The Battle of McDowell, also known as the Battle of Sitlington's Hill, was fought on May 8, 1862, near McDowell, Virginia, as part of Confederate Major General Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign during the American Civil War. After suffering a tactical defeat at the First Battle of Kernstown, Jackson withdrew to the southern Shenandoah Valley. Union forces commanded by Brigadier Generals Robert Milroy and Robert C. Schenck were advancing from what is now West Virginia towards the Shenandoah Valley. After being reinforced by troops commanded by Brigadier General Edward Johnson, Jackson advanced towards Milroy and Schenck's encampment at McDowell. Jackson quickly took the prominent heights of Sitlington's Hill, and Union attempts to recapture the hill failed. The Union forces retreated that night, and Jackson pursued, only to return to McDowell on 13 May. After McDowell, Jackson defeated Union forces at several other battles during his Valley campaign.
In March 1862, Union forces commanded by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks moved into the Shenandoah Valley with the goal of supporting Major General George B. McClellan's advance up the Virginia Peninsula. Confederate resistance to Banks' advance consisted of a small army commanded by Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. On March 21, the Union high command ordered the majority of Banks' command out of the Shenandoah Valley, leaving only a division commanded by Brigadier General James Shields to deal with Jackson. Shields left his camp at Strasburg and began moving north towards Winchester. On March 23, Jackson caught up with Shields' division near Kernstown. Faulty intelligence led Jackson to believe that only a small portion of Shields' force was at Kernstown, so he ordered an assault. Instead, Shields was in the area with his entire force, and a sharp battle was opened. The Confederates took a position behind a stone wall, but after Confederate Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett's brigade retreated after running low on ammunition, the flank of the Confederate position was exposed, forcing Jackson to withdraw from the field. Despite having defeated Jackson at Kernstown, Union high command was concerned by the aggressive behavior the Confederate army had shown, and began to send more troops to the Shenandoah Valley area, including the two divisions of Banks' army that had been moved out earlier.
After the retreat from Kernstown, Jackson's force remained in the southern Shenandoah Valley awaiting orders and preparing for battle. In April, Jackson received orders to keep the Union forces in the Valley occupied with the goal of preventing them from joining McClellan's army near Richmond. Also coming to Jackson's camp were reinforcements commanded by Major General Richard Ewell. Meanwhile, another Union force was moving against Jackson's army. Major General John C. Frémont's Mountain Department was moving towards Jackson from the west, across the Allegheny Mountains. Frémont's advance force consisted of 3,500 men commanded by Brigadier General Robert Milroy. Milroy reached the town of McDowell in early May, and was reinforced by another 2,500 men under Brigadier General Robert C. Schenck on 8 May.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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