War Comes to the Shenandoah Valley: The Civil War Year by Year, 1862–1864

During "the Burning," the U.S. Army destroyed what it could not take: barns, mills, fields of grain and livestock. Library of Congress.

"The war consumed everything and the simple everyday task of feeding one's family became troublesome, as food shortages were commonplace and the few supplies that can be found demanded a higher price." — Julia Chase

Most people in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley favored staying in the Union. But when President Abraham Lincoln called for troops against the seceded Southern states, they sided with their state. Virginia's westernmost counties remained in the Union and formed a new state, while most of the Valley went with the rest of Virginia into the Confederacy. The Valley's strategic geography made it a major theater of the war, the scene of hundreds of skirmishes and engagements, including twenty battles.

1862: Jackson's Valley Campaign

On January 1, 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson began a winter campaign from Winchester, skirmishing at Bath and Hancock and reaching Romney (now in West Virginia) before returning to Winchester late in January. Federal forces retook Romney in February, and at the end of that month U.S. Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's army crossed the Potomac into Virginia. Jackson left Winchester on March 11, and Banks occupied it the next day.

The spring brought Jackson's famous Valley Campaign. Confederate Gen. Richard S. Ewell's division crossed the Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap on April 30. Jackson left the Valley through Brown's Gap on May 3, then returned the next day by rail, from Mechum's River Station through Rockfish Gap to Staunton. Brig. Gen. Turner Ashby was killed in a skirmish near Harrisonburg on June 6, and on June 17 Jackson left the Valley for Richmond.

In September, as part of the Maryland Campaign that included the Battle of Antietam, Jackson crossed the Potomac back into Virginia from Williamsport, Maryland, with three divisions, and the Federal garrison at Martinsburg under Brig. Gen. Julius White fell back to Harpers Ferry. The siege of Harpers Ferry, September 12–15, involved 36,900 troops (US 14,000; CS 22,900) and ended in a Federal surrender, with 12,922 estimated casualties (US 12,636; CS 286). At Shepherdstown on September 19–20, the Confederates won again; casualties were estimated at 654 (US 363; CS 291).

1863: Occupation and the road to Gettysburg

On January 1, 1863, the day of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, U.S. Gen. Robert Milroy occupied Winchester. In June, as the Confederate army moved north toward Gettysburg, it drove the Federals out at the Second Battle of Winchester (June 13–15): 19,500 engaged (US 7,000; CS 12,500), 4,709 estimated casualties (US 4,443; CS 266), a Confederate victory. Ewell's Second Corps, Hill's Third Corps and Longstreet's First Corps then crossed the Potomac northward at Williamsport and Shepherdstown between June 15 and 25.

After Gettysburg, the Army of Northern Virginia came back through Martinsburg on July 14. At Manassas Gap (Wapping Heights) on July 23, during the retreat, 14,000 men were engaged (US 8,000; CS 6,000); casualties were US 243 and CS 147, and the result was indecisive.

1864: New Market, Lynchburg and Early's raid

In spring 1864 a Federal army under Gen. Franz Sigel advanced from Martinsburg, occupied Winchester and camped at Cedar Creek. Sigel lost at New Market on May 15 and was relieved of command on May 19, and David Hunter took command on May 21. Hunter pushed south, won at Piedmont, entered Staunton, and on June 11 burned the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early's Second Corps was ordered to the Valley on June 13 and reached Lynchburg on June 17.

Early then carried the war north in the 1864 Maryland Campaign, a raid that included operations against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. His Army of the Valley reached Winchester on July 2, won at Monocacy on July 9, came back across the Potomac at White's Ferry on July 14, and won at Cool Spring on July 18. At the Second Battle of Kernstown on July 24, with 23,000 engaged (US 10,000; CS 13,000) and 1,800 estimated casualties (US 1,200; CS 600), Early won what would be the last Confederate victory in the Valley. On July 30 Confederate cavalry under John McCausland burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

1864: Sheridan and the Burning

On August 7, Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan arrived at Harpers Ferry to take command of the Middle Military Division and the Army of the Shenandoah. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant met him at his Charles Town headquarters on September 16.

On September 23, after a skirmish at Front Royal, Federal cavalry executed six of Mosby's Rangers. On September 27, Sheridan began "the Burning," the systematic destruction of the Valley's barns, mills, crops and livestock; it was completed after 13 days. When Lt. John R. Meigs was killed by Confederate scouts near Dayton on October 3, Sheridan ordered Dayton and the surrounding homes burned in retaliation, then rescinded the order the next day.

The campaign's climax came at Cedar Creek. On October 15 Sheridan left for a strategy meeting in Washington. The next day, Early had a decoy message signaled from Signal Knob in view of the Federal army. On October 17 Gen. John B. Gordon, Gen. Clement A. Evans, Maj. Robert W. Hunter and Maj. Jedediah Hotchkiss climbed Massanutten Mountain to study Sheridan's army from Signal Knob, and on October 18 Early accepted the plan of attack Gordon and Hotchkiss proposed; Gordon, Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur and Hotchkiss then scouted a trail around the mountain. Sheridan, returning by train, rode from Martinsburg to Winchester that day. The Battle of Cedar Creek on October 19 ended in a Federal victory.

Sources

• National Park Service, Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, "War Comes to the Valley," part of the series The War Consumed Everything. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/civil-war-shenandoah-valley.htm
• The source gives McDowell's forces as "12,500 total" but lists US 6,500 and CS 3,000, and gives Manassas Gap casualties as 440 but lists US 243 and CS 147; this page gives the parts only. Its spellings "Sheperdstown" and "Jedidiah" are given here as Shepherdstown and Jedediah.