Battle of Brandy Station

Following victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee decided to invade the North and ordered Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry to Culpeper to screen the main infantry movement and keep Federal cavalry from discovering it. Union Gen. Alfred Pleasonton soon detected Stuart's presence, and on the foggy morning of June 9, 1863, cavalry from Gen. John Buford's wing crossed the Rappahannock River at Beverly's Ford under Col. Benjamin F. Davis. The 8th New York Cavalry, Davis's former regiment, led the advance and collided with pickets of the 6th Virginia Cavalry, where Lt. Henry Cutler of Company B, 8th New York, was killed in the opening volley as the first casualty of the Gettysburg Campaign. The Virginians fell back as Union cavalry pushed through the woods along Beverly's Ford Road, but the attack brought a rapid response from Gen. William E. "Grumble" Jones's brigade near St. James Church. Additional companies of the 6th Virginia struck the 8th New York in the road, the New Yorkers recoiled, and as Davis tried to rally them with the cry, "Stand firm, Eighth New York!" Lt. Robert O. Allen of the 6th Virginia shot him dead. Counterattacks by Jones's brigade helped check the Union advance and gave Maj. Robert Beckham's Stuart Horse Artillery time to withdraw and take a new position at St. James Church. As the 8th New York broke under Confederate assaults, the 8th Illinois, second in Davis's column, engaged the 6th and 7th Virginia, and shortly after Capt. George Forsyth was wounded by fire from one of Beckham's guns on Beverly's Ford Road, Capt. Elon Farnsworth assumed command of the regiment.

Virginia · United States