HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Gettysburg Campaign

Straban Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

A major cavalry engagement took place July 3, 1863, about one mile southeast of here. A succession of mounted charges by Gen. David McM. Gregg's Union force prevented Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry from reaching the Union rear and drove the Confederates from the field.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

On July 3, 1863, as the great battle raged at Gettysburg, a major cavalry fight unfolded about a mile southeast of here. Union horsemen under Gen. David McM. Gregg met Confederate cavalry led by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, whose aim was to strike the Union rear at the decisive moment. Through a series of mounted charges Gregg's troopers drove Stuart from the field, blunting the threat.

Why it matters

This clash helped secure the Union position on the climactic day of the war's turning-point battle, showing that Gettysburg was decided by cavalry on its flanks as much as by the famous infantry assault at its center.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

By the summer of 1863, the Civil War had ground on for two brutal years, and the fighting had come north into Pennsylvania. Around the town of Gettysburg, two great armies collided in what would become the war's most famous battle — three days that would be remembered as its turning point.

We tend to picture Gettysburg as a clash of infantry: long lines of men crossing open fields. But a battle of that size had flanks and a rear to protect, and that work fell largely to the cavalry — the fast-moving horsemen who screened armies, scouted the enemy, and struck where a sudden blow could unravel a whole position.

By the climactic third day, July 3, 1863, the armies were locked together and the stakes could not have been higher. It was on that day, about a mile southeast of this spot, that the cavalry played its decisive part.

People & events

On July 3, Confederate cavalry under Gen. J.E.B. Stuart moved to get behind the Union army. If Stuart's horsemen could reach the Union rear at the right moment, they might strike a devastating blow just as the main assault went in at the center — a coordinated stroke that could turn the day.

Standing in his way was Union cavalry led by Gen. David McM. Gregg. What followed was a major mounted engagement: charge met counter-charge as Gregg's troopers fought to hold the ground and keep the Confederates from breaking through.

Through a succession of these charges, Gregg's force drove Stuart from the field. The threat to the Union rear never materialized. It was a hard, close cavalry fight, decided in the saddle, and its outcome protected the army's back at the very moment it could least afford a wound there.

Its place in the American story

The famous image of Gettysburg's third day is the great infantry assault against the Union center. This marker points to the part of the story that assault depended on: the security of the Union rear, held by cavalry a mile away.

Had Stuart broken through and struck from behind while the frontal attack pressed the center, the day might have unfolded very differently. Gregg's stand helped ensure that the Union line, tested at its front, was not also shattered from behind — a reminder that great battles are won on their flanks as much as at their famous focal points.

Gettysburg is widely remembered as the turning point of the Civil War, the high-water mark of the Confederacy's push north. The cavalry fight recalled here is part of why that turning point held.

If you visit

Stand here and look about a mile to the southeast — that's where the horsemen fought. The land today is open and rural, and that very openness helps you imagine the ground these cavalry charges swept across.

This is a quieter corner of the Gettysburg story, away from the crowds at the center of the battlefield, and it rewards a thoughtful visit. Picture the dust and thunder of mounted men colliding, the surge and recoil of charge and counter-charge, all of it unfolding while the larger battle raged nearby.

Add this stop to a Gettysburg battlefield tour and you'll come away with a fuller sense of the whole engagement — not just the infantry at the center, but the cavalry on the flanks whose fight helped decide the outcome of the war's most storied battle.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

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Related people

  • · David McM. Gregg
  • · J.E.B. Stuart

Related events

  • · Battle of Gettysburg

Themes & tags

Civil WarBattlefield

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