The First Battle Of Kernstown

The First Battle Of Kernstown. . (sidebar) , In the excitement of battle I could aim at them only forty or fifty yards from me, as coolly as I ever did at a squirrel. But now it seems very much like murder. They would throw up their hands and fall every time we would get a fair shot at them, and we would laugh at their motions and make jest at their misfortune. I don't nor can't imagine now how we could do it. The fact is, in battle a man becomes a sinner and delights at the work of death. And if his best friend falls at his side he heeds it not, but presses on eager to engage in the wholesale murder. , John G. Marsh, 29th Ohio Regiment, to his father, April 10, 1862, in C. Cavins Smithy, ed., "The Duties of Home and War: The Civil War Letters of John G. Marsh, 19th Ohio Volunteers (A Selection),” Upper Ohio Valley Historical Review (1979), VIII(2):10., (main text) , On March 23, 1862, the opening conflict of the Valley Campaign of the Civil War began on the adjoining Glass and Pritchard farms. You are visiting the Glass Farm called Rose Hill. The neighboring Pritchard Farm is 1 1/2 miles southeast of where you are standing. The clash began early in the morning on the Pritchard Farm and concluded on the Glass Farm with the loss of sunlight at the end of the day., The Commanders, For the South , General Thomas J. "Stonewall” Jackson commanded the Confederate troops during the First Battle of Kernstown, the opening battle of his Shenandoah Valley Campaign, and his only tactical defeat., Brigadier General Richard B. Garnett was Jackson’s second in command. In desperation, Garnett ordered his soldiers to withdraw from the battle without Stonewall Jackson’s permission. , For the North , Colonel Nathan Kimball commanded the Union troops during the First Battle of Kernstown with an infantry division twice the size of the Southern forces., Colonel Erastus B. Tyler commanded the Union infantry in Winchester and was dispatched to the battle by Colonel Nathan Kimball to capture enemy artillery., The walking trail includes interpretive signs about the Rose Hill portion of the First Battle of Kernstown. From here to the stone wall is .3 miles. The trail forms an additional loop of 1.1 miles. , The trail surface is compacted stone. Please be prepared for hills and wildlife. Trail grade to the stone wall may reach up to 8%. Areas of the loop remainder may exceed 8% for short distances.