Federal Guards with Confederate Cavalrymen Captured at Aldie, Virginia, June 17, 1863

Firm but considerate treatment seems to be given these Confederates. about to pay the penalty of the loser in a fair fight. On the right- and left-hand sides of the photograph can be seen the strong guard of Union soldiers in charge. The Union forces had a wholesome respect for the Confederate cavalryman, but by the middle of 1863 the Union cavalry had also become a factor. The cavalry fight in which these prisoners were taken occurred at the foot of the upper end of the Bull Run range of hills, in Loudoun County, in and around the village of Aldie. The Confederates were driven from the field by General Pleasanton and his men, but not without serious loss to the latter. Fifty Union cavalry-men were killed outright, 131 wounded, and 124 captured and missing. In return they took heavy toll from the Confederates, as this picture indicates. The Union cavalry regiments engaged in this action were the First Maine, First Maryland, the Purnell Legion of Maryland, First Massachusetts, the Second, Fourth, and Tenth New York, the Sixth Ohio, and the First, Third, Fourth, Eighth and Sixteenth Pennsylvania; also Battery C of the Third United States Artillery. The prisoners were conducted to the North.