The Lynchburg Campaign, 1864: From New Market to the Road North

In 1864 Ulysses S. Grant, the new general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, ordered his commanders to destroy the Confederacy's armies, its transportation, and the economic and agricultural base it drew from the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia.

"Nos. 9–9a: Lynchburg, Virginia," maps by Jedediah Hotchkiss, 1864. Library of Congress.

The spring offensive

The Union push began in May, when Grant ordered the forces of Generals George Crook and Franz Sigel to converge on Staunton, Virginia. Crook's men moved south through West Virginia, cutting every rail link from Virginia to the west, while Sigel's 10,000 marched south up the Shenandoah Valley. The plan was to keep Confederate forces tied down in the Valley instead of reinforcing Lee as Grant drove toward Richmond.

The battles

• New Market. The Confederates won at New Market — one of their last victories in the Valley. Among their troops was a battalion of 257 cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), with two artillery pieces.
• Piedmont. Under a new general, the Union renewed its offensive, and the Battle of Piedmont on June 5, 1864, ended in a Confederate retreat and Union occupation of Staunton.
• Raids on Staunton and Lexington. Union troops raided Staunton and moved on to Lexington, where they burned VMI — part of the campaign against the Confederacy's economic base.
• Lynchburg. The threat in the Valley led Lee to send his Second Corps, 14,000 strong under Gen. Jubal A. Early, against the Union commander, Hunter. Early was to protect Lynchburg, drive Hunter out of the Valley and, if he succeeded, invade Maryland and threaten Washington. Breckinridge reached Lynchburg on June 15 and began fortifying it; Early arrived on June 17. Hunter, advancing slowly and laying waste to homes and farmland as he went, gave the Confederates time to reinforce. Early's victory on June 18 sent Hunter fleeing over the mountains into West Virginia.

With the Valley clear of Union troops, Early could march north down it to invade Maryland.

Sources

• National Park Service, Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park: "Lynchburg Campaign," part of the series The War Consumed Everything.