Kernstown, Second

Near Kernstown, Virginia, just south of Winchester, Union and Confederate forces clashed on July 24, 1864, in an engagement that became part of the Valley Campaigns of that year during the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, commanding the Confederate Army of the Valley, dealt a decisive defeat to Brig. Gen. George Crook's Union Army of West Virginia, pushing the beaten force out of the Shenandoah Valley and across the Potomac River into Maryland. This victory cleared the way for Early to mount the Confederacy's final large scale incursion into Union territory in the north, during which his men struck the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at points in Maryland and West Virginia and set fire to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, an act of retaliation for the earlier destruction of civilian homes and farms during the campaign.

Background

After a string of failed Union assaults on both of his flanks on July 19, General Early judged his position at Berryville too exposed and pulled back toward safer ground near Strasburg. While Confederate hospitals and supply depots in Winchester were being cleared out, Brig. Gen. William W. Averell led Union troops to an uncommon triumph over Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur's Confederates at the Battle of Rutherford's Farm. That disappointing showing by the Confederates, combined with a handful of minor cavalry clashes south of Winchester the next day, convinced Union generals George Crook and Horatio G. Wright that the enemy was simply covering a retreat, and that Early intended to abandon the Valley altogether and march for Richmond to bolster the Army of Northern Virginia.

Believing the danger to Washington, D.C., had passed, Wright pulled the VI Corps and XIX Corps out of the Valley on July 20 so they could rejoin Ulysses S. Grant's siege at Petersburg, Virginia. This left behind only the Army of West Virginia, three divisions strong, to hold the region. For the next two days little happened, as the opposing armies simply rested in camps roughly 15 miles (24 km) apart. Then, on July 23, Confederate horsemen struck the Union outpost line near Kernstown, sparking an intense cavalry skirmish. Prisoners taken during the fighting revealed to Early that Wright's corps had already left. Recognizing that his continued usefulness to Lee depended on keeping Grant from drawing reinforcements away from Petersburg, Early concluded he had no choice but to strike the weakened Union force still facing him.

Battle

Early set his army in motion northward on the morning of July 24, moving toward Crook's position. South of Kernstown, cavalry from both sides clashed that morning, touching off intense skirmishing. Word of the assault reached Crook through his couriers. Still convinced that Early's foot soldiers had withdrawn from the Valley, Crook committed only a pair of divisions along with cavalry to counter the threat. By early afternoon, foot soldiers from both sides had converged on the battlefield.

The Confederate line stretched broadly across both sides of the Valley pike below Kernstown, its flanks resting on elevated terrain and shielded by mounted troops. Maj. Gen. John B. Gordon's division held the middle of this line along the turnpike. Ramseur's men took position to Gordon's left, anchoring their flank on Sandy Ridge west of town, protected by Col. William "Mudwall" Jackson's horsemen. On the opposite flank, Brig. Gen. Gabriel C. Wharton's division, under the direction of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge, held the Confederate right, with Brig. Gen. John C. Vaughn's cavalry guarding that side. Early kept his main infantry hidden within a wooded area at first, pushing forward only cavalry and sharpshooter skirmishers to lure the Federals into combat, a tactic that reinforced Crook's false belief that Confederate infantry had already departed the Valley.

Federal forces massed near the Valley Pike within Kernstown itself, with Col. James A. Mulligan's division holding Pritchard's Hill, the same ground that had proven decisive for Union forces during the First Battle of Kernstown back in 1862. Col. Joseph Thoburn's division extended the line rightward onto Sandy Ridge, while the brigade of Rutherford B. Hayes, who would later become president, held the left side east of the turnpike. Meanwhile, Crook sent Averell's cavalry on a mission to swing around the Confederate right and strike from behind. Fighting began as skirmishers from opposing sides made contact. Federal division commanders quickly recognized they faced a larger Confederate force than expected, and their reluctance to engage prompted them to pass this assessment up to Crook.

Growing frustrated with his commanders' caution, Crook doubted their assessment of enemy numbers and pushed forward regardless. He directed Mulligan to strike the Confederate line, with Thoburn's division backing him up. The Federal advance began at one o'clock, though reluctantly, forcing abandonment of the high ground at Pritchard's Hill. Mulligan's men fought stubbornly near Opequon Church, where Gordon's troops stopped their forward progress. While Hayes moved his brigade up in support, Breckinridge guided Wharton's division northeast into a deep ravine running crosswise to the turnpike, using the terrain to mask his troop movement from Federal eyes. Once Hayes advanced along the road adjacent to this hidden ravine, Breckinridge unleashed a charge, striking Hayes's vulnerable flank and driving his division into a costly retreat.

Thoburn had been meant to reinforce Mulligan's right side during the assault, but the battlefield's uneven ground separated the two divisions, leaving Thoburn largely uninvolved in the fighting. Seizing this opening in the Union line, Gordon's forces pushed through to threaten Mulligan's right just as Hayes's line collapsed, trapping Mulligan between two Confederate divisions. Mulligan called for an immediate withdrawal and suffered a fatal wound while attempting to keep his men from disintegrating into full flight. Confederate infantry chased the retreating Federals clear through Winchester, while their cavalry continued the pursuit deep into West Virginia.

Averell's horsemen, attempting the flanking maneuver Crook had ordered, instead collided unexpectedly with Vaughn's cavalry along the Front Royal Pike. Caught off guard by this Confederate cavalry strike, the Federal riders fled toward Martinsburg in disarray. This retreating cavalry then ran into the withdrawing wagon and artillery trains north of Winchester, sparking chaos among the teamsters, many of whom abandoned their vehicles amid the confusion. To keep them from Confederate hands, numer

Aftermath

This engagement stood as the Confederacy's furthest advance in the Valley campaign of 1864. Crook's shattered command fell back to the Potomac River, crossing near Williamsport, Maryland, on July 26. With Union troops no longer present in the Shenandoah, Early pushed forward into northern lands, mounting what would prove the final large scale Confederate incursion of the war. His men set fire to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, a punitive act answering David Hunter's earlier destruction of homes and farmland during the campaign. Hunter had likewise put the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington to the torch, though when Early issued instructions to McCausland's cavalry, he made no reference to this act as grounds for the reprisal. Confederate forces also struck Union garrisons guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the vicinity of Cumberland, Maryland. This setback, compounded by McCausland's burning of Chambersburg on July 30, prompted Grant to send the VI and XIX Corps back into the Valley and to place Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan in command of Union forces there, a move that decisively shifted fortunes against the Confederates in the region for good.