Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, July 2 -3, 1863

Protecting the Flank: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, Wittenberg, Eric J., 201 pp., softcover, index, bibliography, endnotes, appendices, Ironclad Publishing, 2002. In print Brandy Station, Aldie, Middleburg, Upperville, Hanover and Hunterstown may one day get their due as important and crucial components in the Gettysburg Campaign. If so, then this reader hopes that it is Eric Wittenberg who give it to them. He has produced a clear, concise and probably complete picture of the cavalry battle on Brinkerhoff's Ridge and on the Rummel Farm. I doubt if Wittenberg is an armchair historian. His presentation of these two crucial battles is well grounded upon an understanding of the terrain. (Yes, that was a pun.) Three and a half miles east from the main Gettsyburg battlefield park is another portion of the park, one that did not contain the huge number of casualites that the main park has. Neverless, the importance of these battles are recognized when the Baltimore Pike is less than three miles away. As many have begun to realize, the eastern portions of the battle: Culp's Hill, East Cemetery Hill, Brinkerhoff's Ridge, and the Rummel Farm may have been more crucial to the outcome of the battle than Pickett's Charge. The fight on Brinkerhoff's Ridge was between a portion of the Stonewall Brigade of Johnson's Division (CSA) and McIntosh's Brigade of Gregg's Divison of Federal cavalry. This book furthers the agruement in favor of Ewell's decision to use a portion of his infantry on the evening of July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd to cover his left flank due to the constant rumor that Federal troops were coming up the Hanover Road that runs straight through the cavalry actions of July 3rd. The fight on the Rummel Farm was between three brigades of CSA cavalry and parts of three brigades of Federal cavalry. Chambliss', Lee's, and Hampton's brigades were to be the rope in the snare set for the Federal cavalry. Fortunately for Gregg's division, the commander sniffed a trap, triggered the bait, and then attacked those CSA troops that were advance to capture the Union force. In dramatic fashion, Wittenberg combines descriptions of personalities with strategy, of hand-to-hand combat with tactics, and of heroism with fighting. The author balances the human element and the tactical element on the battlefield. He uses the soldiers words to both advance the story and bring the action to the climax. Wittenberg handles the Custer anecdotes even handedly with the Hampton stories, the Wolverines tales with the Palmetto heroics. The last third of the book is a driving/walking tour of these two cavalry battlefields, illustrated by 20 modern photographs, the majority of which are well composed. There are those several that are covered in shadows and do not give a clear idea of the monument. The maps are informative and clear; the captions under the portaits include unit in which the officer served. The appendices are the Federal and Confederate o

Most Civil War buffs are aware of Brigadier General Buford's famous delaying action at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Fewer are conversant with the July 3 cavalry fight on Rummel's farm, in which George Custer first came to prominence, and fewer still with the previous day's combat on Brinkerhoff's Ridge. Ignorance of these affairs is no longer an excuse since the publication of Eric Wittenberg's "Protecting the Flank: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field." Wittenberg covers both engagements thoroughly and with style, providing the most accurate, detailed and readable account of the cavalry's role at Gettysburg after July 1 to date. He traces the movements of General David Gregg's Division in a clear and lucid manner, giving that commander his due as a master of combat analysis and tactical application, and his analysis of General J. E. B. Stuart's intentions on July 3 are logical and sound. When I needed a succinct, accurate and yet detailed account of the cavalry battle of July 3 at Gettysburg for a book project, the first secondary account I consulted was Eric Wittenberg's.

It is not often that a small inexpensive book provides a valuable in-depth account of a battle. When that happens, I feel that I have cheated the author by getting much more than I paid for. Eric J. Wittenberg often gives me this feeling. This is an invaluable account of the cavalry battles that maintained the Union right flank. This is the best book on this action that I have found, clearly written with good maps and photos.

Eric has penned a wonderful work on both a minor and major fight between the cavalries of the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia during the Gettysburg battle. The fights at Brinkerhoff's Ridge and on the Rummel Farm (East Cavalry Field) are infinitely interesting scraps between the two opposing horsemen that have long deserved such an in-depth study. Every student of the Gettysburg campaign and those particularly interested in the "saddle boys" need this book. One cannot wholly understand the more glorious fight on East Cavalry Field, and it's impact on the battle proper, without also understanding the prior clash at Brinkerhoff's Ridge, and Eric has provided an extremely well-written work which does just that. His footnotes are most helpful, and his sources, as always, dominate in the primary and are second-to-none in backing up his explanations of the tactics.A necessary edition for the Gettysburg, Cavalry, and Civil War bookshelf that will stand the test of time.