The Stonewall Brigade by John Selby

Author:John Selby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Stonewall Brigade
ISBN: 9781782008750
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

The Valley Campaign, 1 January–9 June, 1862. In Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign he had only 4,500 men with which to defend the valley against the invading Federal forces under Gen. Banks. In May and June Jackson’s First Virginia Brigade fought five battles, defeated four separate armies, and survived with total losses of under 1,000 killed, wounded and missing

After the battle the Stonewall Brigade led the pursuit up to Harper’s Ferry, a pursuit which nevertheless did not achieve very much. The cavalry were too busy plundering to participate, and the infantry on their own were not fast enough to catch the fleeing Federals. Nevertheless Banks was driven across the Potomac, and 1,500 Federal soldiers were killed or wounded for a total loss of 400 Confederates. Also 3,000 prisoners, 10,000 stands of much-needed small arms and a vast quantity of stores were now in Jackson’s hands.

A feature of the Valley Campaign was the sudden change of fortune of each side. The Federal higher command reacted very quickly to Banks’s discomfiture. He had scarcely been driven across the Potomac before Frémont was ordered to strike at Jackson’s flank, from the Mountain Department, and Shields, on the other flank, was sent across the Blue Ridge by McDowell. Jackson soon faced being cut off by a skilful Federal pincer movement of serious dimensions. He was forced to withdraw, and all the strategic gains of the Front Royal operations appeared lost. Quickly Jackson withdrew his forces, first back to Strasburg, and then down the turnpike again. The cavalry and rearguard turned against Frémont’s force which was fast approaching Strasburg from the Mountain Department. They fought some sharp actions and held Frémont’s vanguard back until the Stonewall Brigade, the last to arrive, had passed through Strasburg and were able to join the retreating columns down the turnpike. Frémont’s force was the dangerous one. Shields’s force coming from the east never got so close. On reaching Front Royal it started to move down the east side of the Shenandoah Valley. To prevent Shields from joining Frémont across the Massanuttons through the Newmarket gap, Jackson sent troopers to burn the bridges over the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. The fords were impassable owing to the swollen state of the river, so the destruction of the bridges removed Shields’s only access to the Newmarket gap.

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