The Battle of Port Republic- June 9, 1862

This post was written before the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District’s project to update the signs in Port Republic. To date 7 new signs have been added on the Coaling and 3 signs have been replaced in town. When the project is completed I will update the posts on Port Republic.

On the evening of June 8th Stonewall Jackson set up new headquarters on the east side of the South River outside Port Republic at Cherry Grove the home of Henry Harnsberger.

Jackson mulled over three possible plans for the next day: he could move his army south to Waynesboro on the Virginia Central Railroad to join Lee in Richmond; strike Frémont again this time with his whole army; or attack Tyler and Carroll’s Brigades at Lewiston only three miles from Port Republic, who he would outnumber 3-4 to 1. He chose to attack Tyler and Carroll and ordered work begun on a six-wagon bridge over the South River and preparations were begun to burn the bridge over the North River. At 5:00 AM Winder’s Stonewall Brigade began crossing the two bridges and were moving toward Lewiston on the Luray Road. Colonel James Allen’s 2nd VA passed the Yost farm and came under fire from Colonel Daum’s guns at the ‘Coaling’, a hill at the base of the mountains. The initial Confederate assault occurred on the Union left through the woods. The 4th VA came up also under Colonel Charles Ronald, and Captain Joseph Carpenter’s battery was deployed in the wheatfield. A total of 541 men would move through the woods. The Virginians were repulsed and suffered about two dozen casualties, shown on the map below. Winder deployed six guns from the Rockbridge Artillery and called forward the 5th (447 men) and 27th (150 men) VA into the wheatfield on Baugher’s farm. Fighting would now shift from the Union left to its right in the Baugher and Lewis wheatfields. Tyler countered by deploying more guns on the Coaling and to the far right near the river from Clark’s and Huntington’s batteries. The 7th IN was moved forward to support the guns on the right. Tyler also filled in the middle of his line with the 5th, 7th and 66th OH.

**Blue and Gray Magazine Volume XXVIII, Issue 2**

Tyler would move the 66th OH to the Coaling to deal with the attack on his left by the 2nd and 4th VA. They were replaced by the 29th OH. Tyler would now have about 1,100 men on his right shown in the map below. He outnumbered the Confederates 2:1 on the Union right for the time being. The 5th VA moved forward and the 7th IN moved back from its forward position to align with the other Union regiments. The 5th VA also fell back under fire from the Hoosiers, see map 2 below.

Additional Confederate support in the wheatfields arrived with the 7th LA under Colonel Harry Hays, see map below. Hays was severely wounded and his Lieutenant Colonel killed during the battle. By this time even with the addition of the 7th LA the Confederates were still outnumbered 1750 to 1100. The slow piecemeal deployments of regiments on the Confederate left negated the large overall manpower advantage of the Confederate army. This would be the largest contested Confederate infantry advance in the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains during the Civil War. Winder’s advance of the three regiments in the wheatfield stalled after about 1000 yards. The 27th VA would advance the furthest with both sides taking heavy losses. Combined losses on both sides were more than 550 men killed and wounded in only 30 minutes with 2/3rds of those Confederates. The 7th LA lost the most men on the Southern side and the 7th IN on the Northern side. During this brief 30-minute firefight someone was killed or wounded every 3 seconds.

While Winder managed the battle in the wheatfield on the other side of the Luray Road at the Coaling Jackson would personally command. When Brigadier General Richard Taylor’s men came up Jackson sent the 7th LA to reinforce Winder while the remainder of the Louisianans would move against the Union right. Colonel Henry Kelly commanded the 8th and 9th LA and Wheat’s Battalion. The 6th LA commanded by Taylor himself would swing around them and eventually align on the left of the 8th and 9th LA, see maps 3 and 4.

With the Confederates low on ammunition a countercharge on the Union right routed them and they withdrew a mile to the Baugher farm lane, shown on the map below. Private John Gray captured a Rebel cannon during the charge and was awarded the Medal of Honor. After three hours 2600 Federals had succeeded in driving off only five Confederate regiments. At this point only 1/6th of Jackson’s Army had been engaged in the battle and only 1/2 of his men had crossed to the east side of the South Fork of the river. The Federals had advanced to Little Deep Run on the Baugher Farm. This would be the high-water mark of the battle for the Union.

The 25th and 31st VA under Colonel Walker, formerly commanded by Elzey, rapidly entered Baugher’s farm with the 52nd VA from Steuart’s brigade now commanded by Colonel W.C. Scott and pushed back the Union charge, shown below. Major Joseph Chenowith was killed here. His father designed the covered bridge at Philippi, WV. Chenowith was buried on the battlefield where he remains today in an unknown location. On the other side of the battlefield at the Coaling 1700 Louisianans were now formed in thousand-yard-long line from the Luray Road on their left to the edge of a ravine on their right and ready to advance.

As Confederate numbers were increasing in front of the Federals in the wheatfield. Major General Richard Ewell personally led two regiments from Colonel William Scott’s brigade the 44th and 58th VA directly into the 5th OH on the left flank of the Union line at Baugher’s farm, see map 6 below. The Federals fell back a mile to the fence line on the Lewiston farm exactly where they were at the start of the battle. The fight on this side of the field was over.

At the Coaling the Louisianans with a large manpower advantage on this part of the battlefield crossed the ravine and charged the Federals. After a 15-minute hand to hand fight they swept the Federals off the hill and captured 4 guns, see map 6 below. The Louisianans lost over 160 men.

The 66th OH along with the 5th and 7th OH from the wheatfield counterattacked. The Confederates pulled back. Expecting to return and to keep the guns in place the Confederates killed over 50 horses. It was now 10:00 AM and the Federals were once again in control of the Coaling. Tyler was wounded twice but continued to lead his men on the battlefield.

With the 5th and 7th OH now no longer on the Union right only 3 regiments opposed Winder’s men on the Confederate left. As the Louisianans pulled back they were joined by Ewell with regiments from Colonel Scott’s brigade, and three regiments from Walker’s brigade. A total of nine regiments would charge the Coaling. They easily overran the Federals there and once again gained control of the hill and captured 5 guns. The 3 Union regiments in the wheatfield retreated as the Confederates advanced there as well. The routed Federals scattered in multiple directions with most heading toward Conrad’s Store. The battle lasted for over 5 hours. Tyler force suffered 551 killed and wounded and 450 captured. The Confederates suffered 816 killed and wounded making this the bloodiest battle of the 1862 Valley Campaign.

The sounds of the battle could be heard at daylight on the west side of the river by Frémont’s men. Frémont was slow to get his army moving. Advanced elements of his force did not reach the bridge on the North River until noon where they found the bridge burned. Frémont would deploy his men on the bluffs overlooking the South Fork of the Shenandoah River but could do little to influence the outcome. Tyler and Carroll’s men were routed and raced north up the Luray Road toward Conrad’s Store where they joined General Shields. They continued north camping on the northern shore of Naked Creek before heading back to Luray. The next three images are of the Naked Creek campground.

Lincoln and Stanton recalled McDowell’s force from the valley. McDowell was furious with Shields for not keeping all parts of his force within supporting distance of each other. Shields would never command in the field again and resigned from the army in March of 1863. Frémont’s Mountain Division would move north up the valley where he joined Banks and Sigel in Middletown on the 14th. The Confederates camped on the Blue Ridge near Brown’s Gap at the Old Mount Vernon Furnace on the 10th. On the 12th Jackson moved his army back into the valley and camped in a grotto near Weyers Cave. Some soldiers entertained themselves with candlelight tours of the cave.

On June 18th Jackson and his men marched toward Waynesboro, Rockfish Gap and the Virginia Central Railroad where they would head to Richmond and the Seven Days battles. The 1862 Valley Campaign was over.

Interpretation of the Battle-

The signs and monuments below are on Route 340 the wartime Luray Road.

The images were taken looking from left to right across the field (the Confederate left/Union right).

Text- Here, June 9, 1862, Gen. T. J. “Stonewall Jackson” defeated Gen. J. Shield’s vanguard advancing from Elkton under Gen. R. O. Tyler. Federals engaged, 4500 killed, wounded, and missing, 551, captured, 450. Confederates engaged, 6000 killed and wounded, 804.