Battle of Brandy Station • Tour the Battlefield • Historical & Wayside Markers • The Armies
The Opening of the Gettysburg Campaign historical marker is just west of Brandy Station, Virginia.
From this point it is 100 miles in a direct line to Gettysburg. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia would take a longer route, circling around the flank of Hooker’s Army of the Potomac through the Shenandopah Valley. Hooker, tasked with staying between Lee and Washington D.C., was able to take a more direct path. And of course, neither army knew that Gettysburg was to be their destination.
The view is looking east along Brandy Road. The small hamlet of Brandy Station is just ahead over the hill. Paralleling the road but out of sight to the right behind the line of trees is the railroad line which at the time of the Civil War supplied Lee’s Army of Northern Virgnia.
Text from the marker:
No. 13-F
Opening of
Gettysburg Campaign
On this plain Lee reviewed
his cavalry, June 8, 1863. The
next day the cavalry battle of
Brandy Station was fought.
On June 10, Ewell’s Corps, from
its camp near here, began the
march to Pennsylvania.
Conservation & Development Commission 1927
Location of the marker
The Opening of the Gettysburg Campaign historical marker is on the south side of Brandy Road (State Route 762) about 0.4 mile west of Alanthus Road in Brandy Station, Virginia. (38.499757° N, 77.899749° W)