Jackson's Shenandoah campaign in 1862
Jackson's Shenandoah campaign in the spring of 1862 included a series of battles and skirmishes in western Virginia during the American Civil War . Within three months, 17,000 Confederation soldiers under Major General "Stonewall" Jackson marched more than 600 miles, fought four major and seven minor skirmishes, defeated four opposing major divisions, captured nine guns and tens of thousands of small arms, captured 4,000 Union soldiers and defeated them the efforts of 60,000 Union soldiers to conquer the Shenandoah Valley and tied a total of 100,000 Union soldiers with comparatively few own losses.
The importance of the Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley lies to the west of what is now Virginia . It runs southwest to northeast and is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains and to the west by the North Mountain. Its southwestern boundary is the James watershed southwest of Staunton , Virginia, its northern boundary the Potomac . The valley is first drained by the northern and southern arms of the Shenandoah, which unite at Front Royal, Virginia. These two arms flow around Massanutten Mountain, which rises steeply from the plain northeast of Harrisonburg, Virginia for about 50 miles . The Shenandoah flows into the Potomac at Harpers Ferry , West Virginia . The valley is approximately 140 miles long and up to 30 miles wide. The area around Martinsburg and Harpers Ferry, which is now part of West Virginia, is also part of the valley. Because his opponents were unfamiliar with the geography of the valley and unfamiliar with the terrain, Jackson played cat-and-mouse with them at times.
The Shenandoah Valley was a vital source of food for the Confederation. It has also been called the Granary of Virginia by many. It also offered the opportunity to invade the northern states under the protection of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
From the point of view of the northern states , the Shenandoah Valley was not a suitable incursion route. The use of the valley had to be prevented anyway, especially because two important connection and supply lines of the Union ran at the north end - the Baltimore & Ohio Railway and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. The threat to Washington was permanent.
The weather played an important role during the campaign. The spring of 1862 was unusually rainy. Streams and rivers were swollen and could only be crossed on bridges. The streets and paths were sodden.
The order
General Joseph E. Johnston had given Major General Thomas J. Jackson command of his left wing after his victory at Manassas on July 21, 1861. The Secretary of War appointed Jackson commander in the newly created Shenandoah Valley Defense District on October 22nd. When Johnston dodged the Rappahannock and later the Chickahominy in March 1862 , Jackson was on his own in the Shenandoah Valley. Because he was hopelessly inferior to the forces of the Northern States, he should avoid any major battle, on the other hand , employ Major General Nathaniel P. Banks so that he could not strengthen the Potomac Army Major General McClellan . For this he had about 10,000 soldiers in 4 brigades.
The campaign
The battle at Kernstown
| date | March 23, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place |
Winchester , Virginia, USA Coordinate: 39 ° 8 ′ 21.8 ″ N , 78 ° 12 ′ 6.2 ″ W. |
| output | Union victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} United States |
|
| Commander | |
|
James Shields
|
Thomas J. Jackson
|
| Troop strength | |
|
8,500
|
3,800
|
| losses | |
|
590 killed
: 118 wounded: 450 missing / captured: 22 |
718 killed
: 80 wounded: 375 missing / captured: 263 |
The battle at Kernstown, Virginia took place on March 23 near Winchester, Virginia.
On March 21, Colonel Turner Ashby, commander of Jackson's cavalry, had reported to his commander that the V (US) Corps under Major General Banks was withdrawing to the east from the valley. According to the population, only 4 regiments remained in Winchester. Jackson immediately decided to attack them. He marched 42 miles in 2 days to Kernstown, 4 miles southwest of Winchester. There he met Brigadier General James Shield's division, which was more than twice as strong .
His brigades attacked the Confederates for two hours without being able to break through their positions. It wasn't until Jackson's troops ran out of ammunition that they began to withdraw. Even “Stonewall” could not stop him when he personally wanted to introduce a reserve brigade into the battle. He dismissed the brigade commander and threatened him with punitive measures. Jackson's division then moved into a bivouac four and a half miles to the south .
Although Jackson lost that first battle, it brought the Confederation a strategic victory. Extremely concerned about the potential threat to Washington, DC from the Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley, President Lincoln ordered the entire V Corps back to the valley. In addition, he strengthened the troops in what is now West Virginia. Originally, they were all intended to reinforce Major General McClellan during his peninsula campaign .
Major General John C. Frémont's troops in the mountains of what is now West Virginia, Banks V Corps and McDowell's Corps at Rappahannock were directly subordinate to the War Department - there was no instance to coordinate the use of these three commands, each operated independently. On April 1, Banks were 25,439 and Frémont in northern West Virginia 7,393 soldiers. 10,028 men - Blenker's division - were marching west to reinforce Frémont.
Johnston put Jackson under Major General Ewell's division because of this noticeable relief of the Northern Virginia Army . On May 1, the division was available in the valley and increased Jackson's team strength to approximately 16,000 soldiers.
The battle at McDowell
| date | May 8, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place |
Highland County , Virginia, USA Coordinate: 38 ° 19 ′ 39.6 ″ N , 79 ° 29 ′ 12.7 ″ W |
| output | Confederation victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
United States |
.svg){kind=small} CSA |
| Commander | |
|
Robert H. Milroy
|
Thomas J. Jackson
|
| Troop strength | |
|
6,500
|
6,000
|
| losses | |
|
256 killed
: 28 wounded: 225 missing / captured: 32 |
498 killed
: 75 wounded: 423 |
The battle at McDowell took place on May 8 near the town of McDowell, Virginia. instead of. It is also called the Battle of Sittlington Hill.
After the battle at Kernstown, Jackson slowly evaded the overwhelming strength of Banks to the southwest. This followed just as slowly. On April 26, off Harrisonburg, Jackson turned east and forced Banks to pursue him to avoid a flank threat.
Meanwhile, Major General Frémont had ordered a division under Brigadier General Milroy to Staunton from the mountains west of the Shenandoah Valley. A union of these two forces in the Shenandoah Valley would have been the end of Jackson's armed forces and therefore had to be prevented.
Jackson decided to beat the opponents one by one, Milroy's division first. He left Ewell at the crossing over the Blue Ridge Mountains to prevent Banks from advancing further up the valley and marched eastward over the Blue Ridge Mountains to Charlottesville, Virginia. Unnoticed by the Union troops, he moved back into the valley to Staunton by rail and marched west on the Parkersburg-Staunton Pike. There he united with the small division of Brigadier General Edward "Allegheny" Johnson to a total strength of about 17,000 men. On the heights east of Bullpasture - Sittlington Hill - he awaited the attack of Milroy.
The battle lasted from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., all attacks by the Northerners were repulsed. When Jackson's troops were completely assembled on May 9 - without Ewell's division - and he wanted to attack the Northerners, they had evaded north towards Franklin, now West Virginia. Jackson pursued the Northerners as far as Franklin and at the same time had the crossings over the North Mountain north of Staunton blocked to prevent Frémont from entering the Shenandoah Valley there. On May 12, Jackson found that the Northerners were in fortified and good positions with Franklin. He broke off the chase and returned with his troops via McDowell to the Shenandoah Valley, which he reached again on May 17th.
Meanwhile, in Washington, McClellan had urged McDowell's corps to advance against Richmond from the north in support of his peninsula campaign. Banks therefore had to surrender Shields Division - a total of around 11,000 men - to McDowell. From May 12th he himself stayed in the valley with about 8,000 soldiers who dug themselves in near Strasburg. Approx. He sent 1,000 men to Front Royal at the confluence of the two Shenandoah arms.
The battle at Front Royal
| date | May 23, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place |
Warren County , Virginia, USA Coordinate: 38 ° 56 ′ 38.1 ″ N , 78 ° 11 ′ 43.9 ″ W |
| output | Confederation victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
United States |
CSA |
| Commander | |
|
Nathaniel P. Banks
|
Thomas J. Jackson
|
| Troop strength | |
|
1,036
|
6,000
|
| losses | |
|
904 killed
: 32 wounded: 122 missing / captured: 750 |
50
|
The battle at Front Royal took place on May 23 in and near the town of Front Royal.
Jackson was now about to prevent the reinforcement of McDowell by Shields. He prevailed over General Lee with his view of attacking the Northerners in the valley and not Shields on the way east. Jackson first marched down the valley along the northern arm of the Shenandoah. On May 20, he crossed the Massanutten Mountain and, after reunification with Ewell's division, marched through the Luray Valley to the northeast with around 16,000 men. The speed of the marching movements gave his infantry the nickname "Jackson's foot cavalry".
He sent his cavalry north under Colonel Ashby to make Banks believe he was going to attack him in Strasburg. At the same time, however, he attacked the small garrison in Front Royal with his entire force of around 16,000 men. Despite brave resistance, around 900 northerners had to surrender after a short, fierce battle. In order not to be circumvented, Banks was forced to rush out of Strasburg for Winchester.
Jackson intended to cut Banks off at Middletown, Virginia. But this did not succeed because his troops were very exhausted and opposing supply columns plundered out of sheer need. It took one of his attack columns 6 hours to make the 7 miles to Valley Pike, today's US Federal Highway 11, near Middletown. When they finally got there, Bank's troops had just slipped through.
Despite these inadequacies, Jackson let his troops march through the night of May 25th, knowing from his own knowledge of the Winchester area that every hour the Northerners had to set up to defend themselves, the higher the blood toll on his soldiers would.
The first battle at Winchester
| date | May 25, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place | Winchester, Virginia, USA Coordinates: 39 ° 10 ′ 48.4 ″ N , 78 ° 11 ′ 27.8 ″ W. |
| output | Confederation victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
United States |
CSA |
| Commander | |
|
Nathaniel P. Banks
|
Thomas J. Jackson
|
| Troop strength | |
|
6,500
|
16,000
|
| losses | |
|
2,019 killed
: 62 wounded: 243 missing / captured: 1,714 |
400 killed
: 68 wounded: 329 missing / captured: 3 |
The first battle of Winchester took place on May 25th near the village of Winchester.
Jackson attacked Banks on both sides of the Valley Pike, Ewell attacked the positions of the Northerners from the southeast. When a brigade from Jackson's attack wedge outflanked the Northern positions in the west and then the positions were overrun, panic broke out and Banks' troops fled through Winchester to the northeast.
Banks and his troops evaded after this defeat on May 26th across the Potomac to Maryland . However, tracking the defeated troops remained inefficient. On the one hand, the Confederate troops were exhausted; on the other hand, there was once again a conflict of competence between Ewell and Jackson. Jackson did not begin the chase until May 27th and reached the Harpers Ferry area on May 29th.
The reaction from Washington was all the more severe and fit in with General Lee's intention. Lincoln decided that defeating Jackson was an absolute priority. He commanded two divisions under Major General Shields from McDowell's Corps with 20,000 men to Front Royal and Major General Frémont to Harrisonburg. Should these major associations meet in time at Strasburg, Jackson would be cut off. McClellan and McDowell protested unsuccessfully because they saw the meaning of Jackson's movements. The immediate effect of this move was that a coordinated attack by McClellan and McDowell had become impossible.
On May 30th, Jackson evaded Harpers Ferry south, and although Shields and Frémont were closer to Strasburg, they approached more slowly. On June 1, Jackson escaped from the trap of the Northerners with all his troops, 2,300 prisoners and two supply columns more than 7 miles in length.
The Battle of Cross Keys
| date | June 8, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place |
Rockingham County , Virginia, USA Coordinate: 38 ° 21 ′ 3.9 ″ N , 78 ° 50 ′ 8.4 ″ W |
| output | Confederation victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
United States |
CSA |
| Commander | |
|
John C. Frémont
|
Richard S. Ewell
|
| Troop strength | |
|
11,500
|
5,800
|
| losses | |
|
684 killed
: 114 wounded: 443 missing / captured: 127 |
287 killed
: 42 wounded: 230 missing / captured: 15 |
The Battle of Cross Keys took place on June 8th near the village of Cross Keys, Virginia. south of Harrisonburg.
Freemont followed the Confederates with about 15,000 men north, Shields marched south of the Massanutten Mountains. The former attacked immediately at Strasburg on June 1, but was repulsed by Ewell's division and Ashby's cavalry. Frémont did not continue the attack because the reinforcements by Shields' Second Division had marched not from Front Royal to Strasburg, but to Winchester. Shields tried to cut Jackson off at the western end of the Massanutten Mountains. He had foreseen this maneuver and deployed a division to destroy the bridges over the southern arm of the Shenandoah to the bridge at Port Republic. This bridge was to be held until Jackson and all parts had dodged over it.
Jackson now intended to beat the two units of the Union, separated by the Massanutten Mountain, one after the other before they could reunite at Port Republic. From 2nd to 6th June fierce retreat battles took place in the valley between Strasburg and Harrisonburg, in which he managed to gain a day's head start. In one of these skirmishes, Jackson's cavalry commander, who has now been promoted to brigadier general Turner Ashby, fell. On the other side of the Massanutten Mountains, Shields heard the noise of the fighting but was unable to intervene because of the lack of bridges.
On the morning of June 8th, Frémont began with 4 brigades side by side with the approach to the Confederate positions. His left wing was suddenly hit by a devastating volley from 60 paces while advancing in attack formation. The brigade deployed here fled in panic and with great losses and did not attack again. As a result, the entire left wing of the Union came under so much pressure that Frémont ordered him to move to the starting positions.
There were a few uncoordinated attacks against Ewell's left wing afterwards, but all of them were repulsed. The battle ended after dark.
The Battle of Port Republic
| date | June 9, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place | Rockingham County, Virginia, USA Coordinates: 38 ° 17 ′ 39.8 ″ N , 78 ° 47 ′ 21.5 ″ W |
| output | Confederation victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
United States |
CSA |
| Commander | |
|
James Shields
|
Thomas J. Jackson
|
| Troop strength | |
|
3,500
|
6,000
|
| losses | |
|
1,018 killed
: 67 wounded: 393 missing / captured: 558 |
657 killed
: 88 wounded: 535 missing / captured: 34 |
The Battle of Port Republic took place on June 9 near the village of Port Republic, Virginia, 3 miles south of the Cross Keys.
Shields had no connection with Frémont and made slow progress on the sodden Luray Road. He therefore sent an advance party south on June 8 to take the bridge at Port Republic. Shortly after sunset, it crossed the river and entered Port Republic. Jackson and his staff only narrowly escaped capture. The subsequent personal intervention by Jackson stabilized the situation and the Union troops were forced to evade.
That night Jackson ordered Ewell to hold the positions at Cross Keys with only two brigades and to reinforce with the rest of his troops at Port Republic. At dawn two Union brigades had occupied the elevated position east of Port Republic and the flat land as far as the southern arm of the Shenandoah. Jackson's attack initially targeted the Union's right wing, but was repulsed. A counterattack threw the Confederate troops back approx. 800 m. It was only when they succeeded in storming the heights on the left wing of the Union that the situation of the Union troops became untenable and they evaded to Luray. Around noon, Frémont also launched an attack to support the Union forces at Port Republic. Jackson dodged this attack, hoping to lure Frémont to the south bank and attack him there the next morning. During the night, however, Frémont avoided Harrisonburg.
Result
The two battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic decided the campaign. The divisions of the northern states moved north to Harpers Ferry and west to what is now West Virginia. Large parts of the troops were transferred to other armies of the northern states, e. B. Subordinated to the Potomac Army and the Tennessee Army . Jackson left the Shenandoah Valley with the bulk of his forces and reinforced Lee during the Seven Day Battle . Jackson's successful troops later formed the II Corps of the Northern Virginia Army.
The importance of the Shenandoah valley for the further course of the war
Jackson grew up in the Shenandoah Valley and was at home. He once said during the campaign: "If the valley falls, Virginia falls!" At first, however, it played an essential role in the further operations of the Northern Virginia Army:
After McClellan's retreat from the Virginia Peninsula, Lee Jackson's II Corps moved north under the protection of the Blue Ridge Mountains, unnoticed by Pope's Virginia Army , thus initiating the second Battle of Manassas .
After the defeat at Sharpsburg , Maryland, Lee managed to return his Northern Virginia Army unmolested through the valley to the south of the Rappahannock, while using the available resources to physically rebuild the army.
After the victory at Chancellorsville , Lee marched largely unnoticed through the Shenandoah Valley and west of the South Mountains to the Chambersburg, Pennsylvania area, where he was defeated by Major General Meade in the Battle of Gettysburg . The retreat to Virginia was again almost unmolested through the Shenandoah valley.
After Union troops had almost half occupied the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1864, Lee ordered Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early to drive the Union out of the valley. Early attacked through the valley and again invaded Maryland.
It was not until October 1864 that Major General Sheridan succeeded in defeating Early in the Shenandoah Valley at the Battle of Cedar Creek and bringing the valley into his hands. Jackson's saying came true - 6 months later, Lee capitulated at Appomattox Courthouse .
literature
Source editions and reference works
- Marcus Junkelmann: The American Civil War 1861-1865 . Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1992 ISBN 3-89350-355-2
- Bernd G. Längin : The American Civil War - A chronicle in pictures day by day . Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998 ISBN 3-86047-900-8
- James M. McPherson : Die for Freedom . Augsburg 2003 (orig. New York 1988), p. 446ff. (Standard work on the Civil War)
- James M. McPherson (Editor): The Atlas of the Civil War . Philadelphia 2005, ISBN 0-7624-2356-0
- 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
- United States. Dept. of the Interior - National Park Service: Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia , Sept. 1992 online here
Representations
- Champ Clark: Decoying the Yanks. Jackson's Valley Campaign . 2nd Edition. Time-Life-Books, Alexandria / VA 1985, ISBN 0-8094-4724-X .
- Peter Cozzens: Shenandoah 1862. Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign . University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 2008, ISBN 978-0-8078-3200-4 .
- Gary W. Gallagher (Ed.): The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862 . University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 2003, ISBN 0-8078-2786-X .
- Robert G. Tanner: Stonewall in the Valley. Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Spring 1862 . 2nd revised & expanded edition. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA 1996, ISBN 0-8117-1708-9 .
swell
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume V, p. 913. Ohio State University, accessed August 22, 2020 (General Orders No. 15).
- ^ A b First Battle of Kernstown - March 23, 1862. National Park Service National Park Service - US Department of the Interior, August 22, 2020, accessed August 22, 2020 (troop levels).
- ^ Union losses at Kernstown. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed August 22, 2020 (Official Records, Series I, Volume XII, Part I, pp. 346f).
- ^ Confederation losses at Kernstown. Cornell University Library, January 12, 2017, accessed August 22, 2020 (Official Records, Series I, Volume XII, Part I, p. 384).
- ^ A b The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, Part I, p. 227: Strengths of the Union on April 1st
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, Part III, p. 37: Strengths of the Union on April 1st
- ^ A b Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Part 3.2: Troop Strengths at McDowell
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, Part I, p. 462: Union Losses at McDowell
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, Part I, p. 476: Confederate Losses at McDowell
- ^ A b c d Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Part 3.3: Troop Strengths and Losses at Front Royal
- ^ A b c d Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Part 3.4: Troop Strengths and Losses at Winchester
- ↑ a b c Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Part 3.5: Troop Strengths and Losses of the Confederate at Cross Keys
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, Part I, p. 664f: Union losses at Cross Keys
- ↑ a b c Study of Civil War Sites in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Part 3.6: Troop Strengths and Losses of the Confederate at Port Republic
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume XII, Part I, p. 690: Union losses at Port Republic
Web links
- The Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley. National Park Service National Park Service - US Department of the Interior, August 22, 2020, accessed August 22, 2020 .
- The American Civil War - documents, biographies and essays (English)
- Written reports and letters (English)
- Shenandoah Valley Civil War graphics
- Animation of the campaign
Coordinates: 38 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 78 ° 35 ′ 0 ″ W.
