In a reorganization of the Army of the Potomac's cavalry structure, the young new commander of the Third Cavalry Division, General Judson Kilpatrick, secured the appontment of three new brigade commanders. They were Wesley Merritt, Elon Farnsworth, and the twenty-three year old George Armstrong Custer, who had graduated bottom of his class at West Point two years before. All were young, battle-experienced and driving cavalry leaders and were selected for that reason. Farnsworth died at Gettysburg just five days later, aged twenty-five. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Edward Longacre, The Cavalry at Gettysburg: A Tactical Study of Mounted Operations during the Civil War's Pivotal Campaign, 9 June-14 July 1863 (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1993), 166-167.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Battles/Soldiers