McCoy House

McCoy House. Union Headquarters. , On May 6, 1862, Union Gen. Union Gen. Robert C. Schenck made his headquarters here at the McCoy House, invited by homeowner William McCoy, when he and his brigade arrived in Franklin., the next day, Schenck and his men hurried south, marching 34 miles in 23 hours, to reinforce Union Gen. Robert H. Milroy in McDowell, who was bracing for the threat of Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's advancing army. On May 8, Jackson defeated Schenck and Milroy at McDowell, and the Federals withdrew north to Franklin with Jackson's army in pursuit. As they marched, the Federals set the woods on fire to delay the Confederates, the smoke reducing visibility to two hundred yards. The burning trees fascinated the soldiers. One of Jackson's staff members wrote, "At night the light was exquisitely beautiful. These dead trees were columns of fire.", When he reached here on May 11, Schenck established a defensive line on the hill to the west. Gen. John C. Fremont's army reinforced Schenck and Milroy, and together they prepared for a Confederate attack. Jackson, however, was more concerned about being trapped between Fremont's army and Union Gen. Nathaniel Banks' force in the Shenandoah Valley. After some skirmishing, Jackson marched away from Franklin to the Valley on May 13. He likewise set the woods afire and left a cavalry detachment behind in the smoke to make noise and convince the Federals that he and his army were just a mile to the south of here. The ruse worked. On May 27, Fremont's army withdrew north down the South Branch Valley.,

"The whole [Union] army said to be twenty thousand strong were encamped two weeks in and around Franklin and having many sick and wounded nearly every home in town has been converted into a hospital. … One Lieutenant from Ohio died in our house. … Yesterday morning the whole army of Gen Freemont [sic] commenced a hasty retreat … leaving 125 sick and wounded." , , William McCoy, May 28, 1862