Union General Judson Kilpatrick was flamboyant, reckless, tempestuous, and even licentious. In some respects he made other beaux sabreurs like fellow-cavalrymen George Custer and J. E. B. Stuart seem dull. Because he was a passionate man, Kilpatrick won many admirers and made many enemies during his Civil War career–and not all of his enemies wore gray. Those who knew him usually held one of two opinions. He was either a heroic and noble soldier, or (as one Federal officer wrote) ‘a frothy braggart without brains.

Opinions varied because Kilpatrick was complex. He was a hell-for-leather warrior most of the time, but often stood quite as eager to withdraw from a fight as he had been to enter it. He loved to make speeches to his troopers and worked hard to get public notice, but drove his men and horses so roughly, seemingly without regard for their well-being, that he earned the nickname, Kilcavalry. And in an army rife with gamblers and drinkers, Kilpatrick touched neither playing cards nor bottle; but he lacked integrity and cherished certain other vices.

Physically, he looked anything but the romantic concept of the cavalryman. He was bantam-sized, with a lantern jaw, pale eyes, and frizzy red sidewhiskers. But being vain, he dressed with a certain flair. He wore carefully tailored uniforms, great boots, and a black felt hat tilted at a rakish angle. A staff officer once remarked that it was hard to look at him without laughing. But Kilpatrick impressed others with his restless energy, for he seemed always to be in a hurry to accomplish some great deed.

He was born Hugh Judson Kilpatrick near Deckertown, New Jersey, on January 14, 1836. His father was a farmer, but in his teens young Kilpatrick decided against agriculture as his own profession. Politics attracted him–an interest which remained with him through the years–and before he reached 20 he was stumping rural New Jersey on behalf of a local Congressman seeking renomination. The Congressman won and rewarded his young supporter by offering him an appointment to the United States Military Academy.

At West Point, Kilpatrick (Class of 1861) dropped his first name, won satisfactory grades, acted in Dialectic Society dramas, and developed his talent for public speaking. When the secession crisis swept the Academy he harangued cadets from the South with his Union sentiments. As a consequence he found himself involved in several fist fights, but despite his size he thrashed his way to victory more than once.

He was so caught up in the clamor to defend the Union that he got up a petition with classmates’ signatures and sent it to the War Department. The petition asked special permission for the Class of ‘61 to graduate some months earlier than usual, so that its members could serve the nation as quickly as possible in this time of crisis. The request was granted.

On the April day on which he graduated (he was the class valedictorian), Kilpatrick married Alice Nailer, of New York, in the West Point chapel. He went to war carrying a silken banner which bore her name.

Although he became a lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Artillery upon graduation, Kilpatrick had no desire to fight the war either in the Regular Army or as an artilleryman. He turned to the volunteer service in a search for high rank and glory, and soon was commissioned captain in Duryée’s Zouaves (5th New York Infantry). At once he hurried south to join the regiment at Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he worked hard to mold his company into an effective fighting unit. But he was humane as well as stern, and able to win his soldiers’ confidence and affection.

His first assignments in the field–minor scouting and foraging expeditions– failed to satisfy his craving for battle. He had to wait until June 10 for his first touch of glory. On that day he became the first Regular Army officer to be wounded during the war, being struck in the thigh by a grapeshot while directing his men during the Battle of Big Bethel. Although this first large land fight of the war was a Confederate victory, Kilpatrick won high praise from the Northern press for his coolness and efficiency. As a result, while on leave to recuperate from his wound, he found himself a lieutenant colonelcy in the Harris Light Cavalry–subsequently designated the 2d New York. He accepted his commission on September 25, as did several other officers from Duryée’s Zouaves.

He served with the newly organized unit in the defenses of the nation’s Capital until late in January 1862. Then, tired of the dull routine of garrison life, he accepted the post of chief of artillery on militia Major General James H. Lane’s expedition into Texas. But he had barely started for Kansas, the rendezvous point for the march, when he learned that the expedition had been scrapped. More restless than ever for activity, Kilpatrick returned to his regiment at Arlington, Virginia.

When Major General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac sailed down the coast to the Virginia Peninsula, Kilpatrick remained behind with the 2d New York and conducted some minor raids through northern Virginia. During one of these, a night reconnaissance near Falmouth Heights, he demonstrated a talent for cunning and audacity. He had only one regiment in his command, but when he found himself confronting Confederate pickets he shouted orders to nonexistent reinforcements. Hearing him and believing that at least a brigade of cavalry was surrounding them, hundreds of Rebels scurried down the Heights, crossed the Rappahannock River, and burned the bridge so that Kilpatrick could not follow and capture them.

In July and August 1862, Kilpatrick went raiding. He struck at Stonewall Jackson’s communication lines in the Shenandoah Valley, burned railroad depots and destroyed tracks, ties, and telegraph lines. Late in August he participated in his first engagement at Brandy Station, Virginia, where he and the rest of Brigadier General George D. Bayard’s cavalry brigade were repulsed by J.E.B. Stuart’s legions.

On December 6, 1862 Kilpatrick became the colonel of the 2d New York. His fame continued to. grow, and in February 1863 he was given brigade command, at age 27.

He led his brigade on Stoneman’s Raid during the Chancellorsville Campaign. Although the operation, on the whole, was a failure, some of Stoneman’s officers, Kilpatrick among them, acquitted themselves well. With a detached force, Kilcavalry captured towns in enemy country, again destroyed railroad apparatus, and by marching sixty miles a day penetrated to within two miles of Richmond. His daring threw the Confederate Capital into a mild panic, but finally he had to retreat down the Peninsula to the Union lines outside Fort Monroe, to avoid being captured.

Following Stoneman’s Raid, Kilpatrick’s fame crested. He rode the crest when on June 9 he charged up Fleetwood Hill near Brandy Station during the greatest cavalry battle fought in North America. At the top of the hill his troopers engaged in saber-to-saber fighting against Stuart’s horsemen, trying to push the Rebels from the summit. Kilpatrick’s brigade charged in three waves, but the first two melted away under enemy artillery and flank fire. Elsewhere on the field other Federal brigades were faltering disastrously, and Kilpatrick realized the importance of holding the hill. With his third regiment he was able to smash into the Rebels and scatter them–and for a short time it appeared that his success would throw the battle in the Federals’ favor. But Stuart rallied his troopers and ultimately forced Kilpatrick and his comrades from Fleetwood. The battle went into the history books as another Rebel victory. But the Union horsemen had shown dash and determination–and none among them so much as the little gamecock from New Jersey. Four days later Kilpatrick was wearing the star of a brigadier general.

During the operations that preceded the battle of Gettysburg, he helped prevent Stuart from marching his cavalrymen through Maryland, by way of Edwards’ Ferry and Boonsborough, to join the major portion of General Robert E. Lee’s army. Although he was at first roughly handled by Brigadier General Fitzhugh Lee at Aldie, Viriginia, on June 17, a counterattack enabled him to chase the enemy from the field. Four days later he engaged in a fierce saber battle against Brigadier General Wade Hampton’s cavalry, which culminated in a charge that drove the Rebels out of Upperville, Virginia, and finally through Ashby’s Gap upon their own infantry columns in the Shenandoah Valley.

On June 28, 1863, the Army of the Potomac was reorganized. When Major General George G. Meade assumed over-all command, Kilpatrick was assigned a division in the Cavalry Corps. The unit consisted of two brigades under newly appointed generals, George Custer and Elon J. Farnsworth. Kilpatrick led his new command in its task of covering the army’s center, as the Federals followed Robert E. Lee into Pennsylvania.

On the last day of June Kilpatrick encountered Stuart’s cavalry division in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The Federals were drawn up in the streets of the town, resting, when Stuart’s leading brigade battered and nearly routed Farnsworth’s command. Farnsworth and Kilpatrick rushed up to re-form and steady their line, and they directed a vigorous counterattack that dispersed the Gray horsemen and nearly resulted in the capture of Stuart himself.

After the Confederates rode off, Kilpatrick took Farnsworth’s brigade toward Gettysburg. After a sharp skirmish against Hampton on July 2, the cavalry reached the rear of the Army of the Potomac. On the morning of July 3 Kilpatrick’s command took position on the left of the Union line, across the Emmitsburg Road.

July 3, 1863, marked the beginning of Kilpatrick’s decline as a soldier. To that date his career had been promising and distinguished; great things had been expected of him. But on July 3 he made an unwise decision that resulted in the shattering part of Farnsworth’s brigade and the death of its young commander.

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