Battle of Kelly's Ford - Aftermath

Aftermath

By 5:30 p.m., Averell, citing his exhausted men and horses, "deemed it proper to withdraw." He left two Confederate officers who had been wounded and captured by Averell's troops, a sack of coffee, and the following message: "Dear Fitz, Here's your coffee. Here's your visit. How do you like it?" Some of his fellow officers believed that he lost his nerve, concerned about the presence of Jeb Stuart on the battlefield and, hearing the sound of railroad cars approaching, imagining the possibility of a Confederate infantry force pinning him against the river. The Union advance had covered 2 miles over more than 12 hours and resulted in 78 casualties (6 killed, 50 wounded, 22 missing). The Confederates lost 133 (11 dead, 88 wounded, 34 captured); 71 Confederate horses were killed and 12 were captured. The loss of the youthful Pelham, age 24, well respected by Robert E. Lee, Stuart, and many veterans of the Battle of Fredericksburg, was a shock. Stuart wrote after the battle, "The gallant Pelham—so noble, so true—will be mourned by the nation."

There were men in our lines who were engaged at Malvern Hill, at Gaines Mill, in many of Jackson's Battles, and with one accord they say that they never passed through such a fearful fire as thinned our ranks in that charge.

The battle was technically a Confederate victory because Averell's men failed to achieve their objective of destroying Lee's smaller force and they withdrew under pressure across the ford at dusk. However the Federal cavalrymen believed they had won a moral victory because, for the first time, they had held their own against Stuart's legendary horsemen. They would proceed into the 1863 summer campaigns with increased confidence. One of the participants, Lt. Joseph A. Chedell of the 1st Rhode Island, wrote that Kelly's Ford was the "first real, and perhaps the most brilliant, cavalry fight of the whole war."

Both Union and Confederate armies used Kelly's Ford extensively during the Civil War. In addition to the role it played in this battle, it was also host to two notable engagements that occurred later that same year: the Battle of Brandy Station on June 9, 1863, and one during the Bristoe Campaign's Second Battle of Rappahannock Station on November 7, 1863.