Three Fateful Days:
The 10th New York Cavalry at Gettysburg
10th New York Cavalry monument at Gettysburg, located on Brinkerhoff’s Ridge, on the north side of and near the Hanover Road

In the spring of 1863 Lee decided that it was time for a bold move against the North. He gathered his army at Culpeper, VA and started north after the major cavalry battle at Brandy Station, VA on June 9. He marched up the Shenandoah Valley with the plan of going through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. J.E.B. Stuart, his cavalry general, had the task of shielding Lee’s forces from the Union troops. Stuart’s goal was to enable Lee to move in secrecy. The result was many small cavalry battles along the way at places like Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville, VA. The Union cavalry wanted to get through the passes into the Shenandoah Valley to see where Lee was moving, and Stuart kept them from doing this.

Meade, in the meantime, was moving the entire Union Army of the Potomac north also. He had some idea of what Lee was doing, but did not know his overall plan. Unfortunately for Lee, Stuart decided to go off on his own with the southern cavalry and try to find out where Meade was headed. Lee and Stuart lost touch with each other and Lee did not have the feedback he needed to know exactly where the Union forces were. This led to the meeting of the two great armies at Gettysburg, PA, neither one knowing that the other was headed there.

A strategically important part of any battle situation is for the friendly forces to hold the high ground. On July 1, 1863, as the confederate troops were approaching the outskirts of Gettysburg, General John Buford’s First Cavalry Division was waiting for them. Buford had been sent ahead of the main Union forces to try to determine the location of Lee’s army.  Lee also very much wanted to know where the Union forces were, and where they were heading. Stuart thought he could circumvent the entire Union army and get back to Lee before the two armies met. He was delayed along the way by Union cavalry, unfortunately for Lee, and never made it back to the Confederate army until after the fighting had started. Lee therefore lacked crucial information on what the Union army was doing. Lee later berated Stuart, in his mild-mannered way, about not being there when he needed him.

Buford managed to delay the Confederate army just enough, even though greatly outnumbered, to allow the Union infantry to occupy the high ground around Gettysburg when they arrived. Buford’s cavalry was reinforced by two infantry corps, but even then was severely outnumbered and had to fall back through Gettysburg.

The 10th Regiment of New York cavalry arrived at Gettysburg on the morning of July 2, 1863, and the arrival brought back many memories for companies A through H. These companies had their recruit training at Gettysburg after the initial formation of the Regiment, in 1861 and 1862. Companies of the 3rd battalion were not recruited until later and had their training in Elmira, NY. For Company L with Justus Matteson (great-grandfather of the author of this article) and the other members of the 3rd battalion, therefore, this would be new scenery.

After rushing to Gettysburg, there was no time for sight-seeing. The Tenth New York started fighting as soon as they arrived on July 2. They were deployed as skirmishers along Brinkerhoff Ridge, and with the help of Rank’s artillery guns, they were able to hold off repeated attacks by Confederate infantry forces and the enemy eventually retired to a piece of woods about 200 yards away.

The fire of Rank’s guns had delayed the enemy’s advance for a sufficient length of time to enable the Tenth to get to the ridge first and give a withering reception to the enemy infantry with their breech-loading carbines. The troops confronting the skirmishers of the Tenth on Brinkerhoff’s Ridge were from the Stonewall Brigade, constituting the left flank of Johnson’s division of Ewell’s corps, which was making preparations for the assault on the position held by the Union Twelfth Corps, and the result of the sharp skirmishing on the part of Gregg’s cavalry compelled Confederate General Johnson to move to the assault without the assistance of this veteran brigade. About ten o’clock in the evening of July 2 the line was withdrawn, and Gregg’s two brigades moved over to the Baltimore Turnpike near White Run and there went into bivouac.

The next morning, July 3, they were activated again and moved back to the position vacated the night before on the Hanover Road, where General Custer’s brigade, of the Third Cavalry Division, was located along the Hanover and Low Dutch Roads. General Gregg placed his First Brigade, under Colonel John B. McIntosh, on General Custer’s left, and the Third Brigade (including the 10th New York), under Colonel J. Irvin Gregg, still farther to the left along the Hanover Road. The Sixteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, of the Third Brigade, was advanced dismounted as skirmishers in the direction of Gettys­burg, encountering the Confederate infantry, whom they drove back, and succeeded in establishing connection with the Twelfth Corps near the base of Wolf’s Hill and extending the line on the right to the Hanover road.

General Lee was preparing the big attack of July 3, and gave instructions to Stuart, his chief of cavalry, to attack the rear of the Union right flank. This was intended to divert some of the Union infantry troops to keep them from reinforcing the Union center, where Lee’s attack was going to be concentrated (Pickett’s charge, etc.). The Union cavalry, however, was able to blunt Stuarts attack, spoiling this feature of Lee’s attack, as described next.

About noon on July 3rd General Gregg, commanding general of the Second Division of Union cavalry, discovered Stuart’s movements by reports that a large body of cavalry was moving toward his right. The country occupied by General Gregg was well adapted for an engagement between mounted troops, so he was ready for any attack.

Stuart moved behind the woods to a location near the rear of the Union Army of the Potomac. He hoped to attack there and divert that section of the Union infantry forces so that the main attack of the Southern army would have less resistance. His attack ideally would be synchronized with Pickett’s charge against the Union left center. Even though Stuart apparently was trying to move without being observed, for some unknown reason he fired an artillery gun several times in different directions.

Observing what Stuart was trying to do, Union cavalry was sent towards him to engage his forces. Union artillery destroyed Stuart’s artillery, making things easier for the Union cavalry. Stuart’s forces were required to withdraw. The aggressive action by the Union cavalry eliminated the need for Union infantry to be diverted from defending against Lee’s main charge. Pickett’s charge therefore ended in failure, the Southern battle plan was abandoned, and their army was forced to withdraw and make plans for a general retreat which would start the next day (July 4).

The 10th New York lost 9 troopers killed, wounded, missing, and captured, in the actions on July 2 and 3, 1863. The total losses for Gregg’s Cavalry Division were listed in the official records as 55. General Stuart reported his losses on July 3d at one hundred and eighty-one.  

General Meadefelt that the Battle of Gettysburg had been a great victory - he had protected Washington, DC and had driven the Confederate Army from Pennsylvania and Maryland. Lincoln, on the other hand, was disappointed - he thought that Meade should have pursued Lee with great vigor after the Battle, corner him, and crush him before he crossed back over the Potomac into West Virginia. Lee finally had a face-off against Meade, his back to the Potomac River, on July 12-13. Lee was delayed in crossing by high water, but his engineers built some bridges and he escaped safely across it by July 14.

 

In the meantime, however, the Union cavalry did not wait. The 10th New York cavalry started after Lee’s army immediately after finding out that his retreat had started, on July 4. They were not qualified to initiate a major attack on Lee’s retreating forces, but kept after them anyway, picking up stragglers, deserters and wounded southern soldiers. They undoubtedly kept Meade informed, also, of Lee’s direction and location during the pursuit.

 

Squads of Confederate soldiers were met with, and with every squad of fifty prisoners two troopers were sent back as guards. The cavalry suffered from hunger for days, since supply wagons could not keep up with their fast pace. On July 14 the brigade broke camp at Boonsboro, MD and marched to Harper’s Ferry, WV, where it crossed at 5 P.M. on a pontoon bridge and established camp on Bolivar Heights .

The 10th New York engaged in hard fighting with segments of Lee’s forces near Shepherdstown, WV (about 10 miles north of Harper’s ferry) on July 16. After this fight they went back to Harper’s Ferry. Then they returned to the vicinity of Warrenton, VA on a march taking them through Leesburg, Goose Creek, Manassas, Broad Run, Warrenton Junction, and Bealton, all in Virginia. On the way they picketed the Orange and Alexandria Railroad for about seven days, finally reaching the Warrenton area around July 29. Warrenton must have seemed like home to them, since they had camped there several times during the War. Thus ended the activities of the 10th New York Cavalry described as The Gettysburg Campaign.

 

Ron Matteson received a PhD in electrical engineering from Syracuse University, majoring in Computer Systems. After working as an engineer and engineering manager at General Dynamics and Xerox for several years he joined the faculty of the Computer Engineering Department at Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Matteson published a textbook on document image processing and a practical book about scanning for the small office and home office. He has also published two editions of his book Justus in the Civil War containing letters between his great grandfather and his great grandfather's fiancé written during the Civil War. The letters in those books have also been included in his book, Civil War Campaigns of the 10th New York Cavalry.

Ron has been a student, sailor, soldier, engineer, researcher, inventor, teacher, and author. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York, a Senior Life member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and a member of Browncroft Community Church in Penfield, NY.