Jackson’s 3,087 men and 24 cannons made the 12-mile march to Bartonsville, five miles south of Winchester, in five hours. He ordered his men into the woods of Hanover Lodge, Joseph Barton’s estate, on the west side of the Valley Pike. The Hanover Lodge home was relocated off of its foundation, originally further to the west, when it was threatened by road construction. It is now at 104 Fay Street.
Jackson and his two aides, Lieutenants Sandie Pendleton and George Junkin, rode north to the area near Kernstown. After reconnoitering the battlefield, he decided that Pritchard’s Hill was too strong of a position for a frontal assault but could be flanked on the Union right. He ordered Colonel Samuel Fulkerson to take his brigade (23rd and 37th VA) north and west along an old farm lane that connected Bartonsville to Kernstown and make sure that the road was clear in preparation for the flanking attack.
Jackson also chose to change the command structure of his artillery by removing the guns from individual brigades and leaving them in a reserve that he alone would control. He decided that all of his orders would be delivered to the brigade commanders by his aides even though in some cases he was within 100 yards of them. On the march north and west to Kernstown Jackson moved Garnett’s 4th brigade to the rear of the column and had his aides inform Garnett after the fact. After receiving word from Fulkerson that the road was clear Jackson rode to the front of the column. He ordered Fulkerson to turn the right flank of Pritchard’s Hill.
The 37th VA moved forward followed by the 23rd VA and then the 33rd VA, a total of only 600 men. Given the small size of his command Jackson ordered Garnett to support Fulkerson. Garnett not knowing what Fulkerson’s objectives were, followed him with one brigade, the 33rd VA, under Colonel Cummings. For unclear reasons the 2nd, 4th and 27th VA remained behind in Barton’s Woods. Jackson would later dispatch one his aides Sandy Pendleton to order the other three regiments forward as well. As the Confederates approached and passed through Barton’s Woods and into a marshy field, they came under heavy fire from Union artillery, as well as infantry (84th PA, 5th OH, 67th OH, and Sawyer’s Battalion of the 8th OH). The picture below was taken from the plateau on Pritchard’s Hill. Just above the white warehouse buildings about 3/4 of the way up the image a tree line is visible. The area of the warehouses and the tree line is where Barton’s Woods was located.
Zoom lens view of the open field Fulkerson’s men had to cross is shown below. The warehouse and the tree line above it were the end of Barton’s Woods.
In the upper center of the image below is Pritchard’s Hill. This is the view the men would have of it as they attempted to cross the open field with no cover.
A zoom lens view of Pritchard’s Hill is shown below. A total of 16 guns were firing at Fulkerson’s men from Pritchard’s Hill (10-rifled cannons from Clark’s and Jenks’ batteries, and six guns from Battery L of the 1st OH Light artillery commanded by Captain Lucius Robinson).
Taking heavy casualties, Fulkerson was forced to detour to the woods at the base of Sandy Ridge to the west. Fulkerson’s men made it to the area of the post war buildings on the upper right of the image shown below taken from Pritchard’s Hill looking south and slightly west.
The 33rd VA advancing about 200 yards behind made a sharp left turn to the base of the ridge 300 yards to the southwest of Fulkerson. Garnett finally knew what Fulkerson’s objective was, Pritchard’s Hill, see map below.
The poor communication between Jackson and Garnett had left Garnett in the dark regarding what Fulkerson’s orders were. As a result, he did not instruct his remaining three regiments to move forward with him (they were back in the woods). As he sat at the base of Sandy Ridge it was obvious that the 900 men that he and Fulkerson had there were woefully inadequate to attack a hill well defended by infantry and artillery. Jackson seeing the problem from a ridge just south of Opequon Church ordered one of his aides to find Garnett. When they could not, they finally concluded that Garnett was at the base of the ridge with Fulkerson. Jackson instructed Sandie Pendleton to order the rest of Garnett’s brigade forward to support Fulkerson and Garnett. As the 2nd and 4th VA moved forward around 2:00 PM, Jackson also realized the futility of attacking the strong Federal position with infantry alone. With Fulkerson and Garnett pinned down at the base of Sandy Ridge he would change his plan. He would move all of his artillery to the military crest of Sandy Ridge, one mile to the west of Pritchard’s Hill, which had the advantage of being about 100 feet higher than the Union position. Jackson’s plan would evolve in three stages. He would first create a diversion on the Union left to distract attention from Sandy Ridge. Second, he would swing all his artillery from their reserve position to the ridge out of view of the Federals. Finally, he would need to move infantry there to protect the guns.
Colonel Ashby and his 7th VA Cavalry would create the diversion on the Union left. Ashby would have 220 men to threaten 2,300 Federal Infantry east of the Valley pike. However, Ashby would not just threaten he would actually attack the left flank. At 2:30 PM Colonel Kimball on Pritchard’s Hill detected Ashby’s movement and sent word to Lieutenant Colonel Harrow to watch his left flank for an enemy attempt to turn it. Harrow rode to provide this information to Colonel Carroll who sent for Captain Andrew Greenfield of the PA Cavalry that was guarding the left flank. While Greenfield was gone Ashby attacked his leaderless company sending them fleeing in panic. Confederate Lieutenant Colonel Thaddeus Thrasher rode forward and collided with the 8th OH who forced the Virginians back. Seven Confederates including Thrasher and two Union men were killed.
Jackson planned a second diversion against Union forces on Pritchard Hill. Major Jones escorted two guns from Carpenter’s Battery to high ground just south of Opequan Church. From 1,000 yards away they fired 10 rounds at Federal skirmishers at the base of Pritchard’s Hill. Major Jones then led Captain William McLaughlin’s Rockbridge Artillery toward Sandy Ridge joined by the 21st and 27th VA. In route their advance was detected by Lieutenant Colonel Daum on Pritchard’s Hill and his guns fired on the Confederates destroying the trunion of one of the two rifled guns incapacitating it and injuring several men. Private Byrd lost a leg and Private Gray a foot to shrapnel. At the base of the ridge Garnett and Fulkerson were planning to withdraw when they noticed the Confederate guns unlimbering on top of the ridge and joined them. Jackson’s gun placement and the view of Pritchards Hill from the ridge are shown below.
In the image below I am looking toward Pritchard’s Hill from Jackson’s position.
By 3:00 PM six of Jackson’s guns opened fire on Pritchard’s Hill. Soon Captain Waters’ West Augusta Battery and Carpenter’s guns reached the crest guided by General Jackson with the 27th VA. Thirteen guns were now atop Sandy Ridge. Meanwhile, four miles to the north in Winchester Shields and Banks were totally unaware of what was transpiring to their south. Banks wanted to check on Alpheus Williams’ brigade heading to Manassas and report to General McClellan for orders. He left for Harpers Ferry and Washington at 3:00 PM. At that same time on the battlefield Colonel Kimball was coming to the conclusion that he had made an egregious error not occupying Sandy Ridge. In the last 30 minutes two artillerists and 13 horses had been killed on Pritchard’s Hill by Confederate artillery. In Robinson’s Battery one gunner had been decapitated. His infantry could only lie on the ground helplessly. There was only one thing left for Colonel Kimball to do. He had to take Sandy Ridge.
Next- The First Battle of Kernstown- Part 3- The Late Afternoon
Source
Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign- War Comes to the Homefront by Jonathan A. Noyalas
We are in for it- The First Battle of Kernstown by Gary Ecelbarger
Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign- Shenandoah 1862 by Peter Cozzens