Early in May 1864, as Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant launched the Overland Campaign east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Union Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel moved south through the Shenandoah Valley. On 15 May, a makeshift Confederate force under Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, a former vice president of the United States, advanced through New Market and attacked Sigel here. After an artillery duel and failed Union counterattacks, the Confederates, including the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets under Lt. Col. Scott Shipp, broke the Union line, captured several cannons, and forced Sigel to retreat northward. Sgt. James M. Burns, 1st WV Infantry, received the Medal of Honor for heroism here.

Photo: Bradley Owen

New Market, Virginia · USA