Battle of Hanover - Aftermath

Aftermath

Disengaging slowly and protecting his captured wagons, Stuart withdrew to the northeast through Jefferson towards York, known from recent newspapers to be the location of Early's division. En route, Stuart heard at New Salem that Early's Division had recently left York and marched northwestly through Dover. Stuart changed course and headed northward through the night on winding, hilly country roads, still trying to locate Early or Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, thinking the latter still to be towards the Susquehanna River.

The head of Stuart's seventeen-mile (27 km) long column arrived in Dover at 2:00 a.m. on the morning of July 1, with the rear guard there by 8:00 a.m. Stuart learned that Early had passed through town and was heading westward towards Shippensburg as the army concentrated. Stuart paroled over 200 Union prisoners and gave his troopers a much needed six-hour rest (while, unknown to Stuart, Maj. Gen. Henry Heth's Confederate infantry division collided with Brig. Gen. John Buford's Union cavalry at Gettysburg). Stuart resumed his exhausting march through the afternoon and early evening, seizing over 1,000 fresh horses from York County farmers.

Leaving Hampton's Brigade and the wagons at Dillsburg, Stuart headed for Carlisle, hoping to find Ewell. Instead, Stuart found nearly 3,000 Pennsylvania and New York militia occupying the borough. After lobbing a few shells into town during the early evening and burning the Carlisle Barracks, Stuart withdrew after midnight to the south towards Gettysburg (see Skirmish at Carlisle). The fighting at Hanover, the long march through York County with the captured wagons, and the brief encounter at Carlisle slowed Stuart considerably in his attempt to rejoin the main army and locate Lee. The "eyes and ears" of the Army of Northern Virginia had failed Lee.

Losses at Hanover were relatively light in terms of casualties, but the cost in time in delaying Stuart from linking with Lee proved to be even more costly. Estimates vary as to the number of men lost at Hanover; Union losses in one source are listed as 19 killed, 73 wounded, and 123 missing (for a total of 215). The 18th Pennsylvania had suffered the most, with three men killed, 24 wounded, and 57 missing. On the Confederate side, Stuart's losses are generally estimated as 9 dead, 50 wounded, and 58 missing, for a total of 117.