July 16 Saturday evening Banquet and Auction at Inn at Kelly's Ford - child ticket

More information: http://www.innatkellysford.com/battle.html

At dawn on March 17, 1863, Brig. Gen. William W. Averell led 2,100 Union cavalrymen across the Rappahannock river here at Kelly's Ford. Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee with about 1,000 Confederate horsemen counterattacked northwest of here about noon. Noted Confederate artillerist Maj. John Pelham accompanied Lee's men and fell mortally wounded while impetuously taking part in a charge. The battle ended in a draw, marking the first time Confederate cavalrymen had not defeated their Union opponents giving the Union cavalry confidence. It foreshadowed another Union crossing at Kelly's Ford during the much larger battle of June 9, 1863 at Brandy Station.

In the early morning of June 9, 1863, a large Union cavalry column under US Brigadier General John Buford positioned itself along the Rappahannock River for a peremptory rush across Beverly´s Ford. Buford´s horsemen, as well as a wing of equal strength headed by US Brigadier General David McMurtrie Gregg stationed six miles below at Kelly´s Ford, had arrived in Culpeper County, Virginia, looking for a fight. US Colonel Benjamin F. "Grimes" Davis´s New York Cavalry led the Union column thundering across the Ford, thus opening the battle of Brandy Station, the most hotly contested cavalry engagement of the Civil War. It was the largest single mounted battle ever fought in North America.

Although at the end of the day Buford´s forces retreated back across Beverly´s Ford the Union Calvary had begun its rapid rise to power over the proud but dwindling Confederate Calvary.