Battle of Moorefield

Battle of Moorefield. Running for the Hills. , If you had been standing here about mid-morning of August 7, 1864, you would have seen Confederate soldiers running for the hills on your right. Confederate Gen. John McCausland's cavalry brigade was camped in the fields in front of you on this side of the South Branch of the Potomac River, while McCausland was sleeping in Samuel A. McMechen's house in Moorefield, two miles away. His brigade and that of Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, bivouacked in the Old Fields area two miles ahead of you, had taken part in Gen. Jubal A. Early's raid on Washington, D.C. They had burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, after trying unsuccessfully to extort money from the town fathers in retaliation for Federal "depredations" in the Shenandoah Valley (which had likewise been in retaliation for Confederate "atrocities" elsewhere). Union Gen. William W. Averell, who pursued the Confederates, surprised them at Old Fields, pushing them here. Johnson's men forded the river and attempted to form a defense with McCausland's brigade, but they were outflanked and outgunned. The 3rd West Virginia Cavalry charged three times across the river and made the Confederates run for the hills. In The Meadows, the brick house to your right, the Williams family took shelter in their cellar from the fighting., Averell captured four cannons, more than 400 men with their weapons, and about the same number of horses, which were as difficult to replace as the soldiers. Early later claimed that the engagement had seriously damaged the effectiveness of his cavalry arm for the remainder of his campaign in the Shenandoah Valley.