About This Book

The Complete Story of a Legendary Civil War Unit

The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as Rush’s Lancers, was a completely volunteer unit and one of the finest regiments to serve in the Civil War. Tracing their history from George Washington’s personal bodyguard during the Revolutionary War, many of the men of the Sixth Pennsylvania were the cream of Philadelphia society, including Richard H. Rush, grandson of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Maj. Robert Morris, Jr., great-grandson of the financier of the Revolutionary War, Capt. Charles Cadwalader, whose great-grandfather was a general under George Washington, Frank H. Furness, architect and Medal of Honor recipient, and George G. Meade, Jr. But it was their actions in battle, not their illustrious family histories, that distinguished Rush’s Lancers. The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry earned a reputation for being a highly trained and reliable unit, despite being armed initially with antiquated weapons, leaving their mark on key battlefields, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Hanover Court House, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Brandy Station—where they conducted one of the most famous charges of the war—and Appomattox.

Drawing upon letters, diaries, memoirs, service and pension files, contemporary newspaper coverage, official records, and other primary sources, Rush’s Lancers: The Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry in the Civil War by distinguished military historian Eric J. Wittenberg is an engrossing account of these young men from both Philadelphia’s social elite and the city’s working classes who, despite not being professional soldiers, answered the Nation’s call to war.

Contents
1. Formation of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry
2. Learning to Be Soldiers
3. The Lancers in McClellan’s 1862 Peninsula Campaign
4. The Maryland and Fredericksburg Campaigns of 1862
5. The Stoneman Raid
6. The Battle of Brandy Station
7. The Gettysburg Campaign
8. In the Field and in Winter Camp with the Army of the Potomac
9. 1864: Campaigning with Grant and Sheridan
10. The Lancers Go to the Shenandoah Valley
11. The End of the Line for the Lancers
12. Requiem
Appendix: Campaigns of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry

Eric J. Wittenberg is author of many acclaimed books on Civil War history, including Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions, Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads and the Civil War’s Last Campaign, and The Union Cavalry Comes of Age: Hartwood Church to Brandy Station.

Praise for Rush’s Lancers:

“A superb regiment, noted for intelligence, bravery and stalwart service, the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry was an elite outfit, in the truest sense. That they were accepted and admired by the Regulars, alongside whom they served on many a hard-fought field, speaks volumes of the gallantry and dash of these sons of the Keystone State.”—Brian C. Pohanka, historian and adviser for the motion pictures Cold Mountain and Glory