Battle of Brandy Station

Battle of Brandy Station. Battle's Wake. Driven from Fleetwood Hill, the Union cavalry pulled back toward the Rappahannock River and halted just beyond cannon range. Observing that the sullen Federals refused to depart, Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart consolidated his defensive line around Fleetwood Hill. Late in the afternoon, Stuart ordered Gen. William H.F. "Rooney" Lee to counterattack the Federal right flank, which prompted Gen. Alfred Pleasonton's Cavalry Corps to withdraw across the river fifteen hours after the battle started. Confederate burial details labored "to bury friend and foe alike, precisely where they fell.", Both sides claimed victory, and both sides were correct. The Confederates controlled the battlefield after it was all over, a clear indication of short-term triumph. Both sides were also unanimous in the conclusion that the Federal cavalry finally proved its tactical efficiency and offensive elan. Perhaps most importantly, Southern cavalry could not replace the valuable officers, men, and horses lost here, and these non-recoverable losses marked the inexorable, relentless decline of Gen. Robert E. Lee's cavalry for the remaining two years of the war., "The Rebel cavalry was in the ascendancy before June 9, but was never able to cope with our cavalry thereafter. The Battle of Brandy Station was in fact the beginning of the end of the war." , , Gen. Charles H. Smith, 1st Maine Cavalry, USA, "Fleetwood Hill was covered so thickly after the battle with dead horses and men that there was not room to pitch the tents among them." , , Capt. William W. Blackford, aide to Stuart, CSA