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

by Eric J. Wittenberg, Daniel T. Davis

Overview

One day. Fourteen hours. Twelve thousand Union cavalrymen against 9,000 of their Confederate counterparts—with three thousand Union infantry thrown in for good measure. Amidst the thunder of hooves and the clashing of sabers, they slugged it out across the hills and dales of Culpepper County, Virginia.

And it escalated into the largest cavalry battle ever fought on the North American continent.

Fleetwood Hill at Brandy Station was the site of four major cavalry battles during the course of the Civil War, but none was more important than the one fought on June 9, 1863. That clash turned out to be the opening engagement of the Gettysburg Campaign—and the one-day delay it engendered may very well have impacted the outcome of the entire campaign.

The tale includes a veritable who’s-who of cavalry all-stars in the East: Jeb Stuart, Wade Hampton, John Buford, and George Armstrong Custer. Robert E. Lee, the great Confederate commander, saw his son, William H. F. Lee, being carried off the battlefield, severely wounded. Both sides suffered heavy losses.

But for the Federal cavalry, the battle was also a watershed event. After Brandy Station, never again would they hear the mocking cry, “Whoever saw a dead cavalryman?”

In Out Flew the Sabers: The Battle of Brandy Station, June 9, 1863—The Opening Engagement of the Gettysburg Campaign, Civil War historians Eric J. Wittenberg and Daniel T. Davis have written the latest entry in Savas Beatie’s critically acclaimed Emerging Civil War Series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611212570
Publisher:	Savas Beatie
Publication date:	05/19/2016
Series:	Emerging Civil War Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Eric J. Wittenberg is an accomplished American Civil War cavalry historian and author. An attorney in Ohio, Wittenberg is the author of many articles and the author or co-author of more than a dozen books on Civil War cavalry subjects, including The Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads and the Civil War’s Final Campaign; Plenty of Blame to Go Around: Jeb Stuart’s Controversial Ride to Gettysburg; and One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife Susan.
Daniel T. Davis is a graduate of Longwood University, with a B.A. in public history. Dan has worked as a historian at both Appomattox Court House National Historic Site and at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with his wife, Katy, and their Beagle mix, Bayla.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgmen VIII

Touring The Battlefield X

Foreword Kristopher D. White XIII

Prologue XXII

Chapter 1 The Confederate Cavalry Concentrates 1

Chapter 2 Stuart's Grand Reviews 9

Chapter 3 The Union Plan of Attack 15

Chapter 4 The Battle Begins 19

Chapter 5 A Charge of Conspicuous Gallantry 29

Chapter 6 To the Stone Wall 39

Chapter 7 Gregg's Arrival 45

Chapter 8 The Desperate Struggle for Fleetwood Kill 51

Chapter 9 Out Flew the Sabres 65

Chapter 10 The Fight at Stevensburg 75

Chapter 11 A Reluctant Withdrawal 87

Chapter 12 "This Battle Made tire Federal Cavalry" 93

Poscript Daniel T. Davis 101

Appendix A The Four Battles of Brandy Station Eric J. Wittenberg 111

Appendix B The Winter Encampment Mike Block 117

Appendix C The Battle of Kelly's Ford Daniel T. Davis 125

Afterword O. James Lighthizer 131

Order Of Battle 138

Suggested Reading 140

About The Authors 142