The Battle of Brandy Station was the largest cavalry engagement of the American Civil War, featuring forces exceeding 20,000. It occurred on June 9, 1863.

After achieving victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Confederate army's top commander, Gen. Robert E. Lee, decided to invade the North again. He had done so the year before but had retreated from Antietam and headed back South.

Lee wanted to advance into Pennsylvania and so decided to move his men through the Shenandoah Valley. He sent out his top cavalry commander, J.E.B. Stuart, to pave the way. Stuart concentrated his forces at Brandy Station, a stop on the Orange and Alexandra railroad just west of the Rappahannock River.

The commander of the Union's Army of the Potomac, Joseph Hooker, was aware of the movements of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and worried about a cavalry raid on his army, which had retreated back across the Rappahannock after the defeat at Chancellorsville. Hooker sent one of his cavalry commanders, Brig. Gen. Alfred Pleasanton, to look for Stuart's cavalry and, if possible, render it ineffective. Also participating were the 1st Cavalry Division, under Brig. Gen. John Buford. As well, Hooker sent two brigades of infantry to accompany the cavalry.

Thus did the two cavalry contingents come to blows on June 9, in the largest cavalry engagement of the Civil War. Pleasanton had taken a page from Lee's book and divided his forces into two wings, one crossing the Rappahannock at Beverly's Ford and the other crossing at Kelly's Ford; the goal was a double envelopment.

Union troops caught the Confederates by surprise, despite the latter's being in the area for two days. Some Confederate cavalrymen rode into the fray half-dressed and on unsaddled horses.

The attack didn't go quite to plan, and both sides traded advances and retreats; both sides also briefly claimed ownership of Fleetwood Hill, a large rise to the north of the station that had been Stuart's headquarters the evening before. In the end, the Union force left the area, having lost more than 900 men to death and injury; Confederate casualties exceeded 500. The battle was technically a Confederate victory, since the Union forces left the field of battle; however, that the two forces fought mostly to a standstill gave the Union forces a boost because they had done so against the vaunted Stuart, who by that time had a string of victories and impressive achievements to his name.