Elements of the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry Regiment charged past this point in pursuit of disorganized remnants of the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, which was retreating toward the railroad tracks, and the Union cavalry appeared to have abandoned Hanover. Earlier that morning, Confederate Major General J.E.B. Stuart had spotted a large column of Union cavalry passing through Hanover toward Abbottstown. Brigadier General Kilpatrick and his Union staff had reached the vicinity of Abbottstown when they heard the sounds of battle, then turned about and led their men in a brutal eight-mile race back to Hanover. Along the road, Kilpatrick galloped through columns of cavalry and artillery that had also turned back to help their comrades. Bugler Private Samuel Gillespie of the 1st Ohio Cavalry Regiment, from Kilpatrick's staff and bodyguard, recalled that the boom of a cannon was plainly heard, and then the general mounted his horse in haste and rode back to Hanover, it was said, in twenty minutes. The horse died shortly thereafter.

Pennville, Pennsylvania · USA