After achieving a localized success, Union forces withdrew under pressure in late afternoon, without destroying Lee's cavalry.

Although they possessed superior equipment and had the advantage of a plentiful supply of men and federal horses, the Union cavalrymen had lacked the confidence, experience, and leadership to challenge Stuart.

After various troops were detached to cover his movements and to engage the enemy's pickets at Rappahannock Station, he had 2,100 men ready for battle in three brigades, commanded by Col. Alfred N. Duffié, Col. John B. McIntosh, and Capt.

Facing him was a detached Confederate brigade commanded by Fitzhugh Lee, 800 men in five regiments, with a two-gun artillery section.

[7] Early on the morning of March 17, 1863, Averell's advance guard reached Kelly's Ford on the Rappahannock and found that felled trees and 60 Confederate sharpshooters opposed their crossing.

Averell's chief of staff, Major Samuel E. Chamberlain, eventually forced a crossing led by 20 men of the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry.

Despite the minor casualties in this action, Averell proceeded cautiously, taking over two hours to cross his men over the swiftly running river.

Assuming that Averell's target was Brandy Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, Lee sent his 800 men forward to block the Union advance.

Duffié's brigade was positioned on the left in a woodlot, McIntosh's in the center, and Reno's two regiments of regulars on the right, behind a stone fence.

Pelham moved forward with Lee's men, and as he waved them through a gate in the fence, a shell exploded over his head, sending a tiny fragment of shrapnel into his brain, mortally wounding him.

"[10] 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 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.

"[11] 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.

[4][6] However, Confederate forces were able to achieve a tactical victory due to Averell's failure to convert his defensive success and untimely withdrawal, which left Lee's brigade in possession of the battlefield.

[13] 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.