On January 1, 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led four brigades west from Winchester, Va., to secure Romney in the fertile South Branch Valley on the North Western Turnpike. He attacked and occupied Bath on January 4 and shelled Hancock, Md.; he marched into Romney on January 14. Despite atrocious winter weather, Jackson's men destroyed telegraph lines and 100 miles of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad track. Leaving Gen. William W. Loring's brigades in Romney, Jackson led the Stonewall Brigade back to Winchester on January 23, Loring followed on January 31, and the Federals reoccupied Romney on February 7. After Jackson's force captured Bath on January 4, 1862, the Federal garrison retreated to Sir Johns Run to escape across the Potomac River ford to Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad station servicing Bath was there at Sir Johns Run, and a culvert under the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal across the river allowed passage to a road leading to Hancock, Maryland. At first, the 39th Illinois Infantry and the 84th and 110th Pennsylvania Infantry tried to make a stand against the Confederates after reinforcements arrived from the 13th Indiana Infantry, protected by the narrow defile through which the road to Sir Johns Run passed. But with night falling and ammunition low, a retreat was ordered. The Indiana regiment reboarded its train and headed west for Great Cacapon. The Pennsylvanians marched down the railroad to cross the Potomac downstream at Hancock. The Illinois men plunged into the ice-choked river there to cross, and during the long march to Hancock, their soaking wet uniforms froze on the suffering Union soldiers. The 21st Virginia Infantry cautiously advanced into Sir Johns Run at nightfall, just missing Sgt. John Ripple and Capt. Joseph Hooker of the 39th Illinois, the last Union soldiers supervising the retreat. A brief firefight erupted as both sides exchanged shots. The Confederate assault on Bath, while successful, did not satisfy Jackson since the Union garrison had escaped. After shelling Hancock the next day, Jackson marched his men back through Morgan County and then west to Romney.
