The Battle of Kelly’s Ford, a clash of Union and Confederate cavalry on Saint Patrick’s Day 1863, in northern Virginia, demonstrated the growing skill and fighting progress of the Northern cavalry against their Southern foes.

Background

Following the dismally unsuccessful “mud march” of the Army of the Potomac, after the battle of Fredericksburg in December of 1862, active campaigning between it and its Southern foe and counterpart, the Army of Northern Virginia, ceased for the remainder of the winter. Both armies went into winter quarters, the Army of the Potomac at Falmouth, and the Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg. Both Robert E. Lee, the Southern commander, and his counterpart, Major General Joseph Hooker, the new Union general to head the army of the Potomac, were preoccupied with supply and organization problems. Hooker wished to reorganize the Army of the Potomac, and Lee was beset by a shortage of troops, supplies, and forage. With both commanding generals thus preoccupied, winter offensives by either commander were off the table, and the winter passed quietly with little fighting except for a few cavalry raids and skirmishes.[1]

During one of those raids, Brigadier General Fitzhugh Lee, Robert E. Lee’s nephew, had crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly’s Ford with 400 cavalry troopers, and moved down the Warrenton Post Road, encountering the 3rd Pennsylvania cavalry at Hartwood church, which they scattered, and from which they scooped up 150 prisoners, losing only 14 men killed and wounded in the process. It was business as usual for the cavalry corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by the redoubtable general “Jeb” Stuart, Lee’s able cavalry commander, which usually trounced and ran rings (quite literally) around their Northern adversaries.

But this raid really stuck in the craw of Brigadier General W.W. Averell, commander of one of the three divisions of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac. The regiment scattered had been his old one, and he had gotten to the scene too late to catch Fitzhugh Lee’s retiring troopers. That was exasperating enough, but Lee had rubbed it in, by leaving a note for his former classmate, with whom he maintained a “spirted rivalry”[2]:

“I wish you would leave my state and go home. You ride a good horse. I ride a better one. Yours can beat mine running. If you won’t go home, return my visit and bring me a sack of coffee.”

Averell didn’t like hearing that his horse could retreat faster than Lee’s, and he wasted no time in preparing to return Lee’s visit. This would also give him an opportunity to show off the talents of the newly reorganized Federal cavalry to Joseph Hooker, whose low opinion of cavalry was summed up by that general in the stinging question: “Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?”

Prelude

On the 14th of March, Averell sought and received permission from General Hooker to take his division across the Rappahannock and “attack and rout, or destroy” Fitzhugh Lee’s brigade of cavalry, which was reported to be in the vicinity of Culpepper Court House. On the morning of March 16th, Averell’s division left its camp at Potomac Creek Station, and made its way to Morrisville, at 6 pm. At midnight, it was joined by the Sixth New York Independent Horse battery. Confederate cavalry had been very active north of the Rappahannock, and some of their horsemen were seen by Union pickets on the roads leading west during that evening. Confederate campfires were also sighted between Ellis’ and Kelly’s Fords, and Confederate drums could be heard from their camps near Rappahannock Station.[3] These facts seemed to confirm Averell’s intelligence, which informed him that a considerable body of Confederate cavalry was located near Brentsville, with which his orders instructed him to deal with. Accordingly, Averell detached 900 men of his command to guard his rear at Morgansburg, Elk Run, and Morrisville.[4]  As one Federal account reported: “These orders were executed, and the enemy was driven out of that section.”[5]

At 4 am on the morning of the 17th of March, Averell’s division was awoken quietly, without blowing reveille and after a quick breakfast, started out for Kelly’s Ford, four miles distant. Averell’s division. Averell’s force, after the detachment of the 900 men to guard his rear, now comprised 2,100 men. 775 from the First Brigade, under the command of Colonel Alfred Duffie, described by a Federal subordinate as the “best regimental cavalry drill master and tactian in the army, and also a brave and gallant Soldier”[6],  565 from the Second Brigade under Colonel McIntosh, 760 from the Reserve brigade, under Captain Marcus Reno, better known for his subsequent involvement in the battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, and six pieces of horse artillery under the command of Lieutenant Simeon Browne.

Spearheading the Union column, Captain William Hart, of the 4th New York cavalry, with one hundred men from that regiment and the 5th United States Regulars, had been given the task of dashing across the ford at first daylight and capturing the Confederate pickets on the south bank, thus enabling the river crossing to be accomplished utilizing the element of surprise.

Unfortunately, for the Yankees, the Rebels were one step ahead of them. General Fitzhugh Lee had been notified by his uncle, Robert E. Lee, at 11:00 am, on the previous day that a large body of Yankee cavalry had left the Federal Army and were marching up the Rappahannock in the general direction of Culpepper Court House. About sunset on the 16th, his scouts notified him that the Federals had arrived at Morrisville, nine miles east of Kelly’s Ford. Another report came in later in the night that the Federals were at Bealton, on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, which indicated that the Federal target was Warrenton. But Fitzhugh Lee was not sure of this, and he knew that if the Federal objective was anywhere south of the Rappahannock, they would probably cross at Kelly’s Ford, and so he took the precaution of bolstering his pickets at the ford from twenty to sixty, and ordered the brigade’s sharpshooters to be stationed at daylight “at the point where the road to Kelly’s Ford leaves the railroad, that they might be in readiness to reinforce either place.”[7] The brigade itself was held north of Culpepper. “By these dispositions, Fitz Lee seemed to be protected against surprise and in position to meet a Federal advance on either side of the Rappahannock.”[8]

Skirmish at the river

The pickets at the river were under the command of Captain James Breckinridge, of the 2nd Virginia Cavalry. His picket comprised twenty men, of whom only fifteen were available for fighting, because every fourth man was holding the reins of the troopers’ horses. Of these fifteen, only eleven or twelve were posted in the rifle pits at the ford.

But they put an exceptionally good fight. Twice, Captain Hart attempted to cross the river under their fire, but each time he and his men were repelled. General Averell found them exchanging fire with the Confederates in the rifle pits, on the other side of the river, when he rode up with the head of the Union column. He was “indignant” wrote an officer in Duffie’s brigade, when he found out “that the surprise had not been effected.”[9] Major Chamberlain, Averell’s chief of staff, found the road leading to the ford blocked by an abattis of felled trees lying across it. The Confederate fire, if scanty, was enough to be dangerous. Chamberlain’s horse was shot in three places, and a bullet tore through his nose. Chamberlain rejoined the 4th New York, a safe distance away, and sent a request to General Averell for men with axes to come up and clear away the obstacle, as did Captain Hart, whose troopers were in retreat now up the river. Twenty men with axes from the Sixteenth Pennsylvania, were ordered to come up and carry out the task. The pioneers arrived and under the covering fire of two squadrons of dismounted troopers, among them, Troop F, of the 1rst Rhode Island, were ordered to clear the road of the obstruction. Chamberlain ordered the 4th New York to follow him, and dashed for the river. But the Confederate fire from the rifle pits was so hot that the pioneers had been forced to take shelter under the riverbank. The 4th New York found the fire too hot to stand as well, and “again that redoubtable regiment retreated at breakneck speed up the river.”[10] Major Chamberlain’s horse was again wounded, but the animal was not disabled. Major Chamberlain now rode to the 1rst Rhode Island, and asked for volunteers to follow him across the river. Placing the sixteen men thus procured under the command of Lieutenant S.A. Brown of Troop G, 1rst Rhode Island cavalry, Brown was ordered to cross the river and not to return. The rest of the regiment was ordered to follow in his support. The crossing was difficult, because the abattis was only partially torn down, and could only be jumped over one horse at a time. Major Chamberlain’s horse, “frantic with wounds, sprung on a fallen tree, crushed through, and was shot dead as he touched the water.”[11] At that moment, Major Chamberlain, was again shot, a ball striking him through the left cheek, and down through the neck. The pioneers dragged him up onto the riverbank. Lieutenant Brown and his platoon of 18 men now splashed into the frigid water, only four feet deep at the ford, but running rapidly, and endeavored to cross. So hot was the Rebel fire from the rifle pits, that only three men besides Brown himself succeeded in reaching the opposite bank, all the others or their horses being shot.

The three men were Sergeant Emmons D. Guild, and privates John A. Medbury and Patrick Parker. Once on the south bank of the river, Brown rode to the south bank, he rode up to the edge of the rifle pit, whose occupants were so astounded that they did not fire. He wheeled his horse to the right, and took shelter behind a tree. “Come on! Come on!” He shouted to the rest of the regiment, waving his saber in the air. Dismounting, he took Sargeant Gould’s carbine and firing into the rifle pit, killing one Rebel and wounded two others. Naturally, the Confederates returned fire, and “many shots were fired at Brown, but he escaped being hit, although he had three bullets through his clothing and his horse was hit twice.”[12] Captain William A. Moss of the 4th Virginia Cavalry, for instance, fired five times on upon Brown and especially his mount, “feeling sure,” said Moss, “that if I brought him down the rider would be helpless.” A bullet tore into Sargeant Guild’s side, but did not inflict a serious wound. The 1rst Rhode Island was now halfway across the river, charging through the frigid water, under heavy fire, as the Rebels blazed away from the rifle pits.

First Lieutenant Jacob B. Cooke, an officer with the 1rst Rhode Island cavalry remembered:

“…particularly one long lank fellow who had a bead one me, and I though for a moment my time had come, but I bobbed my head to him, and the bullet whistled harmlessly.”

As the Yankees reached the bank, the rebels began to leave their rifle pits and make for some woods a quarter of mile distant, where their horses were tied. Two Union officers and some of their men managed to get over the abattis and pursue the fleeing Confederates, capturing 25 men, who unfortunately could not reach the stand of woods in time to get to their horses. But Lieutenant Breckinridge was among those who escaped. Captain Moss was forced to concede to Lieutenant Brown:

“The charge on your part was a gallant one, for few regiments would have undertaken it under the heavy fire that was poured upon them that cold morning.”

But the Confederate resistance at the bank had delayed the Federals a full hour, and cost them one officer and two men killed, and two officers and five men wounded, plus fifteen horses killed and wounded.

The Confederate Advance

Two hours now passed as the Federal troopers crossed the river. The remainder of the First brigade crossed, followed by two cannons, and then the second brigade and the rest of the artillery, followed by the reserve. It was not an easy crossing, as the river was deep, running swiftly, and the caissons and limbers of the artillery were submerged. The horses were watered by squadrons and by 11:00 am, the advance was resumed toward Culpepper Court House, fourteen miles distant.

General Fitzhugh Lee was meanwhile awaiting news from the front in his camp near Culpepper Court House. At 7:30 am, intelligence reached him that the enemy had crossed at Kelly’s Ford, driving back his pickets and capturing twenty-five of them. If the Yankees were making for the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, they needed to be met and stopped, before they tore up the track. He ordered wagons and lame horses south to put the Rapidan river between them and the enemy. He ordered his five regiments to move to the road from Kelleysville, a small settlement on the south side of the river, to Brandy Station, another small town on the railroad line six miles northwest of the ford.

Fitzhugh Lee’s brigade numbered 2,000 strong, but owing to the scarcity of forage and the heavy action his brigade had seen recently, he had been forced to send many men and horses to the rear, and thus only had 800 men available to meet the Federals, in his five regiments, the 1rst, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Virginia Cavalry. That wasn’t good odds when facing an enemy over twice that size, but no reinforcements were at hand. If the Federals were to be blocked, Fitz Lee would have to do it alone with his brigade. But he had help in the form of two of the Confederacy’s most skilled and dashing soldiers. One of them was Major John Pelham, an artillery officer who had distinguished himself in the battle of Fredericksburg, and who was a rising star in the army of Northern Virginia. Described as “tall, slender, beautifully proportioned, and very graceful,” he was a serious Christian, of whom the only criticism could be made was that he was a bit too flirtatious with his many female admirers, although in his defense, it should be stated that there was never any scandal breathed about his interactions with the fairer sex. “The gallant Pelham” as he was known in the army, had wrangled a leave from Jeb Stuart to visit a young woman in Orange, and on the way back joined General Stuart in Culpepper, who had left Fredericksburg to attend a court martial there and offer testimony in it. The two Confederate officers were thus on hand at Fitzhugh Lee’s headquarters when news came in of the Federal raid. On borrowed horses, they accompanied Lee’s brigade as it went out to reach the Federals. Lacking his artillery there was little for Pelham to do, but he could at least carry messages, and maybe an opportunity would present itself to him to stain his sword with Yankee blood. In any case, Pelham was eager to be in on any action, and would not let an opportunity to take part in a scrap pass him by. Another officer who went along, was Harry Gilmor, who offered his services as a staff officer to Stuart for this occasion. Stuart was grateful, because he had none of his staff with him, they all being at Fredericksburg.

Fitzhugh Lee and his regiments, in a blocking position between Kelleysville and Brandy Station, awaited the advance of the Unionists, but they did not come up that road, as Lee expected. If the Yankees would not advance to meet him, Fitzhugh Lee decided, he would attack them. And so he pushed on with his column, approaching Kelly’s Ford from the west. His advance guard, spearheading his column, now encountered Averell’s Federals, just half a mile from the ford.

Meanwhile, after resuming his advance toward Culpepper Court House, Averell had halted his force a mile and a half beyond the ford. H.B. McClellan relates:

…Averell’s right rested on the river near Wheatley’s Ford, and his left extended a short distance beyond Brooks’ house. He a force of sharpshooters posted behind a stone fence which connected these two places, while his mounted reserves were drawn up in the fields and woods in the rear, on both sides of the road which branches off from Wheatley’s to Kelly’s Ford. On his right was the 4th New York, on his left the 4th Pennsylvania, both regiments deployed to use carbines, and supported by two sections of artillery.[13]

 

Battle

Stuart now scanned the Union positions through his glasses, while Lee formed up his brigade for battle. “General, I think there are only a few platoons in the woods yonder.” Lee said, “Hadn’t we better ‘take the bulge’ on them at once?” Stuart gave his assent, and Lee advanced the 3rd Virginia for a cavalry charge, while one squadron of the brigade was dismounted and sent ahead of the 3rd Virginia as sharpshooters under the command of Major W.A. Morgan of the 1rst Virginia. Major Pelham went to the rear to advise Lee’s artillery commander, Major James Breathed, in the placement of his horse artillery. Soon Breathed’s guns, and the rifles of the sharpshooters were sweeping the woods, and the “bullets were flying thick and fast” to quote Harry Gilmor. Bailey’s horse was killed, and for a time Gilmor took command, ordering a charge against the stone fence on Lee’s order. In column of fours, the 3rd Virginia rushed down the stone fence that separated them from their foes in the woods beyond. Within two hundred yards of the fence, the Union sharpshooters opened up in a tremendous volley with their carbines, aided by the fire of solid shot and cannister from four pieces of horse artillery masked in the woods. The Confederates halted, wavered, and began to retreat. But it was no panic-stricken rush. Some loaded and fired as they ran. At this moment, Stuart himself dashed in among them, and with Gilmor’s help, rallied the men, telling them that if they retired, they would leave him exposed. “Confound it men,” He cried, waving his hat, “come back.”

The 3rd Virginia now charged the woods directly in their front, in column of fours, with drawn sabers, yelling furiously. 150 yards from the barricade, a deadly fire poured into their ranks, which emptied many saddles and threw the column into some confusion again. The troopers pushed on, however, right up to the fence, firing their pistols and killing men behind it. The Yankee line wavered, the 4th New York, and 4th Pennsylvania falling into disorder, and it took the greatest exertions of their officers to keep them from flight.  But the Confederates could neither tear down the fence, an impossible feat for men on horseback, or find some gate or low section of fence that could be leapt by horse and rider, and the fence proved impassible throughout its whole length. The 3rd Virginia was thus forced to fall back, out of range of the Yankee fire and reform the regiment, which had been badly thinned by the combat.

Bailey was ordered by Stuart to post his men behind a sod fence about fifty yards nearer the Yankees and then report. But the men were hardly in position when a shell exploded atop the fence, killing three and wounding seven of them.[14]

The 3rd Virginia now moved down toward Wheatley’s ice-house, trying to find an outlet by which to attack the right flank of the Union line. By now Major Pelham had returned from the rear, and seeing the charging column, he put spurs to his mount and rushed to join it, eager to be in the midst of the fray, and to help out in anyway he could. “Forward!” He cried, drawing his saber and rushing to the front of the column, “Forward!” His eyes sparkled with the excitement of battle. Unfortunately, for the gallant Pelham, it would be his last battle. As the men found a gap in the fence and streamed through the gate to attack the Union right flank, Pelham drew rein here and shouted encouragement to the passing men, as he stood in his stirrups, sword uplifted. Suddenly, a Union artillery shell burst overhead. Pelham’s horse leapt, and the boy major fell to the ground. He appeared unhurt, and for the most was, but just at the hairline at the back of his head, a shell fragment had pierced. It had shattered the bone here, but not pierced the skull. But while his brain was uninjured, fatal damage had been dealt to his nerves.

Colonel Gilmor was near the scene and records what happened next.

Turning quickly in my saddle, I saw Pelham’s horse, without his rider, moving slowly off, and Pelham himself lying on his back upon the ground, his eyes wide open, and looking very natural, but fatally hurt. Just then a line of cavalry appeared directly in our front with their skirmish lines uncomfortably near. Bailey and I determined they should not get Pelham’s body, and with the assistance of Lieutenant Minegerode of Fitz Lee’s staff, we got him in front of me on my horse. He had been struck on the back of the horse, and was bleeding profusely. Having carried him a short distance, I laid on his own horse, and put him in charge of two dismounted men, with orders to take him to the nearest ambulance and call a surgeon.[15]

As they tried to occupy the house and outbuildings in McIntosh’s front, the 16th Pennsylvania, aided by a section of Union horse artillery, occupied them first, and opened a heavy fire upon the Confederates, wounding several of them, and defeating their attempt, even when it was joined by the 5th Virginia.  The Union right was now advanced into the field beyond the house, as the 3rd and 5th Virginia drew back to the remainder of their brigade. While this action was occurring on the Federal right, Colonel Alfred Duffie moved up the three regiments of his 1rst Brigade, the 1rst Rhode Island, the 4th Pennsylvania, and the 6th Ohio, beyond the Federal line, and General Lee countered by moving up the 1rst, 2nd and 4th regiments to meet him. Union eyewitness Lieutenant Cooke recorded:

At this time the First Rhode Island was in advance on the Culpepper Road, alongside of which ran a stone wall, with a portion of it thrown down. While the First Rhode Island were thus halted in the roadway, a column of Confederate cavalry advanced in squadron front from the woods on the opposite side of the field, and when part way across turned the head of their column to the left and retired, firing with their carbines and pistols as they galloped past. Major Farrington was wounded by this fire, receiving a pistol shot in the neck, having a most narrow escape from a fatal wound. I was saved from a bad wound in the thigh by the ball striking my saber’s scabbard.[16]

But the Confederates were back again a few minutes later, this time intent on a full-scale charge. In column of battalions, “yelling like demons,” Cooke recorded, “and apparently confident of victory.”[17] Duffie instantly ordered his command to charge, and the Union horsemen, spearheaded by the First Rhode Island, countercharged the startled Rebels, “with a will.”[18] The Confederates finding themselves outnumbered, retreated “hardly waiting to feel the saber,” reported Cooke. But not all of them could get away in time, and the remainder were forced to rely on fight rather than flight to save themselves, in “very bloody” combat, “confined principally to the saber.”[19] One Federal horseman, Lieutenant Nathaniel Bowditch of the 1rst Massachusetts Cavalry, rushed ahead of his comrades and slashed three of his gray clad foes from their mounts, with his saber, before his intrepidity caught up with him, and he was mortally wounded by the Confederates. Throughout the day, there would be many such clashes between single horsemen, “dashing at each other with full speed, and cutting and slashing with their sabers until one or the other was disabled.”[20]

The 1rst Rhode Island took many prisoners from the retreating Rebels, among them Major Breckenridge, a cousin of the Confederacy’s Vice President. Some of the Yankees, however, impetuously pursued the Confederates too far, and two companies of the 1rst Virginia struck them in flank, throwing them back, and capturing eighteen men, including at least two officers. Cooke’s horse carried him through the Confederate lines, and he escaped “by making a detour to the left, jumping a fence into a by-road which ran into the Culpepper road, and turning the left again, jumped a fence back into the field where the regiment was.”[21] A few minutes later, the Confederates mounted another charge, which was, Cooke wrote: “…repulsed in a handsome manner by the 1rst Rhode Island, and a squadron of the 5th Regulars, led by Colonel Duffie, that they retreated a mile before their officers could rally them.”[22] A demonstration on the Union right was repulsed as well, and Union artillery quickened the Confederate withdrawal. General Averell did not pursue with his force, despite the opportunity it afforded of potentially capturing hundreds of prisoners, because “the distance was too great for the time, the ground was very heavy, and the charge was made three minutes too soon, and without any prearranged support.”[23]

General Lee now sent Colonel Gilmor with a message to Colonel Rosser, ordering that officer to sweep round the enemy and get between him and the ford, and then fall on his rear. Under the fire of Union sharpshooters from the stone fence, Rosser delivered the message and accompanied Rosser’s regiment as it moved out to execute the order.

We moved out at a gallop, inclined toward the river bank; made for a barn, and some other buildings near the stone fence, where we knew their must be a gate…obliged to pass down through a rocky, though not very steep hollow, and had approached within about forty yards of the fence, when a perfect swarm of sharpshooters opened upon us from the buildings and fence, with an oblique fire, on the side of our poor little 5th.[24]

“Up to this time, no one imagined that we had more than two or three good-sized regiments opposed to us,” Gilmor reported.[25] Imagine the Confederate shock, then, when they “got a peep behind the woods nearest the ford, and there to our astonishment beheld about two brigades of cavalry drawn up in columns of squadrons.”[26] This discovery put paid to any Confederate attempt by Rosser to get in the Union rear. But even extricating himself in good order would be chore enough because the fire from the dismounted men at the stone fence was very heavy and troublesome “killing a good many men and horses.”[27]

Rosser strove hard to keep the regiment in order, but owing to the nature of the ground and the severe fire from the fence, they went back in some confusion.[28]

Rosser now called out to a nearby major, “Major Puller, why in the name of God, don’t you assist me in rallying the men?” Gilmor turned in the saddle to see Puller bent over his horse’s neck. Gilmor could see “death plainly stamped on his face.”[29] “Colonel, I’m killed,” he replied to Rosser. Rosser “seemed petrified,” Gilmor reported, and replied kindly, “My God, old fellow, I hope not; bear up, bear up!” Gilmor attempted to assist him, but Puller soon fell off his mount, mortally wounded, a ball having ripped through his right breast and exited his shoulder blade. Gilmor than reported to General Stuart the large body of cavalry they had discovered behind the wood.

Now knowing that he was seriously outnumbered, General Lee deemed it prudent to withdraw to a stronger position, where he could be aided by his artillery. Therefore, he pulled back through Wheatley’s Farm to the road that led from Brandy Station to Kelly’s Ford, and formed his line across that road, near Carter’s Run, on the James Newby farm. McClellan relates:

Here, an open field, not less than fie or six hundred yards wide, extended for a considerable distance on either side of the road. Gently sloping toward the center, the southern side of this field was enclosed by thick woods, while the opposite hill was skirted by a thin growth of old-field pines, which terminated the view in that direction. Captain James Breathed’s battery now crowned the hill on the north side, and Fitz Lee’s brigade was drawn up in line across the road in the open field, with his mounted skirmishers in front.[30]

“A considerable delay” now passed according to the Confederates, caused because the Yankees were reorganizing their forces. The battery sections were assembled, stragglers brought up from the rear, and the left of the line, formed by the First Rhode Island and the 6th Ohio placed on the road itself, as the ground to the left of the road was marshy and unsuitable.[31] The 5th Regulars led the advance, with artillery support, and after three quarters of a mile, the Confederates were discovered drawn up in battle line on both sides of the road.

At the edge of the woods opposite the Confederate position, the Unionists now appeared and opened fire at long range with both carbines and four artillery pieces. The Confederate cavalry now advanced against both Union flanks, but the assault on the left was repulsed by the First Rhode Island and Sixth Ohio, and the Confederates retreated in “much disorder,” according to Cooke. Their attack on the right of the Northern line was similarly unsuccessful.[32]

The Union line was now advanced across the open ground through patches of woodland until a stubble field was reached, and here the Yankees formed in line of battle, the left being held by the 1rst Rhode Island and the Sixth Ohio. A section of artillery was placed to the left of the 1rst Rhode Island.

Some time passed, with no cavalry fighting, the only engagements being between the artillery of the opposing sides. The First Rhode Island and Sixth Ohio were moved back out of range of the Confederate guns, which were serviced admirably. Cooke recorded that “each shot took a man or a horse.”[33] Cooke remembered that while the Yankees were in this position, General Averell rode up, and pointing to the Confederate guns, said, “Boys, you mustn’t mind the fire from those guns; it won’t hurt you, its effect is only a moral one.” But at that very moment, a Rebel shell impacted the ground just a few feet from the general’s horse. Forgetting his own encouragement, Averell galloped off to another section of the field that happened to be a little safer at the moment.

The Confederate artillery now ceased fire, but at about 4:30 am, they opened up again, firing rapidly. Fitzhugh Lee had decided to charge the Yankees, and to do so with his whole brigade. Knowing that full strength of the Yankees by this time, he was aware that he was throwing some 300 men against well over a thousand. If the charge faltered, there would be no reinforcements to send to his aid; no point to retreat to where he could reform his forces except the four guns of Breathed’s battery. A year later in the war, McClellan informs us, Lee would probably have been too prudent to undertake such a seemingly rash cavalry charge. But his actions at the time were not so rash, and were made in view of what Lee knew about Averell’s cautious character. Lee evidently intended to throw a scare into Averell by bluffing him into thinking he had more men than he did.

So in columns of fours, the 1rst and 4th Virginia advanced from a position a quarter of a mile distant to the Federals. Averell’s horse artillery took them under fire, but the effectiveness of the artillery was hampered by defective ammunition. The 4th Virginia encountered a rail fence halfway across the field, which they threw down, and continued on their way. The 6th Ohio and the 1rst Rhode Island moved to the right of the Federal horse artillery battery to protect it from the Federals, and Colonel Duffie figured the best way to do that was by mounting a cavalry charge of his own. “Steady men, don’t you stir!” Duffie commanded, as he sat quietly on his horse. “Sling carbines! Draw sabers!” Empty scabbards fell, and steel flashed in the sunlight. The rebels rushed forwards, yelling, cheering, and firing an occasional shot from pistol or carbine.[34] But the charging Confederates did not intimidate their Federal foes. Instead, the Yankees held their ground. Cooke recorded:

I turned in my saddle and looked at the men behind men. Never shall I forget their appearance. Every saber was grasped as with a hand of iron; every knee was gripping its owner’s saddle as with a vice. They sat indeed like a veritable stone wall; they appeared as immutable as fate. Turning again to the front, I could see that the first squadron of charging “rebs” was wavering; files of men were breaking off from the right and left…. Waiting a few seconds longer, till the “rebs” were within a hundred feet of us…came the ringing order “Charge!”

Here on the right, the Confederates had pressed the Union battery so closely that the gunners fled. Before the Rebels could seize the guns, the Union countercharge rolled into them. A hand-to-hand fight broke out, and the Rebels, unable to reach the guns fell back to reform on the other side of the field. On the Union left, the Confederates had faced less resistance. The Yankees fell back into the woods and “made no show of resistance, except by desultory fire of carbines at long range.” The Confederates did not seize the Union horse artillery here either, as it was separated from them by two fences which proved impassable, and unable to pursue their advantage, the Rebels here fell back as well, in small squads, and reformed on the other edge of the field.

Averell’s Retirement

Had Averell been a more aggressive officer, he would have used his numerical superiority to follow up his repulse of the failure of the Confederate attack and rout them before they could reform. He could have attacked and seized Breathed’s artillery pieces, but Fitzhugh Lee’s fierce and stubborn resistance and had exactly the effect on him that Lee figured it would.

He now learned from captured Confederate prisoners that Jeb Stuart and his artillery officer Pelham were participating in this fight. The news that these crack Confederate officers were his opponents took all the wind out of his sails. Stuart’s presence was especially disconcerting, because it was thought that Stuart had brought reinforcements with him into the battle to join Fitzhugh Lee’s brigade. Lacking the stomach to go up against Stuart or a larger force than Lee’s brigade, Averell decided that discretion was the better part of valor and it was time to call the raid quits. “My horses were much exhausted,” he reported, “We had been successful thus far. I deemed it proper to withdraw.” And withdraw he did, leaving behind two wounded Rebel officers, along with a sack of coffee and a note for his old classmate to accompany it. “Dear Fitz. Here’s your coffee. Here’s your visit? How do you like it? Averell.”

With bugles sounding recall, the Federal troopers headed back toward the Rappahannock and crossed the river. The Battle of Kelly’s Ford was over.

Aftermath

Both sides claimed victory, but Fitzhugh Lee’s claim was made only on the very narrow grounds that he had had remained in possession of the field. That mattered in an infantry battle, but in a cavalry raid, it didn’t mean squat, since the invader would not stay and occupy ground in any case. As Shelby Foote records:

Though he could, and did, claim victory on grounds that he had remained in control of the field after the enemy withdrew, this was not very satisfactory when he considered that the Federals could make the same claim with regard to every similar Confederate penetration.[35]

In casualties, the Confederates had come off second best. They had suffered a total of 133 casualties, 11 killed, 88 wounded, and 34 taken prisoners. The Yankees had suffered approximately 80, 41 of which were in the 1rst Rhode Island cavalry.

Overshadowing the rest of the Confederate casualties was the loss of the gallant and heroic John Pelham. Believing him to have died, the two men Gilmor had instructed to find an ambulance for him were carrying him across a saddle. When he caught up with them halfway to Brandy Station, Gilmor found the boy still alive. He wasted no time in procuring an ambulance which carried him the rest of the way to Culpepper, where he was examined by three surgeons. But there was nothing they could do for him, and at 1:00 pm, Pelham opened his eyes, and drew his last breath. Bitterly, Gilmor believed that the delay in procuring an ambulance and getting him to Culpepper and the surgeons sealed his fate. “I firmly believe that, had surgical aid been called to remove the compression on the brain, his life might have been saved.”[36] Dear to the heart of the South, and especially both to Robert E. Lee and Stuart, the death of Pelham was a grave blow. Said Stuart: “Our loss is irreparable.” Accompanied by an honor guard, Pelham’s body was taken to Richmond to lie in state at the Confederate capital, and then was returned to his native Alabama for burial, mourned by all of the Confederacy. Lee himself urged his posthumous promotion, and for once the Confederate government cut through the red tape and got it done in a hurry; it was as a Lieutenant Colonel that Pelham was laid in the ground. Although three young women wore mourning for him, and a general order to Stuart’s cavalry announced his loss, it was Stuart himself that gave him perhaps the most lasting tribute, naming his next baby, Virginia Pelham.

There was no question that the Yankee horsemen had handled themselves exceedingly well, and it was this that was the most notable aspect of the battle. The newly reorganized cavalry corps had demonstrated its growing combat skill and improving battlefield performance for the first time in the war, traits that would be manifested once more at the battle of Brandy Station, just a few months later. The result of the battle was an ominous omen to the Confederate cavalry corps that their bright star was beginning to fade; Stuart would face a tougher and more skillful foe than he had previously done in his campaigns.

Still, the improvement of the Yankee cavalry was gradual, and Stuart’s reputation and skill were not to be trifled with; indeed, it had played a large part in inducing Averell to head for home, and had played a large part as well in his caution during the engagement, as evidenced by his refusal to press his advantages when they manifested themselves and turn the Confederate retreats during the battle into routs. As H.B. McClellan records: “We cannot excuse General Averell’s conduct. He should have gone to Culpepper Court House.”[37] And he would have too, if he had been made of sterner stuff.

It was the beginning of a new day for the Federal cavalry, one of rising fortunes for them, and a heroic and glorious struggle against ever increasing odds for their Southern counterparts. History would never forget them.

[1] William R. Goolrick and the Editors of Time-Life Books Rebels Resurgent: Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville (Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books) p. 105

[2] Ibid

[3] Jacob B. Cooke The Battle of Kelly’s Ford March 17th, 1863 in Personal Recollections of the War of the Rebellion, being papers read before the Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Historical Society. (Providence, Rhode Island: Massachussetts Historical Society) 2nd Series, no. 11-20, p. 13

[4] H.B. McClellan The Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart (Secaucus, New Jersey: The Blue and Grey Press) [Reprint] p. 206

[5] Jacob B. Cooke The Battle of Kelly’s Ford March 17th, 1863. (Providence, Rhode Island: Massachussetts Historical Society) 2nd Series, no. 19, p. 13

[6] Ibid p. 9

[7] H.B. McClellan The Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart (Secaucus, New Jersey: The Blue and Grey Press) [Reprint] p. 207

[8] Douglas Southall Freeman Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study In Command Vol 2: From Cedar Mountain to Chancellorsville (New York, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons) p. 459

[9] Jacob B. Cooke The Battle of Kelly’s Ford March 17th, 1863. (Providence, Rhode Island: Massachussetts Historical Society) 2nd Series, no. 19, p. 15

 

[10]  Ibid pp. 16-17

[11] Ibid p. 17

[12] Ibid p. 18

[13] H.B. McClellan The Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart (Secaucus, New Jersey: The Blue and Grey Press) [Reprint] pp. 209-210

[14] Harry Gilmor Four Years In the Saddle (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1866) p. 67

[15] Ibid p. 71 I have followed H.B. McClellan in recording the fatal wounding of Pelham at this point in the action, Gilmor places it later in the battle. Of the wounding of Pelham, McClellan’s account’s is briefer than Gilmor’s. McClellan records: “After the rear of the regiment had passed through a small enclosure near Wheatley’s House, I saw a single cavalryman, struggling to place the body of a comrade across the bow of his saddle. I approached to assist, and recognized Pelham. He had been struck in the head by a piece of shell, and life was extinct. By this narrow chance, was his body preserved from falling into the hands of the enemy.” (H.B. McClellan The Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart [Secaucus, New Jersey: The Blue and Grey Press] [Reprint] pp. 211) Not only do these accounts differ in when Pelham’s fatal wound occurred, but in the details concerning how many officers helped Pelham onto his horse, and who they were, and whether Pelham was dead at the time. On the latter point, this author has followed Gilmor, as will be seen later.

[16] Jacob B. Cooke The Battle of Kelly’s Ford March 17th, 1863. (Providence, Rhode Island: Massachusetts Historical Society) 2nd Series, no. 19, pp. 22-23

[17] Ibid

[18] Ibid p. 23

[19] Harry Gilmor Four Years In the Saddle (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1866) p. 68

[20] Jacob B. Cooke The Battle of Kelly’s Ford March 17th, 1863. (Providence, Rhode Island: Massachusetts Historical Society) 2nd Series, no. 19, pp. 31

[21] Jacob B. Cooke The Battle of Kelly’s Ford March 17th, 1863. (Providence, Rhode Island: Massachusetts Historical Society) 2nd Series, no. 19, pp. 24

[22] Ibid p. 25

[23] H.B. McClellan The Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart (Secaucus, New Jersey: The Blue and Grey Press) [Reprint] pp. 211-212

[24] Harry Gilmor Four Years In the Saddle (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1866) p. 69

[25] Ibid p. 68

[26] Ibid p. 69

[27] Ibid

[28] Ibid

[29] Ibid

[30] H.B. McClellan The Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart (Secaucus, New Jersey: The Blue and Grey Press) [Reprint] pp. 213

[31] Jacob B. Cooke The Battle of Kelly’s Ford March 17th, 1863. (Providence, Rhode Island: Massachusetts Historical Society) 2nd Series, no. 19, pp. 25

[32] Ibid p. 26

[33] Ibid p. 27

[34] Ibid pp. 29-30

[35] Shelby Foote The Civil War: A Narrative Vol. 2 Fredericksburg to Meridian (New York, New York: Random House Books, 1963 [Reprint 1986] p. 246

[36] Harry Gilmor Four Years In the Saddle (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1866) p. 72

[37] H.B. McClellan The Life and Campaigns of Major General J.E.B. Stuart (Secaucus, New Jersey: The Blue and Grey Press) [Reprint] p. 216