Battle of Brandy Station • Tour the Battlefield • Historical & Wayside Markers • The Armies
The Battle of Brandy Station – The Struggle for Fleetwood Hill wayside marker is northeast of Brandy Station overlooking Fleetwood Hill. The marker is on the south side of Fleetwood Heights Road (Virginia Route 685) about 0.5 mile northeast of Alanthus Road (Virginia Route 663). It is next to the marker, The Race for Fleetwood Hill.
Text from the marker:
The Battle of Brandy Station
The Struggle for Fleetwood Hill
After Col. Wyndham’s assaults, Col. Judson Kilpatrick’s Federal brigade crossed the Orange and Alexandria Railroad and stormed Fleetwood Hill from the southeast. The fight for Fleetwood Hill – a classic cavalry battle fought on horseback – became a lethal game of King of the Hill. Sabers clanged against sabers, cannon boomed, pistols rang out, and the choking dust made it difficult to tell “t’other from which,” one Confederate recalled.
The hill changed hands several times as the battle devolved into a giant swirling melee: men from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Maine struggled against Virginians, Georgians, Carolinians, and Mississippians.
By late afternoon, the Federals had used all their reserves. Though Brig. Gen. John Buford continued to press back the Confederates on northern Fleetwood Hill, the southern slopes were held by exhausted but triumphant Southerners. After Col. Thomas Munford’s fresh Confederate brigade arrived on Buford’s flank and rear, the Union commander, Brig Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, saw that further effort was fruitless and ordered his subordinates to pull back across the Rappahannock River.
In nearly 14 hours of fighting, Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart lost about 500 men killed, wounded, or captured from his total force of 9,700 soldiers; Union Gen. Pleasonton lost some 900 of the 11,000 men under his command. These may seem like small numbers compared to the terrible toll paid at Gettysburg three weeks later, yet veterans remembered Brandy Station with pride as the largest and most hotly contested clash of sabers in a long and bloody war. Union cavalrymen and historians remember June 9 as the day Federal horsemen snatched the mantle of unquestioned superiority from their Confederate opponents. Most important, Robert E. Lee’s infantry, poised to set out on their march north toward Gettysburg, remained undiscovered by the Federals.
The Hallowell Foundation generously contributed toward the interpretation of this site in memory of Carrington Williams.
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This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinion, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior.
Location of the markers
The markers, The Race for Fleetwood Hill and The Struggle for Fleetwood Hill, are on the south side of Fleetwood Heights Road (Virginia Route 685) about 0.5 mile northeast of Alanthus Road (Virginia Route 663) at Brandy Station. The crest of Fleetwood Hll is about 0.4 mile beyond the markers. (38°30’22.4″N 77°53’11.3″W)