The Battle of Cedar Mountain

Cedar Mountain Battlefield is located off route 15 just south of Culpeper, Virginia. On August 9, 1862 a battle was fought there in sweltering heat between part of the Army of Virginia under General John Pope and approximately half of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia under Stonewall Jackson in what would be Jackson’s last independent command. Pope’s army was not completely present at the time of the battle and was primarily represented by his Second Corps under Major General Nathaniel Banks. Culpeper is about 20 miles north of Orange, where Jackson’s troops began their march two days earlier. Banks had been badly defeated by Jackson on May 25, 1862, in the first battle of Winchester, VA. Among Jackson’s men Banks was referred to as “Commissary Banks” because they captured so many of his supplies at Winchester.

In order to better understand the battle it is important to know how the battlefield today is different from what it looked like in 1862. Please refer to the map below. The dotted red line represents the path of the Orange-Culpeper Road in 1862. Route 15 did not exist then. The arrow points to the location of the Crittenden gate where it sits today and in 1862 on the battlefield. Current route 657 (General Winder Road) where it heads down toward modern-day Route 15 was part of Crittenden Lane in 1862. The black line is where Taliaferro and Early were deployed on entering the battlefield. The red circle represents the Brown house. The capital red As are where the Union deployed their cannons along current Route 269 now called Cedar Mountain Drive but in 1862 called Mitchell’s Station Road.

The area of the battlefield above the dotted line (on the north side) of the Orange-Culpeper Road consisted of woods and a wheatfield, and the area below (the south side) the Orange-Culpeper Road was then a very large cornfield running all the way to the base of Cedar Mountain, known then as Slaughter Mountain named after the Slaughter family, and to within about 150 yards of Crittenden Lane.

Jubal Early’s Brigade of Ewell’s Division was the first Confederate infantry to arrive on the battlefield. They deployed in the woods just before and to the right of the Crittenden gate. The remainder of Ewell’s Division, the Seventh Brigade under Brigadier General Isaac Trimble and the Eighth Brigade commanded by Colonel Henry Forno, along with Captain Joseph Latimer’s artillery (6 guns) had broken off before Crittenden Lane and headed toward Cedar Mountain. They climbed Cedar Mountain and occupied a shelf on the northwest termination of the mountain. This shelf was an excellent position about 160 feet above the valley and commanded the entire battlefield. At about 1:00 PM the 13th VA Infantry under Colonel James A. Walker began to advance through the woods toward the Union Cavalry. The cavalry was no match for infantry and were easily dispersed. Early then began to position his infantry and artillery along Crittenden Lane in preparation for a fight.

Shown below is how Jackson’s initial forces emerged onto the battlefield. Ewell’s Division arrived first and Jubal Early’s Brigade deployed along Crittenden Lane in the early afternoon. General Ewell would oversee the guns on the shelf of the mountain, while Major Courtney managed the five batteries positioned on the valley floor. Confederate batteries would eventually be arranged in an arc extending from the base of the mountain on Crittenden Lane, up along the Lane toward the gate and then down the Orange-Culpeper Road to the area of where the two replica guns are located on the battlefield today. This arrangement from widely separated units would deliver a converging field of fire on a concentrated foe in the cornfields south of the road that would be extraordinarily effective in the upcoming battle. Union cannons were arranged along Mitchell’s Station Road supported by regiments of Crawford’s Brigade shown on the map above.

The map below from Blue and Gray magazine illustrates where each armies forces were in the early afternoon. As the day went on each side would be funneling troops into the battlefield during an intense artillery duel.

On the Union side Brigadier General Christopher Augur’s Division was the first to come down the Orange-Culpeper Road from Culpeper and turned left onto Mitchell Station Road and moved off toward the mountain. Brigadier General George Greene’s two brigades were on the extreme left to guard McGilvery’s guns, Brigadier General Henry Prince’s Brigade followed Greene. Finally, Brigadier General John Geary’s Ohioans formed to Prince’s right with their right on the Orange-Culpeper Road. When Augur arrived the 5th CT and 10th ME were no longer needed to guide the artillery and the 5th CT was sent to rejoin Crawford near the Brown house. Banks held the 10th ME, Crawford’s largest regiment in reserve. When Brigadier General George Gordon arrived, he was sent to the right and rear of Crawford near a brushy field.

As Brigadier General Winder’s Stonewall Division began arriving at the gate with his lead brigade of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Garnett (21st VA, 42nd VA, 48th VA and 1st VA) they came under heavy fire from Union artillery and as a result moved off to the north along a farm lane and then through the woods. They then proceeded east until reaching a fence line at the end of the woods that bordered a wheat field. The regiment was arranged in the configuration of a backwards L. Winder then began to move his artillery into position and Major R. Snowden Andrews his artillery commander began placing the guns. Brigadier General William Taliaferro’s regiment reached the gate next and were funneled off to the right to link with Early’s left. Winder was aiding in the positioning of Taliaferro’s guns when a Union shell passed through his left side and arm. He would die about two hours later. Around 4:00 PM Taliaferro learned of Winder’s death and that he was now the commander of the Stonewall Division. Jackson had hoped to attack the Union guns on Mitchell Station Road but after surveying the ground around 4 PM felt that he had a fairly secure defensive position with Ewell fully deployed and two of the Stonewall Division’s brigades in place with Ronald on the way to extend Garnett’s left flank. Hill was not yet up and he was content to wait for him. On the Union side Banks had fully deployed his 9,000-man division. What happened next was a source of great controversy. Banks feeling that only a fraction of Jackson’s forces were on the battlefield ordered his men to attack, perhaps to avenge his previous humiliating defeat at hands of Jackson at first Winchester. He could not have been more wrong. Jackson would have over 20,000 men available to him versus Banks Corps of only 9,000. The First Corps of Pope’s army (Sigel) was too far away to participate in the battle, as was most of his Third Corps (McDowell). Banks would later insist that the verbal orders he received gave him permission to attack Jackson but this would appear unlikely given Pope’s handling of the rest of his forces. His cavalry vigorously contested Jackson’s advance every step of the way from Orange to the area of the battlefield trying to delay Jackson’s advance to Culpeper. The positioning of Crawford’s brigade and artillery, initially far forward of the rest of Bank’s forces, also resembles more of a delaying tactic rather than an attempt to launch a battle. Although Confederate General A.P. Hill’s Division started the day in Orange, about 13 miles from Cedar Mountain, he moved his 10,000-man division efficiently and got them onto the battlefield despite the sweltering heat.

The map below on one of the tablets in the parking lot shows the stops on the battlefield tour. On this map the mountain is located on the right. The tablets do an excellent job summarizing the battle.

The tour begins at the parking lot (38.4046088, -78.0701589). There are two tablets here. One is about Civil War Battlefield Preservation and the other provides an overview of the battle.

After looking at the two tablets here, I picked up a trail map at the kiosk and proceeded into the woods and continued straight to the Crittenden Gate.

The Crittenden Gate (38.4050515, -78.0686284) was at the junction of the Orange Culpeper Road and the Crittenden Farm Lane. The older markers at the gate are shown below.

Below on the lower right of the image is the Crittenden Gate. The fence in the center parallels the path of the Orange Culpeper Road. You are looking toward Culpeper.

Below is an image looking through the Crittenden gate. Heading off toward the horizon is General Winder Road which is the path of the old Crittenden Farm Lane.

The replaced marker at the gate is shown below.

As shown above on the tablet, the battle began along Crittenden Lane as a skirmish between Early’s Brigade (13th VA, 31st VA, 25th VA, 58th VA and 52nd VA) and the Union 1st PA, 1st NJ, and 1st RI Cavalry. Early arrived just shortly after noon and maneuvered his brigade to engage the Union cavalry in the area of the cornfields. The infantry easily scattered the cavalry brigades. Now that Early was in open ground Federal cannons on Mitchell’s Station Road opened fire. The Union cannon along the road were being initially protected by Brigadier General Samuel Crawford’s Brigade (5th CT, 10th ME) of Alpheus Williams’ First Division. The rest of Crawford’s Brigade (28th NY, 26th PA) were near the Lucy Brown house. Confederate gunners along the Lane and on the Cedar Mountain shelf answered back, and the battle had begun.

Walking toward the next stop- The Gray Line- with Cedar Mountain in the distance. The next two stops relate to the part of the battle that occurred in the cornfield on the mountain (south) side of the old Orange Culpeper Road. The metal silhouette of the cannon in the picture below is the approximate location where Pegram’s Purcell battery was located along Crittenden Lane.

The Gray Line (38.4023161,-78.0673081). Almost to the marker at the corner of General Winder Rd and Route 15.

In the picture below in the foreground you see a steel silhouette of a Confederate soldier (this represents the location of the 47th AL), then route 15, followed by a field, next is the northern end of Cedar Mountain. The cleared area before the tree line is known as the shelf. This is the area where Confederate Captain Joseph Latimer placed his cannons upon arrival onto the battlefield giving him a clear firing line. Beyond the tree line above the shelf is Clark Mountain.

The new replaced marker below-

Jackson’s men were in a mile long line along the Crittenden Lane shown in the map above. His cannons were organized into three groups. One was near the gate in the middle of a 400-yard gap between the left end of this line (Taliaferro’s Brigade) and the right end of the backward L-shaped line forming on the opposite side of the Orange Culpeper Road (the second brigade of Jackson’s Division commanded by Thomas Garnett). The second was in a grove of cedar trees near the Crittenden Farm buildings and the third on the shelf of Cedar Mountain. The artillery duel continued for the next two hours until about 5:00 PM as the rest of Ewell’s Division and the Stonewall Division commanded by Charles Winder deployed onto the field. As Union gunners found their range Confederate troops were forced back into the tree line behind the Lane. Hill’s Division was still on the road to the battlefield. As the artillery fire slackened Bank’s ordered Brigadier General Christopher Augur’s Second Division to attack.

In the picture below you are looking back from the Gray Line marker westward to the Crittenden Gate marker.

The picture below is taken at the Gray Line tablet looking to the northwest. The two tree lines just below the middle of the picture is the area where Garnett’s line was located.

The picture below was taken as I was walking parallel to route 15 to the next stop- The First Blow.

The picture below is of the fence line (the old Orange Culpeper Road track) running across the field to the left as I looked up Route 15 toward Culpeper.

The First Blow (38.4048253, -78.0641169). The replaced marker is shown below. It is at the corner of Route 15 and Dove Hill Road, which was not present in 1862.

When Augur arrived the 5th CT were released to return to Crawford but Banks held the 10th ME in reserve. As shown in the map above on the tablet marker Brigadier General George S. Greene’s two regiment brigade was used to anchor the left near the Hudson house on Mitchell’s Station Road. The 8th and 12th U.S. battalions from Prince’s Brigade were deployed as skirmishers. Geary’s Brigade was closest to the old Orange Culpeper Road and formed in two rows in the cornfield. The 7th and 66th OH were in the first row, and the 29th and 5th OH in the second line. After Augur began his advance (5:30-6 PM) Prince moved forward soon thereafter with the 111th PA and 3rd MD slightly ahead and to the right of the 109th PA and 102nd NY. Geary’s Ohioans were taking fire from their front (Taliaferro) and the flank (Garnett) and suffered a high rate of casualties with 61 killed, 384 wounded and 19 missing. Prince would advance further with one of his units (3rd MD) planting their colors on the ridge where Early was located. They were aided by a breakthrough of Crawford’s Brigade through Garnett’s lines on their right which caused Taliaferro’s Brigade and the left part of Early’s line to break and fall back. At that time part of Hill’s Division had begun to arrive on the battlefield and a confederate counterattack led by Branch’s Brigade drove them back. Colonel Edward L. Thomas’s Brigade of Hill’s Division had also arrived, and Jackson deployed them to the right of Early where they could fire into the flank of Prince’s men. Generals Augur and Geary were wounded. Geary twice in the ankle and right arm and Henry Prince was captured. As all this was occurring, the most critical part of the battle was being fought on the north side of the old Orange Culpeper Road. Banks had launched an attack there on the left side of Jackson’s line. The next several stops relate to that part of the battle.

In order to fully appreciate the action on the northern side of the old Orange Culpeper Road it helpful to understand the differences between this part of the battlefield today and in 1862 which is explained with the aid of the map below.

The x represents the Crittenden gate and the dotted red line the old Orange Culpeper Road. The backward L to the left represents the location of the current tree line along old Road. But in 1862 the woods marked by the W extended all the way to the second backward L to the right. This is where Garnett’s brigade was deployed in the 1862 tree line the point of which is referred to as the angle. Brigadier Samuel Crawford’s Brigade of Federals would be just off the upper right corner of the map.

The next stop in the tour is the KOCOA marker which is not directly related to the timeline of the battle.

KOCOA marker- Key terrain, Observation and fields of fire, Cover and concealment, Obstacles, and Avenues of approach/retreat.

**Two replica cannons- the approximate area where Major Snowden Andrews was wounded (will be covered in a future post).**

The next tour stop is Terror in the Woods- Around 6:15-6:30 PM the First Brigade of Banks First Division under Brigadier General Samuel Crawford (5th CT, 28th NY, 46th PA, along with 6 companies of the 3rd WI) crossed a wheat field and slammed into the Second Brigade of the Stonewall Division (21st VA, 48th VA, 42nd VA and 1st VA Battalion) under Lt. Col. Thomas Garnett. Garnett’s men were routed. Colonel Charles Ronald’s First Brigade of the Stonewall Division, which was supposed to deploy along Garnett’s left flank, had gotten lost in the woods. In the interim Crawford struck the flank of Garnett’s Brigade scattering the 1st VA Battalion and the 42nd VA. Crawford’s troops then attacked the rear of Garnett’s 48th VA and 21st VA which shattered shown on the map on the marker below.

Brigadier General Charles Winder the commander of the Stonewall Division was mortally wounded while repositioning a cannon shortly before this. Brigadier General William Taliaferro took command of the Stonewall Division. Taliaferro had tried to send the 10th VA to close the gap between Garnett and Ronald, but they had arrived too late. Crawford had gotten behind Garnett. Things were looking bleak for the Confederacy when Jackson arrived on the left part of the battlefield. At this time Lawrence O’Bryan Branch’s Brigade of Major General A.P. Hill’s Light Division came up, launched a counterattack and drove the Union forces back. Exhausted Federals who could not retreat were taken prisoner. The fighting in this area resulted in 1,200 casualties. This was one-third of all the casualties in the entire battle. The 5th CT would lose 7 color bearers. The 28th NY would suffer 213 casualties of the 339 men engaged.

**View of the battlefield from the marker**

The next stop is the Battlefield Since 1862 marker which is not directly related to the timeline of the battle. The major significance of this area is that in 1862 this is the spot where the line of woods extended to and was the point of Garnettt’s line shown by the backwards L in the previous map.

At this site are also a series of small stones that are called Grimsley markers. They are named after Daniel Grimsley of the 6th VA Cavalry a local judge who was active in the preservation of the battlefield. These were placed across the battlefield to mark the positions of different units that fought in the battle. However, much of the battlefield in the early 1900s was actively farmed and the markers made this difficult and they were becoming damaged. Some of the surviving stones were moved to this area.

The Jaws of Defeat stop – Shown in the map below on the marker is Crawford’s breakthrough in the context of what was happening on the entire battlefield. Crawford had begun his advance about 30 minutes after Augur’s advance on the other side of the battlefield. Although Crawford had broken through, it would be meaningless unless it could be sustained. This would be a problem now that Hill’s entire Division, the largest Division in Jackson’s army, was either already on the field or would shortly be there. Thomas’ Brigade had already been directed to the extreme right flank and was firing into the side of Augur’s Division. Branch’s Brigade would halt Crawford’s advance and Archer and Penders Brigade would soon arrive on the battlefield and be directed by Jackson into the fray on the northern side of the Culpeper Road. These overwhelming numbers would soon turn the tables on Banks.

The Brushy Field stop- Behind Crawford were three regiments (2nd MA, 3rd WI, and 27th IN) of Brigadier General George Gordon’s Brigade of Alpheus Williams Division that were to support Crawford. Gordon’s attack would begin around 6:45 PM. Thirty to forty-five minutes after Crawford, which would prove to be too late to be of much benefit. As they moved over the wooded hill and into the field shown below, they would now be marching past and right in front Ronald’s Brigade who had now realigned after becoming lost in the woods. Ronald opened fire and the Federals retreated into a knoll on the other side of the hill and reformed, shown in the map on the marker below.

**The marker and the area of the Brushy Field**

Unfortunately for Gordon by the time he regrouped and moved forward again Pender and Archer had extended Ronald’s line and once again Gordon’s men were driven back. Pender would fire into Gordon’s flank from only 50 yards away.

Jackson is With You stop- Jackson’s massive influx of troops into the Union right had driven Crawford and Banks back in retreat. Jackson then ordered a massive advance all along the line shown on the map on the marker below and the Union retreated in disarray. Only a dramatic stand by the 10th Maine and the First PA Cavalry prevented a complete route. The Union formed a new line about three miles north up the Orange Culpeper Road where Ricket’s Division of McDowell’s Corp were located effectively ending the battle. Incredibly, Ricket’s Division, which was not commanded by Banks, stayed near Colvin’s Tavern well within supporting distance of Banks until they advanced to a ridge near Val Verde around 7 PM. Pope and McDowell, who could have given them orders, would not be on the battlefield until the rout was already on. Banks was injured in the darkness when a soldier on horseback collided with his horse severely injuring his leg. Later in the evening around 10 PM, A.P. Hill was ordered to follow the retreating Federals. Colonel Leroy Stafford and Brigadier General Charles Field were now up and with Stafford in the lead skirmishing to the left of the road and Fields to the right. Pegram’s Purcell Artillery was with them on a knoll and opened fire on Ricketts’ men. A brief artillery duel followed with Pegram losing at least 8 men and 11 horses. Field’s lost 7 killed and 6 wounded, while Stafford suffered 6 killed and 30 wounded. What Pegram did not realize in the dark was that Thompson’s 1st PA Battery C and Hall’s 2nd Battery of the ME Light Artillery were right in front of him only 400 yards away. This was the last action of the battle which ended sometime after 11 PM.

Pegram’s Knoll- 38.4156934, -78.0438692. The knoll is the hill below the tree line in the middle of the photograph.

This photograph taken by Timothy O’Sullivan right after the battle may have been taken on Pegram’s knoll where 11 dead horses were found the day after the artillery duel on the night of August 9.

In the end Jackson had not reached Culpeper, but Banks had been badly defeated by him once again.

Over 3600 men were either killed, wounded or captured in a little over 2 hours. Federal forces sustained a casualty rate of 21.9% of forces engaged, the third highest percentage of any battle in the Civil War after Olustee in Florida and Stones River in Tennessee.