In late February 1862 Major General Nathaniel Banks, camped in Frederick, Maryland, was finally given permission to cross the Potomac River into Virginia from his cautious superior Major General George McClellan. In one of the more humiliating episodes of the war the pontoon boats, that would be used to cross the river, which McClellan had made in Washington and sent up the C&O Canal were too wide to pass through the locks of the canal. Northern newspapers ridiculed the episode describing the war as a “dead lock”. No one had bothered to measure the width of the canal before the boats were constructed. Banks finally started to cross the Potomac on February 27th with his division and two brigades of Brigadier General John Sedgwick’s division. McClellan and Banks pushed ahead to Charlestown (20 miles northeast of Winchester) the next day.
McClellan ordered Brigadier General Frederick Lander’s Western Division to advance from their camp at Paw Paw, Virginia to Bunker Hill (12 miles north of Winchester) and then Martinsburg. They would never make it as shortly after leaving the troops were recalled to their camp when General Lander died on March 2nd of a lingering wound infection in his leg. General Alpheus Williams brigade crossed at Williamsport and occupied Martinsburg on March 2nd. Jackson sent his wife out of Winchester on March 3rd, as many of the townspeople fled in panic. On March 7th, a Federal reconnaissance force from Bunker Hill advanced along the Martinsburg Pike to Stephenson’s Depot, four miles north of town, Federal cavalry skirmished with Confederate cavalry commanded by Colonel Turner Ashby. Ashby redeployed his men, and Jackson massed his infantry behind the cavalry. The outnumbered Federals withdrew back to Bunker Hill. Jackson took up a strong position north of town hoping Banks would attack but several prisoners and deserters from the area had informed Banks of the small size of Jackson’s force and the likelihood he would withdraw from Winchester. These included T.J. McVeigh the chaplain of the 2nd VA captured near Berryville, Arthur Markell a Lieutenant from Company A of the 5th VA and Jacob Poisel of the 2nd VA.
On the 8th Major Harman, chief Confederate quartermaster of the Valley District, began packing supplies for a possible evacuation of the town. Although Jackson strongly desired to hold Winchester, he would need reinforcements to do so and none were forthcoming. On March 10th Jackson declared martial law and arrested scores of Unionists to prevent them from escaping to Union lines and potentially revealing his plans. By that same day Banks had gained control of four roads leading into Winchester from the north and east (Berryville). Lander’s former division was now at Martinsburg after the funeral of their former commander. They would now be commanded by Brigadier General James Shields. Banks now had 30,000 men in the area. On the 11th Jackson’s men were packing up their equipment and cooking rations. That evening Jackson held a council of war with his brigade commanders where he proposed to send his troops to the south of the city to get supper and a few hours of sleep, and then have them march to the north for a surprise night attack on Banks near Stephenson’s Depot. His subordinates pointed out that his plan was not feasible given that his wagons were already 7 miles south of Winchester. Jackson was persuaded not to attack the Federals but to evacuate the town. It would be the first and last time “Stonewall” Jackson would hold a council of war and ask his subordinates for their opinion. The Confederates evacuated Winchester that night. By 7:00 AM Union forces entered the city unopposed and Mayor John Reed surrendered Winchester.
That month the Army of the Potomac was restructured into five corps with Banks’ force becoming the V Corps. He would quickly lose General John Sedgwick’s division, which was transferred to Manassas in order to protect the capital. McClellan was pushing to remove all of Banks’ division from the Valley in preparation for an upcoming offensive on Richmond, already covered in a series of posts on the Peninsula Campaign. On March 17th Alpheus Williams sent Colonel John Mason with a small force to reconnoiter toward Strasburg. He wanted to determine whether a sizeable Confederate force was present in the valley before he left. Mason encountered some of Ashby’s cavalry pickets near Newtown (Stevens City) and returned to Winchester. On March 18th General James Shields would lead a two-pronged reconnaissance in force toward Strasburg to determine Jackson’s location and the size of his force. Colonel Mason would lead two companies of the 4th OH, the 8th OH, an artillery battery under Captain Joseph Clark and a squadron of Michigan cavalry. Clark would take the Front Royal Road south and then head west to Middletown to get behind Ashby’s cavalry and burn the bridge over Cedar Creek. Shields would advance down the Valley Pike toward Middletown, 14 miles south of Winchester, trapping Ashby between them and destroying his force.
However, when Clark’s force arrived in Middletown, he found Ashby’s men on a hill south of Cedar Creek having already set fire to the bridge. Shields repaired the bridge and pursued Ashby as a series of skirmishes were fought along the pike at Fishers Hill and other hills to the south. At the end of the day Ashby camped three miles south of Woodstock at Narrow Passage while Shields withdrew seven miles north to Strasburg. Jackson and his division were at Camp Buchanan at Red Banks 10 miles south of Woodstock and three miles north of Mount Jackson from the 16th through the 19th.
It was here that he first met a member of the Augusta County militia, Jedediah Hotchkiss, who would become his cartographer and an important member of his staff. Jackson and his staff stayed at the home of Israel Allen in Hawkinstown (the Israel Allen home, which is a few yards from the Valley Pike, on private property, shown below.
On the 19th Jackson received a dispatch from Ashby that Shields was within 10 miles of his camp which was not true Shields had withdrawn to Strasburg. In response Jackson fell back to Rude’s Hill where he headquartered at the home of Reverend Anders Rudolph Rude on the 20th.
General Johnston learning that Jackson was now 40 miles south of Winchester sent a dispatch reminding him of his primary mission to keep the enemy from reinforcing McClellan near Richmond and that he needed to keep as close as prudence will permit to the Union forces there. In response Jackson ordered his division to be ready to march the next day. Shields returned to Winchester from Strasburg after a 22-mile march in the rain on the 20th. On the 21st Jackson headed north back to Camp Buchanon. Feeling that Jackson was moving away from Winchester the Union command further weakened Banks with the transfer General Alpheus Williams’ division to Centreville. Ashby reported back to Jackson that large numbers of Banks’ men were leaving the Shenandoah Valley. The next day the 23rd and 37th VA under Fulkerson departed their camps from Woodstock. The Stonewall Brigade (camped 2 miles south of Mount Jackson) and Burk’s Brigade (camped two miles north of Mount Jackson) hurried off the same morning with orders to get to the head of the column. At the end of the day Jackson marched his 3700 men 22 to 28 miles north to Strasburg.
Colonel Turner Ashby with about 290 men from his cavalry were about 35 miles ahead of Jackson’s column near Kernstown at Hoge Run when they spotted pickets from the 2nd Battalion of the 1st MI Cavalry around 2:00 PM. The Michiganders were driven back across Abraham’s Creek past Parkin’s and Hollingsworth’s gristmills (known collectively as Milltown). Major Angelo Paldi, the Federal commander, and Company F’s Captain Henry White were nearly captured. Ashby deployed Captain Roger Preston Chew’s three-gun battery which opened fire from the high ground near Hillman’s Tollgate (was located at the intersection of Cedar Creek Grade and the Valley Pike).
Major Paldi rode back to Colonel Thornton Brodhead’s headquarters, the commander of the 1st MI Cavalry. Broadhead commanded the only force south of Winchester at the time consisting of four companies of cavalry and four companies of the 46th PA guarding the wagon trains. Shields division was camped 3 miles north of Winchester. Broadhead ordered Lieutenant Colonel John Copeland to take the remaining 3 companies of cavalry and the 46th PA to Milltown and sent couriers to Shields and Banks requesting support, but Shields did not believe that there was any sizeable Confederate force near Winchester.
Ashby’s men charged across Abraham’s Creek but were driven back around 4:00 PM. Broadhead sent Shields a second request. Shields came to the front with his staff and a company of 1st VA (US) Cavalry followed by the 8th and 67th OH from Kimball’s Brigade and Captain James Huntington’s Battery H of the 1st OH Light Artillery. Huntington deployed his 6 rifled guns. They were followed by Battery L under Captain Lucius Robinson. The 67th OH (Lieutenant Colonel Alvin Voris) deployed to the left of the Valley Pike and the 8th OH (Colonel Samuel Carroll) to the right. A shell fragment from one of Chew’s guns struck General Shields just above the left elbow fracturing his humerus and injuring his chest and left shoulder, knocking him off his horse. He was carried first to a house near Parkin’s Mill and then transported by ambulance to the Seevers’ home in Winchester. Private Jacob Yeager was killed by the same shell. Command in the field fell to Colonel Nathan Kimball. Kimball moved Carroll’s 8th OH to the left of the pike, positioned the rest of his brigade to the right, and ordered a general advance. Ashby outnumbered withdrew six miles south to Newtown where he sent a courier back to Jackson, now only 10 miles to the south at Strasburg, stating that the Federals had abandoned Winchester, and the city was only defended by four regiments of infantry. Some of Ashby’s intelligence may have come from men he sent into Winchester posing as farmers selling eggs. They would not have been able to see Shields Division which was camped on Carter’s Farm north of town at Stephenson’s Depot. Jackson was now determined to attack in the morning.
Kimball pursued Ashby two miles where he stopped at the Pritchard farm. Banks and Shields were convinced that Ashby acted on his own and that Jackson was not in the area despite the fact that a rebel prisoner, John Kitchen, told them that Jackson was marching to Winchester from Strasburg. At 10:30 PM Banks wired the War Department that the last brigade of Williams’ division was headed to Manassas. Banks was hoping to join him there the next day. Shield’s division was the only Union force left in Winchester. Kimball’s brigade was near Kernstown, Colonel Jeremiah Sullivan’s brigade was just north of Hillman’s Tollgate and Colonel Erastus Tyler’s brigade was camped on the north side of Winchester. The stage was set for the First Battle of Kernstown.
Next- The First Battle of Kernstown- Part 1- The Morning
Sources
We Are In For It- The First Battle of Kernstown by Gary L. Ecelbarger
Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign Shenandoah 1862 by Peter Cozzens