavalary commands but overestimated the strength of Stuart's corps, which actually numbered only 9,536 on May 31 of that year.1 The Union cavalry corps was at Warrenton Junction; Stuart's was just north of Culpeper Court House. By June 6, Longstreet's First Corps had almost reached Culpeper, with Ewell's Second Corps half1 U.S. War Dept., The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, 1880-1901), Ser. I, XXVII, pt. 1, 29, 31 (cited hereafter as OR, with all references to Ser. I); Douglas S. Freeman, Lee's Lieutenants: A Study in Command (New York, 1944-1945), ??, 1. 274 way between Fredericksburg and Culpeper. A. P. Hill's Third Corps still lay at Fredericksburg. This movement was well executed and Hooker did not know that the majority of the Confederate army had left Fredericksburg and was headed north. By June 8, both Ewell's and Longstreet's corps were at Culpeper and Brigadier General M. Jenkins' cavalry brigade had already reached the Shenandoah Valley. That same afternoon Lee reviewed Stuart's cavalry at Brandy Station, Stuart having moved to that place from Culpeper on June 5. Lee expressed pleasure as Stuart paraded brigade after brigade of bis fine horsemen.3 Hooker, meanwhile, knowing nothing of the Confederate infantry concentrated around Culpeper, ordered Pleasonton to move against Stuart at Brandy Station. Hooker hoped that the Union troopers would give him needed information about the Confederate movements. The result was the battle of Brandy Station on June T. For the first time a large force of Union cavalry attacked the Confederate cavalry, deliberately provoking battle. It stood up to the southern horse in open combat, maintained the offensive throughout most of the day, inflicted heavy losses, and retired in good order. Lee did not regard the action at Brandy Station as a serious threat to his offensive and correctly decided not to alter plans as a result of it On June 8 and T, EwelTs corps marched rapidly northward up the Shenandoah Valley with Rodes's division in the advance. On June 10, Ewell ordered Rodes, with Jenkins' brigade, to seize Martinsburg, West Virginia, while he continued with the remainder of his corps to Winchester. Before Union General Robert H. Milroy and his command of eight or nine thousand men could move from Winchester, he was surrounded and his defenses assaulted in force. Ewell captured the majority of Milroy's command, including four thousand prisoners and twenty-three guns. Rodes captured Martinsburg on June 14, taking seven hundred prisoners and five guns. The next day Ewell crossed into Maryland. Jenkins' cavalry advanced northward on June 16 to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and on June 17 the Union troops evacuated...