Following a night of harassing the Confederate wagon train retreating from Gettysburg, Gen. H. Judson Kilpatrick’s Union cavalry division arrived at Smithsburg about 9 a.m. on July 5, 1963, escorting 1,360 prisoners. Wet, tired, hungry, and covered with mud, the Federal horsemen received a jubilant Sunday reception from the citizens, who set tables in the streets with fresh bread, jellies, spreads, meats, and pies, while soldiers butchered and barbecued a cow, Gen. George A. Custer enjoyed a bountiful dinner of chicken and all the trimmings, and a local band played patriotic songs such as Hail Columbia and Yankee Doodle. Aware that Confederate cavalry lurked nearby, Kilpatrick placed guns and troopers on the three hills commanding approaches to the town, with orders to watch the Raven Rock Road descending from South Mountain. When the van of Confederate J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry column appeared that afternoon, Stuart had to dismount a large portion of his command and fight from crag to crag of the mountains to dislodge the enemy. After driving off the skirmishers, Stuart set up artillery a mile from the town, and a twenty-minute exchange of cannon fire followed, with Confederate shells striking several houses in Smithsburg. The action ended at nightfall with few casualties on either side, after which Kilpatrick withdrew south toward Boonsboro and Stuart’s men fanned out to protect Confederate retreat routes leading to Williamsport and the Potomac River.
