Major George Stoneman's attack toward Richmond in April 1863 marked a turning point in the Union cavalry's Civil War fighting. As was seen later at Brandy Station, Gettysburg, and other decisive cavalry actions in the East, Brigadier Generals John Buford, and Generals Judson Kilpatrick, and Wesley Merritt, among others, honed their skills in that raid. Ben Fuller Fordney's path-breaking Stoneman at Chancellorsville is the first history to recognize the full impact of what, until now, was viewed simply as an offshoot of Joseph Hooker's Chancellorsville offensive. Valuable to the Army of the Potomac for both its morale-boosting and experience-gaining aspects, Stoneman's raid ranks as one of the significant precursors to the turning point of the War in the East. It accomplished much more than hitherto believed, diverting George Pickett and John Bell Hood from where Robert E. Lee most needed them.

About: Ben F. Fordney

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