Henry B. Hidden was a First Lieutenant in the Union Army

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Hidden is believed to be the first cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 officer killed in action in the Army of the Potomac

Army of the Potomac

The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...

 and the first officer of Union volunteer cavalry killed in the Civil War.

Biography

Henry B. Hidden was born in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 to a wealthy family related to the shipwright William Henry Webb. He enlisted in the Union Army on August 5, 1861, at New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in Company H, 1st New York Cavalry, a regiment also called the "Lincoln Cavalry." At some point, Hidden achieved the rank of First Lieutenant. On March 9, 1862, Hidden was ordered to take a small scouting party to investigate enemy activity near a bridge Union soldiers were building at Sangster's Station, a railroad station southwest of Fairfax Station

Fairfax Station, Virginia

Fairfax Station is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, ZIP code 22039. The population as of the 2010 Census was 12,030. As a suburb of Washington, DC, it is a bedroom community for many who work in the federal government.-Averages:...

, Virginia. Hidden and his party of 14 dragoon

Dragoon

The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...

s encountered an estimated 150 Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 soldiers. Although vastly outnumbered, Hidden ordered a charge

Charge (warfare)

A charge is a maneuver in battle in which soldiers advance towards their enemy at their best speed in an attempt to engage in close combat. The charge is the dominant shock attack and has been the key tactic and decisive moment of most battles in history...

. In the resulting skirmish, he was shot in the neck and died soon afterward. The rest of the scouting party was wounded or captured.

Hidden was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery

Green-Wood Cemetery

Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...

 in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York.

Artistic depictions of Hidden's charge

Hidden's charge sparked the imagination of several artists in subsequent years. Victor Nehlig

Victor Nehlig

Victor Nehlig was a French painter.- Life :Born in Paris in 1830, Nehlig studied painting under Léon Cogniet and Abel de Pujol. In 1850, he moved to the United States, where he would live and work for the next 22 years, interrupted only by a brief stay in Havana, Cuba...

 painted An Episode of the War — The Cavalry Charge of Lt. Henry B. Hidden in 1875, and Frank Leslie

Frank Leslie

Frank Leslie was an English-born American engraver, illustrator, and publisher of family periodicals.-English origins:...

 illustrated the Sangster's Station skirmish in The Soldier of Our Civil War (1893). The former is on display in the New-York Historical Society

New-York Historical Society

The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library located in New York City at the corner of 77th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan. Founded in 1804 as New York's first museum, the New-York Historical Society presents exhibitions, public programs and research that...

's Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture.

Additionally, the New York Evening Post printed a poem inspired by his charge.