ciiAP. XXVIII.] AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1861-1865. 



453 



: as 



and 



leck 



the 



his 



to 

 to 

 200 

 rom 



the 



of a defile at drill. The eiK^my came up just as the 

 whole force had safely effected its crossing. 



Stuart's loss was trifling, while the information gained, 

 the. moral effect secured, and the consternation caused in 

 tlie Northern forces were of the greatest imi^ortance. 

 His cavalry marched on this expedition from Chambers- 

 l)urg to Leesburg, some ninety miles, in thirty-six liours, 

 (jne of the most remarkable marches recorded in history. 



The importance of cavalry being able to dismount and 

 fight on foot is plainly manifested in the skirmish near 

 Poolesville which has just been described. Here the 

 same men charged as cavalry, drove back the enemy's 

 liorsemen from the crest of a hill, and then dismounting, 

 1 >y their fire checked the advance of the enemy's infantry 

 long enough to enable the artillery and remainder of the 

 column to come up to their assistance. 



In June 1863 Stuart's cavalry corps had reached the 

 large number of 12,000 men with twenty-four pieces of 

 artillery, and on the 9th of that month the cavalry battle 

 of Brandy Station took place, which was the greatest 

 cavalry action of the entire war, 12,000 being engaged 

 on the Southern side and about 15,000 on the Northern. 



This fight was very peculiar in its character, for the 

 troops on both sides fought dismounted with their rifles, 

 while at times most gallant charges and counter-charges 

 were made at speed. The line of battle extended nearly 

 three miles, and along the woods of the Rappahannock 

 the multitudinous firing of the dismounted sharpshooters 

 sounded like the rattle of musketry ir a regular battle. 

 During the action a well-devised flank attack was made 

 by two Federal brigades under General Percy Windham, 

 who, by a circuitous march, had succeeded in turning 

 Stuart's rear and thereby very nearly decided the fate of 

 the day. Two Confederate regiments coming up from 

 the rear made an impetuous charge and drove this force 

 off" in complete rout, with the loss of a battery of 

 artillery and a large number of killed, wounded, and 

 prisoners.' 



The battle was finally decided by an impetuous charge 

 ^ Von Borcke's Memoirs. 





