'BUCKLAND RACES' TOPIC OF LECTURE
'BUCKLAND RACES' TOPIC OF LECTURE
Date published: 6/28/2008
Joe McKinney will lecture on "Cavalry Fights in Fauquier County--Coffee Hill and the Buckland Races" tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Graffiti House in Brandy Station.
In October 1863, Gen. Robert E. Lee began his last offensive campaign with the Army of Northern Virginia. Moving north through Culpeper and Fauquier counties, Lee hoped to force the Union's Army of the Potomac into a decisive battle, just as he had in August 1862 at Second Manassas.
Instead, Lee's army was defeated at Bristoe and forced to withdraw back into Culpeper. During the Southern advance and withdrawal, J.E.B. Stuart's horsemen were active in Fauquier, fighting two unique battles.
Auburn--today known as Coffee Hill--was fought on Oct. 14, 1863, and the battle at Buckland was fought five days later. This was Stuart's last victory as a battlefield commander.
Today, Stuart's victory over Union Gen. Judson Kilpatrick is known as the Buckland Races.
Joe McKinney lives on the Brandy Station battlefield and is a longtime Civil War historian. A graduate of West Point, he retired as a lieutenant colonel after serving in Vietnam and the Army's Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
In 2006, he wrote and had published the only thorough history of the June 9, 1863, Battle of Brandy Station.
The lecture is free, but donations to the Brandy Station Foundation are welcomed and will be used for operations and restoration of the Graffiti House. Free refreshments will be served. For details, call 540/727-7718.
Date published: 6/28/2008
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