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During the Gettysburg Campaign, the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, part of Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth’s First Brigade, Third Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac and commanded by Lt. Col. William Penn Brinton, had about 599 officers and men present at Gettysburg.   On July 1, 1863, Farnsworth’s brigade was in the Abbottstown-Berlin area, chasing Confederate cavalry and taking prisoners.  On July 2, the division operated on the Union right near Hunterstown and New Oxford.  By the afternoon of July 3—after the repulse of Pickett’s Charge—the brigade shifted to the Union left near Little Round Top and Big Round Top, roughly 2.5 miles from Gettysburg.  For much of the day, the 18th Pennsylvania remained in the rear of the brigade, conducting limited scouting.

Late on July 3, Gen. Judson Kilpatrick ordered Farnsworth’s brigade to launch mounted charges against Confederate infantry (primarily from Brig. Gen. Evander Law’s command, including the 1st Texas) positioned behind stone walls and in wooded, rocky terrain south of the Round Tops—an area ill-suited for cavalry.  After the 1st West Virginia charged and was repulsed, the 18th Pennsylvania, positioned on the brigade’s left, then advanced across a field and through boulder-strewn woods, encountering heavy fire from the Texas infantry.  They charged down Bushman Hill but did not make it far.  As Captain John W. Phillips of Company B of the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry recalled, "Shells were flying thick and fast over our heads as we went, cutting off an occasional limb from the trees, and a rattling fire of musketry was coming from the front.  Too high firing of the enemy alone saved us from terrible loss.  Owing to the brush and thick woods, we did not discover until we had gone almost through the timber and could begin to see in the opening beyond, that the enemy were lying behind a stone fence that skirted the woods and separated them from the fields."  Although they suffered relatively light losses, their charge was also repulsed.  The 1st Vermont made the final, most famous (and costly) assault, during which Farnsworth was killed.