Tens of thousands face off in gallant, rare cavalry battle

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The cavalry battle of Brandy Station, fought about 60 miles from Washington on the banks of the Rappahannock in Culpeper County on June 9, 1863, was big. It involved roughly 10,000 horsemen on each side and was the opening battle of the Gettysburg campaign. It was a rare fight of cavalry against cavalry, with much gallantry, much confusion and lots of saber slashing. It was a cast-of-thousands epic and an unforgettable spectacle -- but exactly who won is a frequently asked question.

The consensus that has sifted down from the many participants and historians who have written about it and the long perspective of history is that it was pretty much a draw but that if you had to award the laurels to someone, it would be the Confederates.

At the end of the day, they held the ground, and they inflicted considerably more casualties. The Confederate commander, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, was much criticized for having been surprised, but the Union attackers were badly surprised, too. Thinking the Confederate camps were much farther from the Rappahannock than they were, the Federals did not know what they were riding into.

Immediately after the battle, both sides loudly proclaimed victory, but their enthusiasm was soon dampened by skeptical commentators. The Union newspapers were much kinder to the Union commander, Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, than the Southern press was to Stuart, who was unsparingly criticized for having been taken by surprise. The biggest surprise of all, to both sides, was that Union cavalrymen at last showed they had learned how to fight on horseback and to stand their ground and not turn tail. This, historians have agreed, was the greatest, and the most permanent, effect of this unique battle.

The Confederates had 9,536 men there, and the Federals, counting their two heavy brigades of infantry, 10,981. The Confederates lost a total of 523 killed, wounded and captured, and the Union 936.

Capt. W.W. Blackford of Stuart's staff said: "By all the tests recognized in war the victory was fairly ours. We captured three cannon and 500 prisoners, and held the field."

Col. Charles Wainwright of the Army of the Potomac said: "I heard this morning that Pleasonton had a big fight on Tuesday at Brandy Station; decidedly the largest cavalry fight this war has yet produced. [Maj. Gen. Joseph] Hooker calls it a victory, though on what grounds exactly I cannot see. The numbers seem to have been about equal on the two sides, and the fighting has been back and forth. First we drove the rebel horse back onto their infantry supports, and then they drove ours back in the same way. The first is proved by our capture of Stuart's camp and baggage [which later proved untrue]; the latter by our loss of two guns, and leaving most of our wounded on the field."

Blackford's brother Charles, on the staff of Gen. James Longstreet, wrote shortly after the battle: "The cavalry fight at Brandy Station can hardly be called a victory. Stuart was certainly surprised, and but for the supreme gallantry of his subordinate officers and the men ... it would have been a day of disaster and disgrace. ... Stuart is blamed very much, but whether or not fairly I am not sufficiently well informed to say."

Maj. Heros von Borcke, a Prussian serving on Stuart's staff, wrote years later of the surprise, and said the victory that Stuart snatched from it was an excellent illustration of his great genius in battle: "Learning that he had been flanked and strong units were occupying his previous headquarters blocking his retreat, Stuart's strength and military genius rose to their highest."