— July 3, 1863 - Third Day —

"So sudden and violent was the collision that many of the horses were turned end over end, and crushed their riders beneath them."
Capt. William E. Miller, U.S.A.
3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry

On the afternoon of July 3, Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart mounted several cavalry attacks against Brig. Gen. David M. Gregg's Union cavalry positioned along the Hanover Road 1/2 mile in front of you. A colonel of the 1st Virginia Cavalry reported the fighting was "hand to hand, blow for blow, cut for cut, and oath for oath...."

At 4:00 p.m., Stuart assembled 12 regiments of troopers for the last great charge of the day. A Union officer wrote of the massed Confederates: "In close column of squadrons, advancing as if in review, with sabers drawn and glistening like silver in the bright sunlight-the spectacle called forth a murmur of admiration."

The closest Union regiment available to halt the Southern horsemen was the 1st Michigan Cavalry. Brig. Gen. George A. Custer rode to the head of the regiment, stood up in the stirrups with his saber aloft and with a determined yell, led a countercharge. While Custer viciously attacked the head of the Confederate column, other Union cavalry under Col. John B. McIntosh closed in on the flanks. Assaulted on three sides, the Confederates retreated. The attack on the Union rear had failed.

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Stuart Strikes the Rear

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