ORDER OF BATTLE // May 11, 1864
Battle of Yellow Tavern
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 17,000 estimated
Union
12,000
Medium-confidence figure
CSA (Confederacy)
5,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Yellow Tavern was fought on May 11, 1864, during the Overland Campaign, when Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was detached from Grant's Army of the Potomac to raid Richmond. The engagement pitted Sheridan's 12,000 cavalry against Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart numbering roughly 5,000. The Confederates were badly outnumbered, and Stuart suffered a mortal wound during the fighting. Stuart's death removed the Army of Northern Virginia's most prominent cavalry commander at a critical phase of the Overland Campaign, a loss that degraded Confederate reconnaissance and screening capabilities at the very moment Grant was pressing Lee relentlessly southward.
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