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Historical significance: Brandy Station
The Battle of Brandy Station: June 9, 1863:
"The Beginning of the End of the War"

By Clark "Bud" Hall

Comments delivered at the “Conference on the Art of Command in the Civil War,” October 7, 2006, Middleburg, Virginia.

All aspects of human pursuit embody both a beginning and an end. And just as individual battles and military campaigns embrace an identifiable origin and a resolute closure, so do wars themselves. Axiomatically and inevitably, somebody finally wins a war; somebody loses, and many die in the process. Most often today, our inherent competitive spirit prompts us to focus on the outcome of a battle or a war simply because we herald the winners; or lament alongside the losers. Today’s presentation embraces a diverse view, as we are about to detail the beginning of the end of a war.

Many, if not most, Civil War historians believe the American Civil War was principally decided in Adams County, Pennsylvania in early July 1863. That belief asserted, historians affirm that the results and consequences of the Battle of Gettysburg both predicted and foreshadowed the outcome of the war. The way this argument goes—and one in which I concur—is that whichever side controls Cemetery Ridge at the end of the long day of July 3, 1863 wins the war.

And is there anyone here who does not believe if Lee triumphed at the “little copse of trees,” that the Army of Northern Virginia would have incrementally and successfully invested Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington during the following days? And battles out in the western theater notwithstanding—that distant conflict was never anything more than a sideshow —the Confederate battle flag would have soon been fluttering over former-President Lincoln’s head.

It is indeed a fact that the certainty of both victory and defeat—depending on one’s perspective—was set in inevitable and inexorable motion as Pettigrew’s and Picket’s survivors turned their bowed backs to Cemetery Ridge on the late afternoon of July 3.

But when we think of Gettysburg today, many of us myopically direct our attention on the momentous events of early July 1863 as if our country’s threshold battle somehow occurred in isolated context from the rest of the war. This chronic presentation of Gettysburg as a battle that embodied an accidental clash between two heavy titans clumsily blundering into each other in the Pennsylvania countryside might be both uncluttered and convenient, but that parochial view is also badly wrong.

And why is this perception erroneous? I’ll answer the question by simply asking another: “Where is the strategic context for the Battle of Gettysburg in that provincial assessment?” Here is a functional and valid counterpoint: The more one knows about Brandy Station, the more one comprehensively understands the Gettysburg Campaign and its momentous aftereffects.

I herein contend there are four clearly identifiable (but related) reasons confirming that the Battle of the Brandy Station represents the “beginning of the end of the war.” Now normally at the outset of a presentation wherein one attempts to convince others of a certain point of view, you would expect to hear at this juncture a forthright order of proof. But we’re going to do something different and allow you, the listener, to uncover the confirmation for yourself by tracking the following narrative. (So pay attention!) Then at the end of our talk, we’ll discuss the hard evidence for Brandy Station’s signal significance. Read More (Download PDF)