This sword (now in the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia) must hav | Forteresse Europe

This sword (now in the Capitol in Richmond, Virginia) must have surprised the American cavalrymen who did not practice the tactic of massive cavalry charges and had already practically abandoned the white weapon for the missions assigned to them (reconnaissance, harassment and possibly close combat). They preferred modern firearms, either short and repeating (such as revolvers), or highly dispersive, such as the shotgun, which was also capable of shooting down an enemy at point-blank range, even when galloping.

Another European soldier, Arthur Fremantle, a young captain in the Coldstream Guards of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom who came in 1863 to observe the Civil War, noted several times in his diary that the American cavalrymen absolutely neglected the sabre: they did not seek hand-to-hand combat, he was astonished to learn, but stopped about forty "yards" (about 30 metres) from the enemy, and then used their revolvers and shotguns. Fremantle also notes that most of them do not even have a sword, or carry it 'wedged between the saddle and the left thigh, which is comical'.

The combination of Jeb Stuart, the 'Dandy Dragoon', and von Borcke, the 'Giant Gray', soon struck a chord with both Unionists and Confederates. Von Borcke was promoted to the rank of major in August 1862. Jeb Stuart was represented by his friend von Borcke at the solemn funeral in Richmond of John Pelham (artillery officer), the 'Gallant Pelham', young chief of his mounted artillery, who had been killed at the Battle of Kelly's Ford on 17 March 1863.

The exploits of von Borcke during the Northern Virginia and Maryland campaigns, and the fame that war correspondents (and early photographic operators) gained for him in Southern and European newspapers, increased the prestige of the Confederate cause, and filled the Prussians with pride.

Indeed, the modernity of the American Civil War was reflected in the use of propaganda, and the cavalry, a prestigious weapon, played a powerful role in this.

Thus, on 5 June 1863, near Brandy Station (Virginia), after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Jeb Stuart's cavalry, in order to celebrate the Confederate victory, brilliantly offered a kind of "fantasia" to the Southern "high society" (and to the press): After Jeb Stuart and his staff, trampling roses thrown by children in their path, saluted the spectators, the grey cavalrymen, at triple gallop, firing their revolvers (blanks) and shouting their famous "rebell yell", stormed a "northern redoubt" which was firing (blanks) from all its pieces. All of this was done to the frenzied applause of the crowd in the stands, where many of the ladies were fainting. And as Generalissimo Robert Lee was unable to attend the grand review of 5 June, another took place on 8 June, which (combined with the subsequent festivities...) completed the exhaustion of the men and their mounts.

But this deployment of forces attracted the attention of General Joseph Hooker's Federal spies, and his deputy Alfred Pleasonton, seeing an opportunity to repeat (this time with more assets) the attempt at Kelly's Ford, sent a large combined cavalry and infantry force across the Rappahannock. At dawn on 9 June 1863, the Grey Riders were awakened by the Northern troops, and all their panache and repeated charges (Brandy Station was, according to American commentators, the greatest cavalry battle of the war, which signalled the end of the supremacy of the Southern cavalry) only resulted in the opponent being pushed aside, who nonetheless stalled them, preventing them from playing their role as the 'eyes and ears of Lee's army' as he began the Gettysburg campaign. During the Gettysburg campaign, Jeb Stuart, after having harassed the outskirts of Washington, could only prevent the Northerner George Gordon Meadede from pursuing the Confederates who retreated after Gettysburg.

At the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign, during the Battle of Middleburg (June 17, 1863), von Borcke was shot at the base of the neck. His convalescence lasted several months.