McDowell

Background

By the spring of 1862, Nathaniel P. Banks had led Union troops into the Shenandoah Valley, his mission being to assist George B. McClellan as the latter pushed up the Virginia Peninsula. Standing against this advance was a modest Confederate force under Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. On the 21st of March, however, Union leadership pulled the bulk of Banks' troops away from the valley entirely, leaving behind only James Shields and his single division to contend with Jackson. Shields soon broke camp at Strasburg and pushed north in the direction of Winchester. Two days later, on March 23, Jackson overtook Shields near Kernstown. Believing, based on inaccurate information, that he faced merely a fraction of Shields' men, Jackson pressed forward with an attack. He instead found himself up against Shields' complete force, and fierce fighting followed. Confederate troops held a defensive line behind a stone wall until Richard B. Garnett pulled his brigade back after its ammunition ran short, leaving the Confederate flank exposed and compelling Jackson to pull off the field. Even though the Confederates had lost at Kernstown, Union commanders took note of the aggression Jackson's men had displayed and responded by funneling additional troops into the valley, among them the very two divisions that had previously been withdrawn from Banks.

Following the setback at Kernstown, Jackson's army settled into the lower valley to await further instructions and ready itself for what lay ahead. Word came in April directing Jackson to keep Union forces tied down in the valley so they could not reinforce McClellan outside Richmond. Around this time Richard Ewell arrived with reinforcements for Jackson's camp. At the same time, a separate Union threat was developing: John C. Frémont's Mountain Department began advancing on Jackson from the west, crossing the Allegheny range. Leading this effort was Robert Milroy with an advance force numbering 3,500. Milroy's column reached McDowell in early May, and on the 8th he was joined by an additional 2,500 troops under Robert C. Schenck.

On the morning of May 7, Jackson set his columns in motion from their camps near West View and Staunton, his

Battle

Jackson dispatched forces to seize the crest of Sitlington's Hill, which the Union held only thinly at that point. Scott's brigade advanced first, with the 52nd Virginia Infantry taking a skirmish line on the left flank of the Confederate position. The 44th Virginia Infantry and 58th Virginia Infantry formed between the 52nd Virginia and the roadway at the hill's opposite end, while the 12th Georgia Infantry from Conner's brigade backed up these Virginia units. Jackson climbed to the summit alongside Johnson, seeking a vantage point that might reveal a route for striking the Union flank. Before this reconnaissance could bear fruit, Milroy launched his own troops against the Confederates atop Sitlington's Hill, throwing off whatever plans Jackson had been forming. Jackson had left his artillery behind, judging the hill's steep grade too difficult for the guns.

Milroy and Schenck committed five regiments to the assault against the Confederate position. The 25th Ohio Infantry and 75th Ohio Infantry, both part of Milroy's command, pushed toward what Union officers believed was the middle of the Confederate line. To their