06/10/2026
RELICS FROM A CAVALRYMAN — 163 YEARS AGO, on June 9, 1863, the Battle of Brandy Station was fought in Culpeper County, Virginia. As a part of the materializing Gettysburg Campaign, this was the largest cavalry battle of the war. Union troopers under General Alfred Pleasonton launched a surprise attack on J.E.B. Stuart’s forces.
An all day, intense contest was waged. A number of determined charges and countercharges swept across Fleetwood Hill and its connecting ridge. While Stuart’s cavaliers had prevented the Federal cavalry from discovering the Army of Northern Virginia’s nearby infantry camps and forward placements, units of Union horsemen, like those led by General John Buford, gained ongoing confidence with their operations against their foes.
During a past visit to the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum in Wi******er, Virginia, these items (of several) really caught my attention. This U.S. Cavalry Saber and these Confederate Cavalry Boots belonged to James Estill Irvine of the 1st Virginia Cavalry — a unit that was at Brandy Station. Irvine later captured this saber from a Federal officer in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864. It was manufactured in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.
