The Battle of Falling Waters

The Battle of Falling Waters. Stuart's Surprise. , Here on the morning of July 2, 1861, Confederate Lt. Col. J.E.B. Stuart almost single-handedly captured most of a company of Union infantrymen. The Federals, Co. I., 15th Pennsylvania Volunteers, were acting as skirmishers in advance of a flanking movement by Gen. James Negley's Fifth Brigade. Gen. Robert Patterson had directed Negley to swing out to the west while the rest of his army advanced toward Martinsburg on the Valley Pike.Arriving at the fork in the road from the north, and uncertain as to which way to go, the captain left a lieutenant in charge and ordered the company to rest while he explored the road. The men stacked arms and relaxed by the split-rail fence along the road to await his return. Suddenly a blue-clad officer (Stuart) rode across the field to the fence and ordered the soldiers to dismantle part of it so he could pass. They complied, but after Stuart gained the road he drew pistols and allegedly said, "Surrender or you are dead men." Some of the men lunged for their weapons just as Stuart's troopers rode up, and three Federals were shot. The others, including the lieutenant, a doctor, and 44 privates, surrendered.,

"Colonel Stuart reports his capture of an entire company (the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers) with the exception of the captain." , , Col. Thomas J. Jackson, July 3, 1861

, Federal Version of Stuart's Surprise ,

"Mistaking them for our own cavalry, [they] obeyed the order of Colonel [Stuart] to 'let down the fence'…the rebel leader, followed by some forty of his men, … surrounded the unsuspecting party, shot down the First Sergeant, and demanded the surrender of the entire body, consisting of the Second Lieutenant, John B. Hutchinson, and thirty-four men. [Stuart] escaped with his prisoners, and the rest of his strategy was heralded through the South as a brilliant affair." , , Samuel P. Bates, , History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers (1868-1871)

, Stuart was still wearing his U.S. Army uniform early in the war, as were many other Confederate officers. His regiment, the 1st Virginia Cavalry, arrived just in time to escort the prisoners away. These cavalrymen were guarding Col. Thomas J. Jackson's left flank during the Battle of Falling Waters.