On 25 May 1862 Stonewall Jackson's Confederate army attacked the much smaller Union force of Nathaniel P. Banks south of Winchester, Virginia, and routed it: Richard Taylor's Louisiana brigade overran Bowers Hill, and Banks retreated to the Potomac and into Maryland. On the same date in 1944, Allied troops from the southern front in Italy reached the Anzio beachhead.
First Battle of Winchester
25 May 1862 · 164 years ago
Jackson's diversion
By May 1862 Jackson had already won at McDowell and at Front Royal, and Banks's army was being driven back toward Winchester.1
On 23 May the Confederates struck the Union post at Front Royal, held by about 1,000 men under Colonel John Kenly. On 24 May Jackson's men attacked Banks's retreating column at Middletown and Newtown, and Banks fell back to Winchester. Jackson summed up the three days in a telegram to General S. Cooper: "On Saturday Banks' main column, while retreating from Strasburg to Winchester, was pierced, the rear part retreating toward Strasburg. On Sunday the other part was routed at this place".2
Outnumbered south of the town
Banks's line ran south of the town from Camp Hill, on its southeast edge, to Bowers Hill, southwest of it. Colonel George H. Gordon's brigade held the right.3
Banks reported "about 5,000 men" in all, and the Park Service gives approximately 5,000. The historian G. F. R. Henderson doubted that Banks could muster more than 6,500 effective soldiers. The Park Service battle summary and the American Battlefield Trust give 6,500 Union troops against 16,000 Confederates.4
Fog on Camp Hill
On the Union left, Ewell's men attacked through fog. A soldier of the 21st North Carolina, quoted by the Park Service, remembered it as "so dense as to make it impossible to see twenty steps in any direction", and Henderson writes that "the mist was heavy". Jackson reported that the 21st North Carolina was forced back by fire from a Federal regiment behind a stone wall until the 21st Georgia drove that regiment from its shelter, and Dabney tells it the same way.5
"A wicked fellow"
The Park Service and the Trust both put the attack of Taylor's Louisiana brigade at around 7:30 a.m., and the Park Service battle summary says the brigade outflanked and overran the Union position on Bowers Hill. As his column filed into position under artillery fire, his men ducked, and Taylor cursed at them and threatened to halt them under that fire for an hour if there was any more of it. Jackson, riding beside him, "placed his hand on my shoulder, said in a gentle voice, 'I am afraid you are a wicked fellow,' turned, and rode back to the pike".6
Jackson's report describes the charge: "Steadily, and in fine order, mounting the hill, and there fronting the enemy, where he stood in greatest strength, the whole line magnificently swept down the declivity and across the field, driving back the Federal troops and bearing down all opposition before it". The Trust writes that Banks's entire line buckled in a matter of minutes, and the Park Service that panic spread through the Federal ranks and many fled through Winchester.7
The streets of Winchester
Gordon reported that his column "suffered serious loss in the streets of Winchester. Males and females vied with each other in increasing the number of their victims, by firing from the houses, throwing hand grenades, hot water, and missiles of every description". The Park Service writes that civilians, mostly women, threw objects at the retreating soldiers and fired weapons, killing several. Banks was more guarded: officers "whose word I cannot doubt" had told him that his men were fired upon from private dwellings.8
Jackson reported "the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy" from the town's "loyal people", Taylor found the women "frantic with delight", and the Park Service writes that delighted residents thronged the Confederates, which slowed the pursuit.9
"Never was there such a chance for cavalry"
Jackson reported: "Never have I seen an opportunity when it was in the power of cavalry to reap a richer harvest of the fruits of victory". His biographer R. L. Dabney, writing in 1866, and the Park Service both have him exclaim: "Never was there such a chance for cavalry".10
Jackson reported that he had seen only some 50 of Ashby's cavalry since the previous evening, and that Brigadier General George H. Steuart, of Ewell's command, who led two cavalry regiments, answered his order to pursue by saying that it must come through Ewell. Henderson writes that two hours passed before the cavalry took up the chase; Jackson halted his exhausted infantry, and by then the main body of Banks's army was beyond reach.11
Banks wrote that his column reached the Potomac at sundown, and the Park Service says the troops crossed that evening into Maryland.12
Counting the cost
The Union casualty table in the Official Records totals 2,019 for Front Royal and Buckton Station on 23 May, Strasburg, Middletown and Newtown on 24 May, and Winchester on 25 May. The Trust lists the same 2,019 (62 killed, 243 wounded, 1,714 missing and captured) under First Winchester. The Park Service article gives 71 killed, 243 wounded and 1,714 captured or missing, 2,028 in all, for 23 to 25 May.13
Jackson reported 68 killed, 329 wounded and 3 missing, "making a total loss of 400", for the whole expedition, "including the engagements at Front Royal and Winchester"; Dabney repeats these figures, and the Park Service gives 68 killed and 329 wounded for 23 to 25 May. The Trust lists 397 under First Winchester.14
Jackson's list of property taken in the expedition at Front Royal, Winchester, Martinsburg and Charlestown includes "upward of 100 head of cattle, 34,000 pounds of bacon" and other food, and "9,354 small-arms". The Park Service gives about half a million rounds of ammunition, over 9,300 small arms and 34,000 pounds of commissary stores, and the Trust 500,000 rounds of ammunition and 100 head of cattle. The Trust says the Confederates nicknamed Banks "Commissary Banks".15
Washington reacts
Washington had acted before the battle was fought. General Irvin McDowell later stated that on 24 May he received the President's order "To lay aside for the present the movement on Richmond, and put 20,000 men in motion at once for the Shenandoah"; Henderson writes that McDowell was ordered to lay aside the movement and send half his army to the Valley. The Trust writes that Federal officials were forced to redirect thousands of troops destined for the Army of the Potomac toward the Valley, and the Park Service that Jackson's victories at Front Royal and Winchester forced the US Army to divert troops from their advance on Richmond.16
The Park Service calls Winchester a decisive battle in Jackson's Valley Campaign, and the Trust writes that the victory had major ripple effects and made Jackson's reputation. Jackson's career is told in our biography of Stonewall Jackson.17
Also on this day
Battle of Bornholm
25 May 1676 · 350 years ago
In the Scanian War, Lorentz Creutz's larger Swedish fleet fought Niels Juel's Danish and Dutch fleet off the Jasmund peninsula of Rügen, both seeking control of the southern Baltic. Two days of line fighting brought no clear result, and Juel broke away.
1944: In Italy, Allied troops advancing from the southern front made contact with VI Corps from the Anzio beachhead on 25 May. The landing is told in our Anzio article.18
