Battle of Brandy Station

Battle of Brandy Station. Confederate Counterattack. Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart realized that his headquarters here was overrun and that Gen. William E. Jones's Brigade was fighting to survive. Stuart ordered Gen. Wade Hampton's Brigade to fall back from the St. James Church line and recapture Fleetwood Hill. Cobb's (Georgia) Legion took the lead, followed by the 1st South Carolina Cavalry and then the 1st North Carolina Cavalry and the Jeff Davis Legion. After a mile-long gallop, Cobb's Legion arrayed its ranks in close order and with sabers flashing, pounded up to this exact spot. The Georgians savagely struck the Marylanders and Pennsylvanians and, aided by the 1st South Carolina, forced the Federals to fall back and to the south and east., Swooping up right behind, the 1st North Carolina and Jeff Davis Legion swung to the east as they approached Fleetwood. Utilizing the northern slope as forward momentum, they charged down toward the railroad tracks where they smashed headlong into the New Jersey and New York troopers. Valiantly fighting back, the Federals were nevertheless driven beyond the railroad tracks. With Fleetwood Hill now cleared of Union troops, Stuart's Horse Artillery soon crowned the summit and poured a hail of iron into the slowly withdrawing Federals. The Battle for Fleetwood Hill was over., "I began to ascend the hill upon which were General Stuart's headquarters. I swept the hill clear of the enemy, he being scattered and entirely routed." , , Col. Pierce M.B. Young, Cobb's (Georgia) Legion, CSA, "The real picnic was on. The cutting, and slashing, the firing pistol, carbine and cannon, the falling of dead men and horses made a scene that beggars description." , , Pvt. Aaron Bachman, 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry, USA