'Surely in that fight there was glory enough for all who were engaged, and plenty to spare.'

Autograph letter signed by William Brooke Rawle to Gen. Francis A. Walker. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 26 March 1886. 

4 pages, 8vo, on printed letterhead. 

A lengthy and powerful defense of Gregg's cavalry on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The letter was penned by William Brooke Rawle (1843 - 1915), who served in Company C of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry (then William Rawle Brooke). He writes to Francis A. Walker, in response to a lecture given by Walker on the Battle of Gettysburg. 

He opens with flattery for Walker's scholarship and understanding of the battle: "I read with the greatest of pleasure your admirable lecture on Gettysburg delivered recently in Boston and published in the Boston Herald of the 5th inst. Like most of those who were present and 'assisted' in the battle, I take much interest in the battle, I take much interest in all that pertain to it. In many respects your account is the best one that I have ever read, and it holds the attention and interest from its beginning to its end - an art which is possessed by too few writers on Military subjects."

He continues, however, with the main point of his letter: to correct Walker's understanding of the role of the Union cavalry in repulsing J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry. Rawle believes this was belittled in Walker's understanding: "But there is one point to which I trust you will pardon my taking exception. You state that the gallant Cavalry fight by the troops under Gregg on the right flank were of no importance to the result of the battle. In this I think you, like most infantrymen, do us troopers much injustice." 

Rawle continues with further details of the cavalry's role in protecting the Union lines during Pickett's Charge: "Stuart's intention is plainly shown in his official report. He timed his movement so as to strike the rear of our line of battle simultaneously with Pickett's assault in front. Had Stuart been able to reach even the Baltimore Pike the confusion which his presence in the rear of Meade's infantry line would have caused almost certain disaster, and if he had only gotten near enough to throw a few shells on to the ridge it would most probably have unnerved the infantrymen who had about all they could do to hold on to the line of Cemetery Ridge, and thus would have done much toward making Pickett's assault a success...I think that at any rate you should at least give us the credit of being of some assistance. Surely in that fight there was glory enough for all who were engaged, and plenty to spare."

He concludes by sending a copy of his address that was read at the dedication of the Cavalry Shaft dedicated in October 1884 and encouraging him to visit the monument on his next trip to Gettysburg, stating "the next time you go to Gettysburg, when you stand upon East Cemetery Hill, kindly look in an Easterly direction, and when you see the shaft which is plainly visible think to yourself what effect the bursting in of 6000 cavalrymen and three batteries of artillery, while Pickett's assault was going on, would have had upon your little entertainment in front."

Rawle not only participated in the specific action but had published extensively on it, writing both The Right Flank at Gettysburg (1878) and With Gregg in the Gettysburg Campaign (1884). He would go on to write the regimental history of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry in 1905. 

An eloquent and vehement defense of the Union Cavalry repulse of J.E.B. Stuart during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. 

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