Chief --

Obviously I was wrong, since the Confederate order of battle for the Appomattox Campaign does list the 39th Virginia Cavalry Battalion as an escort. However, the battalion first appears on the organization for the Army of Northern Virginia for Dec. 31, 1863. For example, headquarters strength reported on the field return of July 20, 1863, is sixteen officers. That number is substantially larger at the end of 1863 with the addition of the 1st Virginia Infantry Battalion and Richardson's 39th Virginia Cavalry Battalion.

In the second half of 1863 the army was reorganized so that Lee and his corps commanders had small infantry units available for provost guard duty. In cases of dire need, these units were sometimes employed in combat. The best -known example is A. P. Hill's use of the 5th Alabama Battalion in a last-ditch situation during the Battle of the Wilderness.

Lee's frustration with his cavalry chief and lack of a mounted force to gather information before Gettysburg may have led to the assignment of Richardson's 39th Virginia Cavalry Battalion to his headquarters. A quick review of orders of battle for the Army of Northern Virginia confirms that its corps and division commanders never had cavalry escorts. This was not standard practice in the Federal Army of the Potomac, which employed cavalry escorts down to the division level.