Battle of Hunterstown: Cavalry Before Gettysburg

Most people know Gettysburg, but the fighting began earlier and spread farther than the famous battlefield. On July second, eighteen sixty-three, the same day Pickett's Charge was being planned and Culp's Hill was being contested, a cavalry fight erupted near the village of Hunterstown, about five miles northeast of here. Union cavalry under General Judson Kilpatrick struck a Confederate brigade commanded by General Wade Hampton, one of the South's finest horse soldiers.

Leading part of the Union charge was a young brigadier general named George Armstrong Custer, just twenty-three years old and freshly promoted. The fighting ran from the afternoon until dark. Neither side claimed a decisive victory.

The fight ended in a draw. But the fight illustrated how the cavalry battle around Gettysburg extended in every direction as Lee's army maneuvered and Union forces worked to contain it. Hunterstown is one of those engagements the famous victory has overshadowed.