New London Academy

New London Academy. Confederate Cavalry Line. (preface) , On May 26, 1864, Union Gen. David Hunter marched south from Cedar Creek near Winchester to drive out Confederate forces, lay waste to the Shenandoah Valley, and destroy transportation facilities at Lynchburg. His raid was part of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s strategy to attack Confederates simultaneously throughout Virginia. After defeating Gen. William E. “Grumble” Jones at Piedmont on June 5, Hunter marched to Lexington, burned Virginia Military Institute, and headed to Lynchburg. There, on June 17-18, Gen. Jubal A. Early repulsed Hunter and pursued him to West Virginia. Early then turned north in July to threaten Washington., (marker text) , Late in the afternoon of June 16, 1864, the lead elements of Union Gen. David Hunter’s army clashed with Confederate Gens. John McCausland’s and John D. Imboden’s cavalrymen near the village of New London. The few thousand cavalrymen, who had slowed Hunter’s march for several days, established a dismounted defensive line here to delay the Union advance on Lynchburg until Gen. Jubal A. Early could arrive there with his corps., Union Gen. William W. Averell’s cavalrymen, in advance of the Federal army, struck the Confederate lines and were repulsed. Averell sent a courier to Hunter, who then instructed Gen. George Crook to assist Averell. Although Averell continued to bring men forward, he made no attempt to strike hard at the Confederate lines., It was about dark when Crook’s infantry arrived. As the 12th and 91st Ohio Infantry Regiments charged, they were “warmly engaged.” The Confederate cavalrymen withdrew, covered by a rearguard action. At the next creek east of New London, Imboden formed another line. As darkness fell, Crook called off his attack. Hunter, instead of marching toward Lynchburg, decided to go into camp, thus missing the only chance he had for capturing the city., (sidebar) , New London Academy is the oldest continuously operating public secondary school in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It opened here in 1795, a few miles from Thomas Jefferson’s summer retreat, Poplar Forest, and remained open during the Civil War. The brick building was constructed 1837-39, and an extant out-building was the original school kitchen. Union soldiers ransacked the Academy during Hunter’s Raid.