The Battle of New Market, 1864: The VMI Cadets and the Field of Lost Shoes

"We were severely whipt… The battle was a disgraceful affair at best," wrote L.J. Alleman of the 1st New York Veteran Cavalry. In May 1864, Union Gen. Franz Sigel marched up the Shenandoah Valley to seize rail lines that supplied Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. At New Market on May 15, Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge — with help from the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) — beat him. It was one of the Confederacy's last victories in the Valley.

"Cadets at New Market," engraving by H.C. Edwards, from A School History of the United States (1903).

Two armies

Around the time Ulysses S. Grant took command of all Union armies, Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel — a 39-year-old German immigrant, experienced but with little success in battle, and popular among German Americans — took over the Department of West Virginia. Grant's orders were clear: destroy any Confederate force in the Valley, threaten Lee's left flank, and capture the rail hub at Staunton, Virginia.

After about six weeks of preparation, Sigel left Martinsburg, West Virginia, on April 29, 1864. Confederate cavalry and partisan rangers reported his every move, giving Breckinridge — who had no real army of his own — time to gather scattered brigades. The cadets were eager but had never seen combat.

The approach

Harassment by Confederate cavalry and heavy rain from May 11 to 15 slowed Sigel's march down the Valley Turnpike. On May 13, Imboden's troopers ambushed Union cavalry under Col. William Boyd riding down from Massanutten Mountain; Confederate artillery cut them up, and about half became casualties or prisoners. Losing these men of the 1st New York (Lincoln) Cavalry cost Sigel many of his "eyes and ears."

Imboden took Shirley's Hill, just west of New Market; the Federals held the smaller Manor's Hill about a mile north, near the Bushong family's farm. Ordered to "hold New Market at all hazards" until the infantry arrived, Imboden did.

May 15

When firing began that morning, fewer than half of Sigel's men were on the field — a thin line of three regiments and perhaps ten cannons on Manor's Hill, with the rest still marching down the pike. The Confederates were already in place. Breckinridge shuffled units during the morning's artillery duel to look stronger than he was, and it worked: many Federals were intimidated.

Around noon, with the ground turning to mud, Breckinridge attacked. Wharton's brigade rushed down the open slope of Shirley's Hill while Echols advanced up the Valley Pike, the cadets following in reserve. Union shells found the cadets on the way down — "the Yankee gunners had gotten the exact range," one recalled.

The Federals fell back to a new line on Bushong's Hill, which Sigel reached with reinforcements. It should have been a strong position, but in rain and mud its advantages counted for little. A Union cavalry charge by Stahel down the pike was shredded by Confederate artillery and infantry; a Pennsylvania regiment's attack was thrown back. "The rebels advanced in lines of battle… the air was filled with bullets and bursting shells, and my men began to fall," wrote Union Col. George Wells.

The cadets go in

Then a gap opened in the Confederate line, and Breckinridge's only reserve left was the cadets. Reluctantly, he sent them in under Lt. Col. Scott Shipp. Shell fire tore through their ranks; cadets McDowell, Atwill, Jefferson, Smith and Randolph were killed or wounded, and Shipp was hit. "The fire was withering… here we sustained our heaviest loss," he reported. A Union counterattack by the 34th Massachusetts and 1st West Virginia was repulsed — the 34th Massachusetts suffered its worst losses of the day there.

Ordered to fix bayonets, the cadets climbed a rail fence and charged across a muddy hollow that sucked off many of their shoes — "the mud was nearly knee deep," one wrote. It became known as the Field of Lost Shoes. They captured a cannon in hand-to-hand fighting and took roughly 80 prisoners. Nearby, the 51st and 26th Virginia took Bushong's Hill, and the 22nd Virginia — commanded by Col. George S. Patton, grandfather of the World War II general — and the 62nd Virginia struck near the pike. The Union line collapsed.

Rout

Federal soldiers fled north through the fields and up the pike; Sigel himself narrowly escaped capture. Breckinridge pushed on to catch them before they crossed the Shenandoah River near Mount Jackson — leaving behind the cadets, who had suffered 59 casualties, including 10 dead. A rear guard, including Capt. Henry DuPont's battery, held off the pursuit long enough for the Federals to cross the swollen river and burn the bridge.

Sigel's command ended with the battle. On May 21, Grant replaced him with Maj. Gen. David Hunter — who also failed in the Valley and was replaced in August 1864 by Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan.

Visiting

New Market Battlefield is part of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District, managed by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. Visit New Market Battlefield.

Sources

Based on "Battle of New Market," Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.