Battle of Fairfield The Battle of Fairfield was a cavalry engagement during the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War . It was fought July 3 , 1863 , near Fairfield , Pennsylvania , concurrently with the Battle of Gettysburg , although it was not a formal part of that battle . While a minor fight by the small number of troops deployed , strategically , the Confederate victory secured the important Hagerstown Road , which Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia would use on July 5 to return to Maryland and then on to safety in Virginia . Background . Fairfield had been the site of combat on June 21 , when the 14th Virginia Cavalry of Brig . Gen . Albert Jenkins ' s mounted infantry brigade had used Monterey Pass to conduct a raid near Fairfield with the First Troop , Philadelphia City Cavalry that resulted in the Confederates withdrawing into the Cumberland Valley . Much of the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia had accompanied Maj . Gen . J . E . B . Stuart on his ride around the Union Army of the Potomac through Maryland and south - central Pennsylvania . Lee had retained several brigades to guard the mountain passes as he advanced through the Shenandoah and Cumberland Valley s and to scout Federal positions . Among the latter brigades was that of Brig . Gen . William E . " Grumble " Jones — the celebrated " Laurel Brigade " that had once been commanded by Turner Ashby . Jones had detached one of his best commands , the 35th Battalion , Virginia Cavalry , to accompany the infantry of Jubal Early , but retained the bulk of his command . Jones ' s Brigade had been raiding the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in West Virginia and Maryland before being recalled by Lee . They hastened to Pennsylvania , crossing the Potomac River on July 1 ( where Jones detached the 12th Virginia Cavalry to guard the ford ) and camping at Chambersburg the following night . Jones ' s force had been reduced to the 6th , 7th , and 11th Virginia Cavalry and Preston Chew ' s Battery of horse artillery . Jones reached Fairfield on July 3 in response to Lee ' s orders to secure the vital Hagerstown Road . Reports of a slow moving Confederate wagon train in the vicinity had attracted the attention of newly commissioned Union Brig . Gen . Wesley Merritt , who ordered the 6th U . S . Cavalry under Maj . Samuel H . Starr to scout Fairfield and locate the wagons . Once in Fairfield , Major Starr learned that a wagon train had just rolled out of town and was heading to Cashtown . He divided his 400 men into three detachments and began to search for the wagons . Battle . One party soon encountered the pickets of Jones ' s 7th Virginia Cavalry and withdrew when additional Confederates rode up . Informed of the presence of the enemy , Starr rode to a small ridge and dismounted his men in fields and an orchard on both sides of the road . He threw back a mounted charge of the 7th Virginia , just as Chew ' s Battery unlimbered and opened fire on the Federal cavalrymen . Supported by the 6th Virginia , the 7th Virginia charged again , clearing Starr ' s force off the ridge and inflicting heavy losses . Jones pursued the retreating Federals for three miles to the Fairfield Gap , but was unable to catch his quarry . Aftermath . Federal losses were 6 killed , 28 wounded , and 208 unaccounted for — primarily prisoners . The losses for the Confederates were 8 killed , 21 wounded , and 5 missing . Jones camped near Fairfield and kept the road open for Lee ' s retreat , then guarded the rear as the Army of Northern Virginia slogged through the Fairfield Gap in a driving rainstorm on July 5 . Pvt . George C . Platt , an Irish immigrant serving in Troop H of the 6th U . S . Cavalry , was awarded the Medal of Honor on July 12 , 1895 , for his actions at Fairfield . His citation reads , " Seized the regimental flag upon the death of the standard bearer in a hand - to - hand fight and prevented it from falling into the hands of the enemy . " After the fighting had ended , many wounded soldiers were cared for in the town of Fairfield . Major Samuel H . Starr was taken to the widow Sarah Amanda Blythe ' s house , which is likely where his arm was amputated . Other accounts mention that the Rufus C . Swope House ( across from the Fairfield Inn ) , and St . John ' s Lutheran Church were used as hospitals . It is probable that other buildings in the town were used for this purpose as well .