The Second Battle of Kernstown

On the afternoon of July 24, 1864, Union commander Maj. Gen. George Crook attacked Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's forces at Kernstown. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes's brigade advanced east of the Valley Pike, while Col. James Mulligan's small infantry division moved from Pritchard's Lane with support from Col. Joseph Thoburn's division to the west on Sandy Ridge. As the battle opened, Mulligan's units moved toward Maj. Gen. John Gordon's division in the center, while Hayes's brigade moved toward Gordon's right flank. Before Hayes could strike, Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge attacked Hayes's exposed left flank with Brig. Gen. Gabriel Wharton's division, routing Hayes and forcing Mulligan to withdraw to Pritchard's Lane. Crook then ordered Thoburn's division forward, temporarily slowing Wharton's advance and giving Hayes time to rally his brigade behind Pritchard's Hill and lead an organized withdrawal from the battlefield. Soon Mulligan, pressed from three directions, was mortally wounded by Gordon's sharpshooters, and his division fled in confusion toward Pritchard's Hill and Winchester. Confederate soldiers pushed forward over the stone fence where Mulligan lay wounded and pursued the retreating Federals north of Winchester, where they camped for the night. While the Confederate infantry bivouacked, Confederate cavalry continued the pursuit of Crook's disorganized force into West Virginia. Though remembered by one Confederate soldier after the war as "the easiest won battle of the war," the Second Battle of Kernstown, despite being an overwhelming Confederate victory, proved to be their last major victory in the Valley.

Virginia · United States