Fleetwood Hill: The Return Of The Yankees And The Rebels

By Sandy Goss · Originally published January 2017 · p. 7

Fleetwood Hill: The Return Of The Yankees And The Rebels By Sandy Goss It’s a long, grassy hill that looks like any other grassy hill except that over 150 years ago, approximately 20,000 soldiers armed with revolvers and sabers charged at each other on horseback, regrouped, charged again shooting and slashing and then did it again, over and over for an entire day. It was the largest clash of cavalries in North America’s history. It was the Battle of Brandy Station. Though it ended mostly in a stalemate, the battle showed Union cavalrymen that they were now the equal to the vaunted horsemen of the South. Led by Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, about 11,000 Union troops surprised an encampment of about 9,500 Confederates, led by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, on Fleetwood Hill during the early morning hours of June 9, 1863. After a solid day’s fighting, more than 1,400 men were killed, wounded or missing. Brandy Station marked a turning point in the Civil War because it was the start of the Confederacy’s invasion of the North that culminated in three day’s battles in and around the small Pennsylvania village of Gettysburg. The battle at Gettysburg was the beginning of the end for the cause of Southern Independence. The combined Blue and Gray Cavalrymen who rode across the crest of Fleetwood Hill on October 1st were the first mounted units to ride across Fleetwood Hill since Union forces pitched camp there during the winter of 1863-1864.

Cavalry riding through the beautiful countryside.