Save 244 Acres at Brandy Station

There have been many preservation victories at the Brandy Station battlefield over the years. Now there is an opportunity to preserve even more hallowed ground at the site of the largest cavalry action fought during the war. See details below from Civil War Trust President Jim Lighthizer on how you can help make another historic preservation opportunity a reality.

“Today, I am excited to tell you about an incredible opportunity to save two important tracts at Brandy Station, site of the largest cavalry battle ever fought in North America. As a friend and supporter of the Civil War Trust, you probably already know that thanks to your help we have already saved more than 2,000 acres at this Virginia battlefield. Now we have the chance topreserve an additional 244 acres, pieces of hallowed ground that might otherwise become subdivisions without your help.

You’ll recall on the morning of June 9, 1863, Union cavalry splashed across the Rappahannock River at Beverly’s Ford, catching their Confederate counterparts unaware. By mid-morning a portion of the Confederate force under General W.H.F. “Rooney” Lee fell back from his position along a stone wall near Beverly’s Ford and made a stand against on the northern end of Fleetwood Hill. Here—on 70 acres you and I are working to preserve—Lee withstood yet another attack led by Union General John Buford in what one observer called “the finest fighting of the war.”

Farther to the south, near the village of Stevensburg, Union Colonel Alfred Duffié’s division of cavalry met forbidding resistance from two regiments of Confederate cavalry posted along Hansbrough’s ridge. Men from South Carolina and Virginia held Duffie’s New Englanders, Ohioans, and Pennsylvanians at arms’ length until the Yankees were called away to assist in the fight at Fleetwood Hill. The Trust is now working to save the site of this bold stand—174 acres at Hansbrough’s Ridge that also served as a winter quarters site for the Army of the Potomac in the winter of 1863-1864.

Thanks to your support, we have already saved some of the key points on the Brandy Station battlefield, including the fields surrounding St. James Church and Fleetwood Hill, the epicenter of the battle. But you and I know the story of the Battle of Brandy Station isn’t confined to Fleetwood Hill or St. James Church. If we want future generations to truly understand what took place on this ground in 1863, they have to see a whole battlefield. By saving these 244 acres, you’re doing just that: you are saving two crucial portions of the Brandy Station battlefield, places where the valor of individual soldiers shaped the course of the battle and our nation’s future. Help us tell their stories.

Very Sincerely,

Jim Lighthizer”