Fauquier County, Virginia · Est. 1859
Company H,
4th Virginia Cavalry, C.S.A.
The Black Horse Cavalry was part of Williams Carter Wickham's 4th Virginia Cavalry, Fitz Lee's Division, JEB Stuart's Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia. Mustered in Fauquier County, Virginia. Escorts to General Stonewall Jackson.
About 250 Fauquier men served in the Black Horse Cavalry over the course of the war — the figure given by the cavalrymen themselves at their 1890 reunion. This compendium gathers the research of Lynn Hopewell, whose great-great-grandfather Strother Seth Jones was a member of the company, and who spent decades recovering their story from obscurity.
Bravest of the Brave · Warrenton, Virginia, January 23, 1863
by Mort Künstler
Explore the Archive
The Beginning
MORE ABOUT THE TERRIBLE BLACK HORSE. Alexandria, July 25, 1861. I overheard one of the men describing the charge of the Black Horse Cavalry. He said they advanced in a wedge form, then opened, disclosing a battery which fired upon his regiment, and that then the cavalry charged upon the regiment, hemming it in on all sides; and, cutting right and left with tremendous blows, each blow powerful enough to take off a man's head. He said he never wished to see such a charge again. — The Richmond Daily Inquirer, quoting the Baltimore Exchange
The Ending
To the Black Horse Troop. In tender memory of the Dead with affectionate greetings to the living. My proudest thought is that I was one of them. — James Keith, Black Horse Cavalryman and Chief Justice, Virginia Supreme Court
Descendants are invited to contribute.
If your ancestor served in the Black Horse Cavalry, contact us at
hopewell@blackhorsecavalry.org.