Winchester, First was a Civil War engagement fought in Virginia, 1862. It was a Confederate victory.
After skirmishing with Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's retreating army at Middletown and Newtown on May 24, Maj. Gen. T.J. Jackson's division continued north on the Valley Pike toward Winchester. There, Banks was attempting to reorganize his army to defend the town. Ewell's division converged on Winchester from the southeast using the Front Royal Pike. On May 25, Ewell attacked Camp Hill, while the Louisiana Brigade of Jackson's division outflanked and overran the Union position on Bowers Hill. Panic spread through the Federal ranks, and many fled through Winchester. Banks's army was soundly defeated and withdrew north across the Potomac River. This was a decisive battle in Jackson's Valley Campaign.
On May 25, 1862, Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson won a significant triumph near Frederick County, Virginia, and Winchester, Virginia, in what became known as the First Battle of Winchester. This clash formed part of Jackson's broader Shenandoah Valley Campaign during the American Civil War. His troops swept around the right flank of Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's Union Army, driving the retreating soldiers all the way across the Potomac River and into Maryland. Because Jackson managed to concentrate his forces effectively at the outset of combat, he finally attained the kind of decisive triumph that had eluded him during the campaign's earlier engagements.
Overnight, the lead elements of Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's division, comprising four brigades, arrived at Buffalo Lick. Jackson then shifted three of those brigades leftward to join the push along the Valley pike, which left Ewell with only Trimble's brigade and the Maryland regiment commanded by Bradley Johnson. As daylight broke, Ewell positioned Trimble's men across the Front Royal Pike and pushed them toward the Union army's left flank. The foremost regiments, especially the 21st North Carolina Infantry, met withering fire from Union troops sheltered behind stone walls and were driven back. After regrouping and bringing artillery forward, Ewell renewed the push with Trimble's regiments, sending units around both sides of the elevated terrain to fire into the Union line from the flanks. Donnelly pulled his brigade back toward Winchester itself, anchoring his right on Camp Hill. Ewell then tried to swing around the right side beyond the Millwood Road, but Banks ordered Donnelly to fall back through the town before that maneuver could take hold.
While Ewell pressed forward on the Front Royal Pike, Jackson moved along the Valley Pike in the thick fog of early morning. On his order, Winder's brigade crested a hill to the left of the road, scattering the Union skirmishers stationed there. Jackson swiftly positioned a section of guns atop that rise to trade fire with Union artillery on Bower's Hill, barely half a mile distant. Union marksmen posted along Abrams Creek began cutting down the gun crews. In response, Jackson brought forward the remainder of his artillery, sparking a sustained exchange with the guns on Bower's Hill.
The engagement at First Winchester stood as a decisive triumph for Jackson during his Valley Campaign, one that mattered both on the battlefield and in the wider scope of the war. Because Jackson had acted so boldly, Union intentions for the Peninsula Campaign, meant to strike at Richmond, fell into disarray. Thousands of Union troops meant as reinforcements ended up redirected instead, sent to the Valley and to guard Washington, D.C.
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