Gettysburg Live 150 – 5:00pm – Skirmish at Westminster
A little-known cavalry action on the road to Gettysburg happened just about now, 150 years ago.
J.E.B. Stuart was way behind schedule, and rushing north to try and find where the main body of the Confederate Army was. He thought it was near York, so he was just passing through Westminster with no intention of hanging around. His plan was to get to Hanover the next day.
Because of the rail lines in Westminster, there was a small group of Union soldiers there – 2 companies from the 1st Delaware Cavalry. These were no match for an approaching Confederate division, so it wasn’t much of a skirmish – at least not from the Confederate point of view. The Delawareans took 67 casualties of the 108 men that were engaged.
The Confederate cavalry was left with a clear road to Hanover.
“The 1st Delaware Cavalry Regiment lost 2 enlisted men killed and 2 officers and 47 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War.”
You are correct, those are men who were KILLED during the war. Coincidentally, both of those happened in this skirmish with J.E.B. Stuart’s men. The bulk of the casualties in this battle were men who were captured.