Battle of Cedar Mountain
The Battle of Cedar Mountain , by Currier and Ives.
| date | August 9, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place | Culpeper County , Virginia, USA |
| output | Confederation victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
8,030
|
16,868
|
| losses | |
|
2,381 killed
: 314 wounded: 1,445 missing / captured: 622 |
1,314 killed
: 223 wounded: 1,060 missing / captured: 31 |
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Rappahannock Station - Cedar Mountain - Thoroughfare Gap - Manassas Station Operations - Manassas II - Chantilly / Ox Hill
The Battle of Cedar Mountain or Battle of Slaughter's Mountain or Battle of Cedar Run was a battle in the Civil War that took place on August 9, 1862 near Culpeper , Virginia . The victory enabled General Robert E. Lee to take the initiative and move the fighting from the Piedmont to northern Virginia.
location
The evacuation of the Union Potomac Army after the end of the Peninsula Campaign did not begin until August 14, 1862. In support of the evacuation, President Lincoln ordered a campaign in northern Virginia. Major General John Pope was to march with the Virginia Army to the Gordonsville, Virginia railroad junction and destroy the Confederation's lines and supply lines into the Shenandoah Valley.
General Lee intended to defeat Pope's army before McClellan's arrival in northern Virginia and sent the left wing of the Northern Virginia Army under Major General Thomas J. Jackson to meet him.
The information about the positions of the respective opponents on either side was vague on August 7th. Therefore, Lee's mandate to Jackson was:
I must now leave the matter to your reflection and good judgment. Make up your mind what is best to be done under all the circumstances which surround us, and let me hear the result at which you arrive
“I leave the matter to your discretion and judgment. Decide what is best to do, taking all the circumstances into account, and report the result of your considerations to me. "
Jackson had already given the marching orders to the three division commanders subordinate to him and instructed them to march in the order Ewell , APHill and Winder on different routes and to reach Culpeper CH. He hadn't coordinated the different paths. There was considerable trouble on the morning of August 8th when AP Hill let Winders' division by, believing it was Ewells.
Pope had ordered the commanding general of the II. Corps, Major General Banks, to reach Orange CH with the two divisions under his control and from there to interrupt the “Virginia & Central” railway line at several points.
battle
The two major formations marched towards each other and met in the area eight miles south of Culpeper near Cedar Mountain. An encounter battle developed, in which the artillery initially carried the brunt of the battle so that the infantry could develop. Observers called the battle "one of the finest artillery duels" of the Civil War, in which Jackson and his division commander Winder were gunners. Winder was fatally wounded.
Despite being inferior, Banks Corps attacked Jackson on both sides of the road from Orange to Culpeper at around 4:30 p.m. and he managed to throw Jackson's troops out of their positions. While Ewell's division was largely able to hold its positions to the right of the road, the brigades deployed to the left of the road fled from Winder's division to the south-west. When the battle was on the knife edge on the left wing, Jackson is said to have rearranged the evasive troops with a raised saber, which was rusty in the scabbard, in one hand and a flag in the other.
AP Hills 'Light Division' reached the battlefield late in the evening. Hill led the three brigades under his command on the left wing into the battle and saved the Confederate victory. There was a successful deployment of a Union cavalry battalion against the attacking Confederate infantry, which gave Banks' troops the time to evade orderly.
Effects
An eyewitness later described the fight on the left wing of the Confederate as "unsurpassed in its ferocity by any other combat action of the entire war". This also includes the report from the commander of the 21st Virginia Regiment, in which he lists the atrocities committed by prisoners of war. A lieutenant was captured unharmed, but when the Union had to evade, he was knocked down and fatally wounded with bayonet stitches.
The almost "belated" intervention of AP Hill contributed significantly to the arguments between Jackson and Hill. Both accused each other of having given or carried out orders inaccurately. Much to blame for this was Jackson, who snubbed Hill by his way of giving detailed orders while keeping his own intentions secret for as long as possible. He had fought successfully on his own during the seven-day battle and had gotten into trouble several times due to Jackson's hesitant behavior. This conflict lasted until Jackson's death.
After the battle, the two corps faced each other for a day. Banks then moved to the north bank of the Rappahannocks and Jackson south of the Rapidan River to the Orange CH area. Lee then hired Jackson to cut Pope's lines and supply lines in late August, which eventually led to the Second Battle of Bull Run . The Battle of Cedar Mountain was the last battle Jackson fought independently from the rest of the Northern Virginia Army.
literature
- United States. War Dept .: The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies , Govt. Print. Off., Washington 1880-1901
- James M. McPherson (Editor): The Atlas of the Civil War . Philadelphia 2005, ISBN 0-7624-2356-0
swell
- ↑ a b Troop strengths. National Park Service, March 2, 2020, accessed July 8, 2020 .
- ^ Union losses. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 2, 2018 (Official Records, Series I, Volume XII, Part II, p. 139).
- ^ Union losses. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 2, 2018 (Official Records, Series I, Volume XII, Part II, p. 185).
- ↑ Jackson Order. Ohio State University, accessed June 6, 2018 (The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, Part III, p. 926).
- ↑ a b Artillery duel and Jackson's appearance. American Battlefield Trust, 2020, accessed July 8, 2020 .
- ↑ Atrocities against prisoners of war. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed June 3, 2018 (Official Records, Series I, Volume XII, Part II, pp. 202f).
Web links
- Civil War Trust: Description of the Battle
- Encyclopedia Virginia: Description of the Battle
Coordinates: 38 ° 24'5 " N , 78 ° 3'56.9" W.