Battle Of McDowell

Battle Of McDowell. The Guns Of Cemetery Hill. (preface) , Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackon's unsuccessful attack on Union forces at Kernstown on March 23, 1862, alarmed Federal officials, who assigned additional troops to the Shenandoah Valley to guard against a Confederate assault on Washington, D.C. In May and June, Jackson's "foot cavalry" marched 350 miles; defeated three Union armies in engagements at McDowell (May 8), Front Royal (May 23), Winchester (May 25), Cross Keys (June 8), and Port Republic (June 9); inflicted twice the number of casualties it suffered; and tied down 60,000 Federal troops. The campaign made Jackson the Confederacy's foremost hero., (main text) , During the Battle of McDowell on May 8, 1862, Cemetery Hill was crowded with Federal cannons, each served by a crew of 10 men or more. Capt. Henry Hyman, Battery I, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, positioned his guns here with the 55th Ohio Infantry Regiment behind them as a guard., To support the Union infantry attack on Sitlington's Hill, where Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's men under Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson waited for the assault, Hyman directed fire on the Confederate positions. (At the time, Civil War gunners had to see a target to aim at it; a year later, a Confederate gunner in West Virginia "invented" indirect fire using a forward observer.) The hill was so steep that the artillerists dug trenches for the cannons' trails (rear of the carriages) to elevate the muzzles enough to reach the Confederates., Union Gens. Robert C. Schenck and Robert H. Milroy launched their "spoiling attack" up Sitlington's Hill. Recognizing that Jackson had the superior position, they hoped to delay any Confederate attack so that the Federals could withdraw in good order. Schenck encouraged the assaulting troops, mostly regiments from his native Ohio, with an appeal to state pride: "Remember that you are from Ohio!" Good luck, capable leadership, and high morale among the Ohio infantrymen nearly carried the day before darkness and Confederate reinforcements ended the fighting. The result was a costly victory for Jackson, who suffered twice as many casualties as the Federals, but it also was the first of his string of victories during the campaign., (sidebar) , Sgt. Oscar D. Ladley, 75th Ohio Infantry, sketched the McDowell Battlefield and Sitlington's Hill from approximately this position. He and his regiment crossed over Cemetery Hill to join the attack. The regiment lost 39 killed, wounded, and missing. Ladiey survived the war and left the army in 1865 as a captain., (captions) , The Battle of McDowell May 8, 1862., 1st Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery gun crew , Courtesy Ohio Historical Society, Sgt. Oscar D. Ladley Courtesy Wright State University, Sitlington's Hill (center) from McDowell , Courtesy Wright State University