Brandy Station, Battle of
1863 CE
The Battle of Brandy Station, also called the Battle of Fleetwood Hill, is the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the American Civil War, as well as the largest ever to take place on American soil
It is fought on June 9, 1863, around Brandy Station, Virginia, at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign by the Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton against Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry.
Pleasonton launches a surprise dawn attack on Stuart's cavalry at Brandy Station.
After an all-day fight in which fortunes change repeatedly, the Federals retire without discovering Gen. Robert E. Lee's infantry camped near Culpeper.
This battle marks the end of the Confederate cavalry's dominance in the East.
From this point in the war, the Federal cavalry will gain strength and confidence
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Joseph Hooker, still in command of the Army of the Potomac, sends cavalry forces to find Lee.
The clash at Brandy Station on June 9 is the largest predominantly cavalry battle of the war but ends inconclusively.
On June 28, President Lincoln loses patience with him and relieves him of command, replacing him with V Corps commander, Major General George G. Meade.
After reviewing the positions of the army's corps with Hooker, Meade orders the army to advance into southern Pennsylvania in a wide front, with the intention of protecting Washington and Baltimore and finding Lee's army.
He also draws up plans to defend a line behind Pipe Creek in northern Maryland in case he cannot find suitable ground in Pennsylvania to fight a battle to his advantage.
As they cross the Potomac and enter Frederick, Maryland, the Confederates are spread out over a considerable distance in Pennsylvania, with Richard Ewell across the Susquehanna River from Harrisburg and James Longstreet and A. P. Hill behind the mountains in Chambersburg.
Lee's cavalry, under Jeb Stuart, is engaged in a wide-ranging raid around the eastern flank of the Union army and is uncharacteristically out of touch with headquarters, leaving Lee blind as to his enemy's position and intentions.
Lee realizes that, just as in the Maryland Campaign, he has to concentrate his army before it can be defeated in detail.
He orders all units to move to the general vicinity of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.