| First Battle of Kernstown | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theAmerican Civil War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States (Union) |  CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Nathan Kimball | Stonewall Jackson | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 8,500 (estimated)[a][3] | 3,800 (estimated)[a][3] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 590 total 118 killed 450 wounded 22 captured or missing[a][4] | 737 total 139 killed 312 wounded 286 captured or missing[a][4] | ||||||
TheFirst Battle of Kernstown was fought on March 23, 1862, inFrederick County andWinchester, Virginia during theAmerican Civil War.[4]ConfederateGeneralThomas "Stonewall" Jackson'sShenandoah ValleyCampaign of 1862 was generally a success.[3] However, the First Battle of Kernstown was one his few defeats.[3]
At the beginning of 1862,PresidentAbraham Lincoln wanted his generals to attack in force against the Confederacy.[5] McClellan was massing his army for hisPeninsula Campaign with the goal ofcapturing the Confederate capital of Richmond and ending the war. To do this McClellan had to weaken his forces protectingWashington, D.C..[5] This left only two Union forces to protect Washington. Besides Banks in the Shenandoah Valley, GeneralIrwin McDowell had forces inNorthernVirginia.[5] Banks was to clear the Shenandoah Valley of Confederate forces then move up towards Washington so McDowell's force of 30,000 to move against Richmond from the north.[6] Banks left GeneralJames Shields with a force of about 9,000 in the Valley while he would moveeast toManassas, Virginia, to be closer to Washington, D.C.[6]
Stonewall Jackson was given the task of keeping theFederal Army busy in the Valley so they could not join McClellan.[7] Jackson's cavalry commander,ColonelTurner Ashby, learned that part of the Union forces were leaving the valley and only a small force remained.[b][7]
Jackson gave Ashbypermission to attack while he moved the remainder of his forces up to join Ashby.[7] Unfortunately, Ashley'sinformation was bad. While the Confederates thought they were attacking only fourregiments (totalling about 3,000 men), there were actually about three times that number of Unionsoldiers.[10] The remaining Union troops remained out of sight during theskirmish.[10] General Shields waswounded in the fighting and turned command of the Union division over to ColonelNathan Kimball.[3]
At about nine o'clock on the morning of March 23, Ashby's cavalry attacked. Kimball was not certain if this was another skirmish or the start of a battle. But just in case, he placed his forces in a strongdefensive position on Pritchard Hill.[3] He placed hisartillery there as well. On seeing this, Jackson concentrated his artillery on Sandy Ridge, west of Prichard Hill.[3] At about three-thirty, Jackson could see from Sandy Ridge that what he thought was a small Union force was actually much bigger.[3] Jackson told one of hisofficers "We are in for it."[3]
Kimball, believing he was up against a much larger Confederate force, decided to silence the Confederate guns on Sandy Ridge.[3] His attack was met with strong resistance from the Confederates and the battle soon became astalemate.[3] Jackson kept sending in more Confederate troops, but he could not drive the Union line back.[3] Kimball still had freshreserves he could send into the battle. By six o'clock the Confederates were running low onammunition and were nearlyexhausted. When one of hisbrigades ran out ofammunition completely, they had towithdraw from the battle.[10] The Union army attacked through the gap they left and Jackson's entire force had to quicklyretreat.[10]