Battle of McDowell

After Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's unsuccessful attack on Union forces at Kernstown on March 23, 1862, Federal officials sent additional troops into the Shenandoah Valley to guard against a Confederate assault on Washington, D.C. In May and June, Jackson's "foot cavalry" marched 350 miles, defeated three Union armies in engagements at McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic, inflicted twice the number of casualties it suffered, and tied down 60,000 Federal troops, making Jackson the Confederacy's foremost hero. In May 1862, with two Union armies threatening his army in the Shenandoah Valley, Jackson left a division to block Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's force at Winchester and turned toward Gen. John C. Frémont's army approaching from the west. After marching out of the Valley to suggest he was headed to Richmond, he turned back to Staunton and on May 7 marched west on the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike. The head of Frémont's army, Gen. Robert H. Milroy's division, had been camped at McDowell since April 17, with Milroy's artillery on Cemetery Hill, but he failed to occupy Sitlington's Hill. Jackson sent Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson's division to hold that height, and on May 8 Johnson deployed his force with the 12th Georgia Infantry in front. Late that afternoon, Milroy attacked up the steep slope, using ravines and heavy woods for cover, but after desperate fighting at the summit the Federals fell back to McDowell. The next day Jackson telegraphed Richmond that God had blessed their arms with victory at McDowell, then pursued the retreating Federals west on the turnpike and north about thirty miles to Franklin. After some skirmishing, Jackson marched back to the Valley on May 12, and Frémont's army soon retreated deeper into western Virginia, leaving Jackson free to operate against Banks.

McDowell, Virginia · United States