Battle of McDowell

Battle of McDowell. "God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell". , Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson'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 Confederate's foremost hero. , In May 1862, two Union armies threatened Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's army in the Shenandoah Valley. To keep them from uniting, Jackson left a division to block Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's force at Winchester and turned his attention to Gen. John C. Frémont's army, which was approaching from the west. Jackson first marched his command out of the Valley to suggest that he was en route to Richmond and then turned back to Staunton. On May 7, he marched west on the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike., The head of Frémont's army, Gen. Robert H. Milroy's division had been camped here at McDowell since April 17. Milroy's artillery occupied Cemetery Hill across the road in front of you. He neglected to occupy the high ground, Sitlington's Hill, to your left across U.S. Route 250, and Jackson sent Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson's division to hold it. On May 8, Johnson deployed his force with the 12th Georgia Infantry in front. Late in the afternoon, Milroy attacked up the steep slope, using ravines and heavy woods for cover. After desperate fighting at the summit, the Federals fell back to McDowell., The next day, Jackson telegraphed Richmond, "God blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday," and then pursued the retreating Federals west on the turnpike and then north about thirty miles to Franklin. After some skirmishing, Jackson marched back to the Valley on May 12. Frémont's army soon retreated deeper into western Virginia, leaving Jackson free to operate against Banks.