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| Battle of McDowell (or Sitlington's Hill) | |
|---|---|
| Campaign | 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign |
| Date | May 8, 1862 |
| Location | McDowell, Highland County, Virginia |
| Combatants | |
| United States | Confederacy |
| Commanders | |
| Robert C. Schenck, Robert H. Milroy | Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and Edward Johnson |
| Casualties | |
| 259 (34 killed, 220 wounded, 5 captured) | 532 (146 killed, 382 wounded, 4 captured) |
The Battle of McDowell is sometimes considered the opening battle in Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's brilliant Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862. Jackson determined to attack two of Union general John C. Frémont's brigades in Highland County. On May 8, 1862, Jackson closed in and engaged Union troops under generals Robert H. Milroy and Robert C. Schenck near the village of McDowell. Although a small battle compared with the carnage inflicted later in the conflict, it provided a much-needed boost to Confederate morale and demonstrated that the South was still very much in the war, while also setting the stage for Jackson's conquest of the Shenandoah Valley.
Title: McDowell and the Valley
Campaign
Source: Hal Jespersen
More informationThe spring of 1862 dawned darkly for the Confederacy as increasing shortages, military failures, and mounting
casualties dimmed hopes for independence. Even Jackson suffered a rare tactical defeat at the First Battle of Kernstown on March 23, 1862, but he nevertheless achieved a strategic
victory by necessitating the redeployment of crucial Union reinforcements from near
Richmond to the Shenandoah Valley, thus depriving the Union Army of the Potomac of 35,000 troops even as George B. McClellan threatened the Confederate capital during the Peninsula Campaign.
Counting on reinforcements from Confederate general Edward Johnson, Jackson submitted three plans of attack to General Robert E. Lee on April 29, and recommended "attacking the force west of Staunton, for if successful I would afterward only have [Union general Nathaniel P.] Banks to contend with." Jackson seized the opportunity before receiving word from Lee. He created a distraction by pretending to move his troops from Staunton toward Richmond, marching his men over the Blue Ridge Mountains before loading most of them onto trains and shipping them back to Staunton. He then set his sights on McDowell, where Milroy awaited reinforcement from Schenck's brigade.
Title: Sketch of the Battle of
McDowell
Source: Library of Congress Geography
and Map Division
More informationOn May 6, Johnson's brigade marched west from Staunton.
He was followed the next morning by Jackson, who deployed cavalry to deflect the Union forces'
attention from his route along the Staunton–Parkersburg Turnpike.
Meanwhile, when Milroy first learned of the Confederate advance, he concentrated his forces at McDowell, with
the exception of an artillery battery temporarily left at Shaw's Ridge to shell the Confederate vanguard.
Minor skirmishing occurred throughout the day.
The Confederates resumed their march on the frosty morning of May 8. Johnson's forces halted atop Bull Pasture Mountain while he scouted the area and discovered a path to Sitlington's Hill, a mile-long rocky spur overlooking the Union camp beside the Bull Pasture River. Jackson approved the location when he arrived later that morning, then sent artillery and infantry to circumvent Milroy and hem him in from the north. In the meantime, Union general Schenck arrived in McDowell, but deferred command to Milroy during the coming battle because the younger officer was more familiar with the current situation. As the Confederates fell into formation atop the hill, Union artillery shells merely bounced off the hill's rocky face.
Title: Maj. Gen. Robert C.
Schenck
Source: Library of Congress, Prints
and Photographs
More informationUpon receiving a report (which later proved false) that Jackson was bringing his artillery to the crest of
the hill, Milroy determined to avoid certain annihilation by making a frontal assault and then retreating
under cover of night. He personally led his entire brigade and one of Schenck's regiments across the river
and through a treacherous ravine before climbing Sitlington's Hill. Supported by artillery on Hull's Hill to
the west of the river, they clashed with Confederates at their center and on their right flank. They cut through the
advance lines and pushed steadily on the right for nearly two hours. A Union bayonet charge just after dark
momentarily broke the center of the Confederate line, but it quickly reformed with the assistance of reinforcements.
The battle surged slowly in Jackson's favor as night fell. As artillery and musket fire flashed off the darkened mountainsides, Milroy recalled his exhausted troops. Union forces decamped from McDowell for western Virginia in the middle of the night, leaving the field for Jackson to claim at daybreak.
Although the Confederates sustained more than twice the number of casualties as Union forces, they won an important strategic victory, setting the stage for subsequent victories at Front Royal (May 23), Winchester (May 25), Cross Keys (June 8), and Port Republic (June 9). Jackson's brilliant campaign thwarted Union designs on the Shenandoah Valley and enabled his army to return to Richmond in time to aid Lee during the Seven Days' Battles.
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