RARE – Civil War Cavalry Bugle, recovered at Brandy Station, VA (SOLD)

This is something I rarely come across, and it is only the second time in 30+ years that I acquired one; it is an excavated Cavalry bugle. The overall measurement is 10” x 4 ¼”. This unique relic was found years ago at the Brandy Station, Virginia Battlefield.

The Battle of Brandy Station was the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the Civil War, as well as the largest ever to take place on American soil. It was fought on June 9, 1863, around Brandy Station, Virginia, at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign. The Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton went up against Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry.

Pleasonton launched a surprise dawn attack on Stuart and after an all-day fight in which fortunes changed repeatedly, the Federals retired without discovering Gen. Robert E. Lee's infantry camped near Culpeper. This battle marked the end of the Confederate cavalry's dominance in the East. From this point in the war, the Federal cavalry gained strength and confidence.

An excavated example of a dug bugle is in the new book “Groundbreakers”, by Sylvia and Rossbacher (see pictures). Bugles used by Cavalrymen were smaller because they had to use them while on horseback – Infantry bugles are larger.

The example being offered here could have been used by either a Union or Confederate Cavalryman. It remains just as found, being somewhat flat, only rinsed off and it still retains some of the battlefield dirt. Being made of brass is why it survived all these years. I can only imagine the story behind this bugle – for a bugler, his bugle was his most important piece of equipment. I am sure the loss must have been the results of heavy fighting during the battle.