The Battle of Gettysburg was over. Three days of ferocious fighting had produced more than 50,000 casualties. On July 4, 1863, both sides licked their wounds and Confederate General Robert E. Lee waited for a counter attack that would not come. Union General George Meade, unsure if Lee planned to renew his attack, chose to wait. On the night of July 4, Lee decided to withdraw his troops, along with his wounded, supplies, cattle, weapons and munitions, and some 4,000 Union prisoners of war. His retreat followed two separate routes, with one part following a northwest route toward Cashtown, PA, the second going southward along Fairfield Road to Monterey Pass. The two were to join at Hagerstown, PA. The Union Sixth Corps was directed to pursue the Cashtown Road retreat, with the cavalry ordered to pursue via the Fairfield Road and Emmitsburg and Monterey Passes. The cavalry caught up with the Confederates at Monterey Pass, where a clash took place that proved to be disastrous for the rebel army.

Major Charles E. Capehart

By James Gindlesperger, historical author

Charles E. Capehart was born in 1833 just outside Johnstown, PA, the younger of two Capehart brothers. After their mother died when the brothers were young, Charles, his father, and his brother Henry moved to Pittsburgh, PA. Both brothers attended schools in that city.

When the Civil War began, Charles was living in Duquoin, Illinois. On April 18, 1861, he enlisted in the Union army, officially mustering in on May 2. He served for three months in Company G of the 12th Illinois Infantry before having to muster out due to illness. Six weeks later he reenlisted, this time as the adjutant for the 31st Illinois Infantry, serving until May 16, 1862, when he was commissioned as a captain and assigned to the 1st Virginia Cavalry (Union). His regiment would change its name to the 1st West Virginia Cavalry when West Virginia became a state in 1863. On June 6, 1863, he was promoted to major, less than a month before the Battle of Gettysburg. Meanwhile, Henry had also enlisted and was serving with his brother in the 1st West Virginia Cavalry as the regimental surgeon.

At Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863, Charles had helped lead a charge against firmly entrenched Confederate troops. The charge resulted in severe casualties for the West Virginians, as well as brigade commander General Elon Farnsworth, who was killed. With Farnsworth’s death, Colonel Nathaniel P. Richmond, who had been commanding the 1st West Virginia Cavalry, was moved into Farnsworth’s position as commander of the brigade. Charles Capehart moved into Richmond’s old position and took command of the regiment.

On the evening of July 4, with Lee’s army now in full retreat, a civilian who had learned of the army moving through Monterey Pass mounted his horse and traveled toward Emmitsburg, hoping to encounter Union troops. When he encountered a scout from General George Custer’s brigade, he reported what he had seen at Monterey Pass. The scout, in turn, made his way back to General Custer at Emmitsburg to report the information.

The oppressive heat that had marked the fighting at Gettysburg the three previous days had turned into a driving rainstorm as Custer’s brigade was dispatched toward the mountain. There he was ambushed by artillery and hidden Confederate troops and a fierce battle ensued. The fighting raged for several hours in the darkness, where both sides depended on the brightness of lightning flashes to determine the locations of the opposing troops.

Capehart and the 1st West Virginia Cavalry arrived at the fight at the peak of the chaos, with panicked horses stampeding through both battle lines. The rainstorm had blotted out any light from the moon, and smoke from the battle made it nearly impossible to see. Fearing his men could be shot by either side in the darkness, or even by their own comrades, Capehart ordered his troopers to draw their sabers so they would be able to identify each other. Just as Custer’s horse was shot, Capehart ordered his men to charge into the fray.

The men of the 1st West Virginia followed Capehart in the dash down the side of the mountain into the Confederate line. Surprised by the daring charge, many of the Southerners began retreating in total disarray. The rest began hand-to-hand fighting in the darkness. Little by little, the West Virginians began taking prisoners and destroying wagons. By the time the fighting ended, Capehart and his men had captured or destroyed 300 wagons and 15 ambulances, and captured 1300 prisoners, 200 of them commissioned officers, as well as a large number of horses and mules.

On August 1, 1864, Capehart was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and following Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in 1865, he mustered out of the Union army. On April 7, 1898, just three years after his brother Henry was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving a drowning soldier while under fire, Charles was awarded one of his own. In addition to the Capehart brothers, 12 members of the 1st West Virginia Cavalry would receive Medals of Honor for their actions during the Civil War. The Capehart brothers are one set of seven brothers to receive the Medal of Honor.

Charles’s citation reads: For the President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Major Charles E. Capehart, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 4 July 1863, while serving with 1st West Virginia Cavalry, in action at Monterey Mountain, Pennsylvania. While commanding the regiment, Major Capehart charged down the mountain side at midnight, in a heavy rain, upon the enemy’s fleeing wagon train. Many wagons were captured and destroyed and many prisoners taken.

Charles died on July 11, 1911, in Washington, DC and is buried in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery.

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Further Reading:

Monterey Pass Battlefield Park and Museum: https://montereypassbattlefield.org

U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Serial 043, Series I, Vol. XXVII, Chapter XXXIX, REPORT OF Major CHARLES E. CAPEHART, FIRST WEST VIRGINIA CAVALRY, p. 1018-19.