Download The Cavalry Battles on the Third Day at Gettysburg

The Cavalry Battles on the
Third Day at Gettysburg
An often neglected aspect of the fighting on the Third Day at
Gettysburg are the cavalry battles that took place away from
the main areas of fighting. Cavalry played a significant role
on the First Day and the Third Day at Gettysburg.
The role of cavalry in the American Civil War initially was
for reconnaissance, skirmishing and guard duties. But as the
war went on the cavalry began to take on a larger role in the
fighting. In the early years of the war, the Union cavalry was
overmatched and outfought by their Southern counterparts.
It was believed that Southerners
who came from a more rural part
of the country adapted better to
the cavalry. Gradually, Union
troops became better practiced
at riding and the tactics
necessary
to
make
good
cavalrymen. The recent Battle of
Brandy Station had proven that
the Union cavalry were in rough
parity with their
counterparts.
Southern
On the First Day of the battle, Brig. Gen. John Buford‘s
cavalry division rode into battle but fought dismounted behind
defensive fortifications. They were able to delay the
advancing troops of Maj. Gen. Henry Heth and allow time for
the 1st and XI Corps to arrive on the field. Buford’s troopers
then withdrew and were employed guarding the supply trains for
the rest of the battle.
Meanwhile, most of the Confederate cavalry forces were absent
from the battlefield until the return of Maj. Gen. J.E.B.
Stuart and his Cavalry Corps on the night of July 2,
1863. Possibly misunderstanding orders from General Robert E.
Lee, Stuart had taken his three best brigades of cavalry on a
pointless ride around the right flank of the Union Army of the
Potomac and was out of touch with the main body of Lee’s Army
of Northern Virginia since June 24, depriving Lee of critical
intelligence information and of screening services.
Lee directed Stuart to prepare his forces to support the
attack against the Union center the next day. He was to
protect the Confederate left flank and attempt to move around
the Union right flank and into their rear. If Stuart’s forces
could proceed south from the York Pike along the Low Dutch
Road, they would soon reach the Baltimore Pike, the main
avenue of communications for the Union army. They could then
launch devastating attacks against the Union rear.
At his command, Stuart had a total of 4 brigades, commanded
by Brig. Gens. Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee, and Cols. John
Chambliss and
Milton J. Ferguson, who commanded a
brigade following Albert G. Jenkins’ wounding on July 2. They
had a nominal strength of 5,000 but probably had no more
than 3,430 men and 13 guns in action on the Third Day of
fighting.
Opposing them were the Union cavalry forces from the Cavalry
Corps of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton (who did not take a
direct role in the July 3rd fighting).
Stationed near the intersection of the Hanover Road and the
Low Dutch Road,directly on Stuart’s path,was the division of
Brig. Gen. David McM. Gregg. Gregg had two brigades present at
Gettysburg, under Col. John B. McIntosh and Col. J. Irvin
Gregg (David Gregg’s cousin), but the latter was stationed on
the Baltimore Pike. Irvin Gregg’s one-brigade command was
supplemented by the newly formed “Michigan Brigade” of Brig.
Gen. George Armstrong Custer.
Custer was assigned to the division of Brig. Gen. Judson
Kilpatrick but happened to be on loan to David Gregg and
requested permission from Gregg to
join his fight. Altogether, 3,250
Union troopers opposed Stuart. The
other brigade from Kilpatrick’s
division, commanded by Brig. Gen.
Elon J. Farnsworth, was stationed
to the southwest of the Round Top
mountain, the area now known
informally as South Cavalry Field.
At about 11:00 AM, at the East Cavalry Field (Video), Stuart
signaled his readiness to Lee by firing four guns, one in each
direction of the compass. It also alerted Gregg to his
presence and he ordered McIntosh and Custer into a blocking
position. The two sides engaged in an artillery duel with the
superior Union gunners having the advantage.
Stuart’s plan was to pin down the Union troopers and swing
around their left flank. However, the troopers from the 5th
Michigan Cavalry were armed with Spencer repeating rifles,
multiplying their firepower and fought back tenaciously.
Stuart then decided on a direct cavalry charge by the the 1st
Virginia Cavalry from the brigade commanded by Fitzhugh Lee at
about 1:00 PM. When this pushed back the Union skirmish
line, Gregg ordered Custer to counterattack with the 7th
Michigan. Custer personally led the regiment, shouting “Come
on, you Wolverines!” The fighting was furious with 700
cavalrymen fighting at point-blank range. Custer’s horse was
shoot out from under him and he commandeered a bugler’s mount.
The Michigan men retreated in disorder when Stuart sent in
three regiments: the 9th and 13th Virginia (Chambliss’s
Brigade), the 1st North Carolina and Jeff Davis Legion
(Hampton’s), and squadrons from the 2nd Virginia (Lee’s).
When Stuart ordered the bulk of Wade Hampton’
Brigade forward, Custer and Col. Charles Town
led the 1st Michigan Cavalry into the fray
once more with cries of “Come on, you
Wolverines!” McIntosh personally led his
brigade against the Confederate right flank.
Hampton was seriously wounded with a saber
cut to the head and his brigade withdrew when they were
assaulted on three sides. In the fighting Custer lost a second
horse.
The losses from the 40 intense minutes of fighting on East
Cavalry Field were relatively minor: 254 Union casualties, 219
of them from Custer’s brigade; 181 Confederate. Although
tactically inconclusive, the battle was a strategic loss for
Stuart and Robert E. Lee, whose plans to drive into the Union
rear were foiled.
Meanwhile, southwest of the [Big] Round Top mountain, two
Union brigades, led by Brig. Gens. Wesley Merritt and Elon J.
Farnsworth, had been directed to the left flank of the Union
army by Pleasanton. Merritt commanded the Reserve Brigade of
Buford’s Division while Farnsworth commanded a brigade in
Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick‘s Division.
Farnsworth and his 1,925 troopers arrived at their assigned
position at about 1:00 PM, just as the Confederate bombardment
of Cemetary Ridge commenced. his 1,925 troops took up a
position in a line south of the George Bushman farm. From left
to right, the regiments were the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry,
the 1st West Virginia, and 1st Vermont. Battery E., 4th U.S.
Artillery, occupied a small, rocky knoll in the rear and the
5th New York cavalry was placed in a nearby ravine to guard
the artillery.
Farnsworth was joined by Kilpatrick as they awaited the
arrival of Merritt’s Brigade, which arrived at about 3:00 PM
and took up a position straddling the Emmitsburg Road, to
Farnsworth’s left.
The Confederate forces to the east of the Emmitsburg Road were
infantry troops only. The four brigades of Hood’s division,
under the command of Brig.
Gen. Evander M. Law, had
occupied the area from Round
Top, through Devil’s Den, and
back to the road since July 2nd.
Initially, Law had just the 1st
Texas Infantry facing Farnsworth to the south, but he soon
reinforced them with 47th Alabama Infantry, the 1st South
Carolina, and artillery. To the west of the road, facing
Merritt, was the Georgia brigade of Brig. Gen. George “Tige”
Anderson.
Click map to enlarge.
Kilpatrick was an inexperienced commander. Initially, he sent
forward his troopers dismounted but they were easily repulsed.
He then ordered a cavalry charge, much to Farnsworth’s
surprise. The area was not conducive for cavalry being rocky
and broken up with a stone fence with wooden fence
rails. Farnsworth allegedly said “General, if you order the
charge I will lead it, but you must take the awful
responsibility.”
Successive attacks by the Union cavalry were repulsed with
increasing losses. In the final assault Elon Farnsworth was
killed, struck in the chest, abdomen, and leg by five
bullets. Kilpatrick’s ill-considered and poorly executed
cavalry charges are remembered as a low point in the history
of the U.S. Cavalry and marked the final significant
hostilities at the Battle of Gettysburg.