Following his victory at the Battle of McDowell, or Sitlington’s Hill,
on May 8th, 1862, Major General Stonewall Jackson, with his Valley District,
pursues his defeated Union foe, Brigadier General Robert H. Milroy, towards Franklin, Virginia.
He then retraces his steps back to McDowell, and finally to Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley.
By this time Major General Richard S. Ewell’s Division, over 8,000 strong,
has been biding its time at Swift Run Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and Union Major
General Nathaniel P. Banks’ Department of the Shenandoah, having left Harrisonburg on May 9th,
has started its withdrawal down the Valley, reaching Strasburg on May 13th.
On May 18th, General Ewell meets with Jackson at Mount Solon, which is southwest of Harrisonburg,
to discuss plans for dealing with Banks’ Federals. The first problem they face is Ewell’s orders from
their superior, General Joseph E. Johnston, directing Ewell to leave the Valley and bring
his division to Richmond. After some back and forth communication, however - and with help from
military advisor General Robert E. Lee - Major General Ewell is allowed to stay with Jackson,
with Johnston’s orders now reading, in part: “The objective you have to accomplish is the
prevention of the junction of General Banks’s troops with those of General McDowell.”
Major General Irwin McDowell is waiting in Fredericksburg with perhaps
30,000 troops in his I Corps, and he is scheduled to march south in support of
Union Major General George B. McClellan’s campaign against Richmond on the Peninsula.
Initially, Jackson and Ewell plan to unite at New Market - together their forces would
number about 17,000 - then march north on the Valley Turnpike, striking Banks at Strasburg.
After reaching New Market on May 21st, however, Jackson learns that only a small Union garrison
holds the town of Front Royal, about fifteen miles east of Strasburg, so Jackson determines to cross
Massanutten Mountain over the New Market Gap, link up with Ewell in Page County,
and from there, march north and overwhelm the 1,100 or so Yankees at Front Royal.
Leaving part of Colonel Turner Ashby’s 7th Virginia Cavalry Regiment to press
north on the Valley Pike - leading Banks to think the main thrust would come from
that direction - Jackson leads his command over Massanutten Mountain.
On May 22nd, he links up with Ewell, and together they push north. By striking at Front Royal,
Jackson would be placing his forces between Banks and McDowell, thus accomplishing his objective.
Meanwhile, Banks could count on no more than 8,000 men in his command:
6,100 infantry and cavalry with sixteen artillery pieces at Strasburg; the 1,100-man garrison at
Front Royal; and a small outpost at Buckton Station, about midway between the two towns.
On May 23rd, as Stonewall Jackson’s force approaches Front Royal from the south,
Confederate cavalry under Colonels Ashby and Thomas Flournoy,
which has led the advance, swings west, and crosses the South Fork of the Shenandoah River.
Their mission is to cut communication between Strasburg and Front Royal.
Meanwhile, from Union pickets captured south of Front Royal, Jackson learns that most of the
Federal garrison there belongs to the 1st Maryland Volunteer Infantry. Knowing that, he calls on his
own Confederate 1st Maryland Regiment, commanded by Colonel Bradley T. Johnson, to lead the attack.
This is to be supported by part of Brigadier General Richard Taylor’s Louisiana Brigade,
which includes the famed “Wheat’s Tigers” of the 1st Louisiana Special Infantry Battalion.
This would be the only time in the Civil War, as well as U.S. military history, when regiments from
the same state - and with the same numerical designation - would face each other in battle.
In order to avoid the Union picket posts on the main road south of Front Royal, Jackson
chooses to march his men up a steep, winding path, called Snake Road by the locals, about
a mile south of the town. Soon after 1:00 PM on May 23rd, 1862, Colonel Johnson’s Marylanders, no
doubt exhausted after their climb, crest the last wooded hill that leads into Front Royal and drive
out a nest of Federals who are quietly resting at the head of Snake Road. This marks the start of
the Battle of Front Royal, sometimes referred to in accounts as the Battle of Guard Hill.
After a few minutes of skirmishing, the Confederates are met by a “rather
well-looking woman,” the famous Southern spy Isabella Maria Boyd, often known by her nickname
of “Belle Boyd.” She is a citizen of Front Royal who is drawn by the fire on the hill,
and she extolls the men to “charge right down and [you will] catch them all.”
Believing Boyd’s story, Jackson orders Colonel Johnson, Major Chatham R. Wheat
and Brigadier General Taylor to do just that while he brings up the rest of his army.
Front Royal is less than a mile to their front. Another half mile or so beyond the hamlet,
up the main road and atop the position known as Richardson’s Hill, is the main camp for Colonel
John R. Kenly’s Union 1st Maryland. Beyond that is the confluence of the North and South
Forks of the Shenandoah River. A bridge spans each fork, and a viaduct of the Manassas Gap
Railroad crosses the South Fork and heads west to Strasburg, where Banks’ headquarters is located.
The Federal garrison at Front Royal consists of 16 companies of infantry - nine from the
1st Maryland, three from the 2nd Massachusetts, two from the 29th Pennsylvania, and one each from
the 3rd Wisconsin and the 27th Indiana. They are supported by two companies of the 5th New York
Cavalry, a section of rifled 10-pounder Parrott guns from the Pennsylvania Light Artillery and a
company of engineers. All told, there are about 1,100 Federal soldiers in and around the town.
The gray-uniformed Marylanders and Wheat’s Tigers are ordered to drive down the hill
and storm Front Royal while General Taylor brings up the rest of his Louisiana Brigade.
Major Wheat, excited by the order and no doubt wanting to vindicate
himself after being defeated at an earlier skirmish known as the Battle of Somerville,
charges down the left side of the road and is the first Confederate to enter the town.
Colonel Johnson later reported, “He shot by like a rocket,” adding, “His red cap gleaming,
revolver in hand, and got in first, throwing his shots right and left.”
Lucy Rebecca Buck, the daughter of a respected landowner in Front Royal,
remembered the initial clash between Federal and Confederate forces at Front Royal:
“Going to the door we saw the Yankees scampering over the meadow below our house….By
this time some scattered parties of Confederate infantry came up and charged their ranks,
after firing one volley they wheeled about - every man for himself they scampered
out of town like a flock of sheep - such an undignified exodus was never witnessed before.”
Once the Federals are driven from Front Royal, Wheat and Johnson, supported by Colonel Isaac G.
Seymour’s 6th Louisiana, order their men to head for the main Federal camp on Richardson’s Hill
north of the town. As the emboldened Confederates approach a ridgeline that fronts Richardson’s
Hill, however, they are forced to the ground by two 10-pounder Parrott rifles
and several companies of infantry firing down from the fortified encampment.
Major Wheat orders his Tigers to take cover around Rose Hill Manor, a large brick-and-wood
structure about 250 yards to the right front of the Federal line, where, according to Lucy Buck,
‘a good deal of fighting was done.’ Before long, Jackson himself arrives on the scene with Captain
James Carrington’s Charlottesville Artillery and posts it atop a hill to Wheat’s right rear.
With Wheat’s Tigers and Johnson’s Marylanders pinned down, General Taylor recommends a double
envelopment. While Wheat’s and Johnson’s men continue to fix Kenly’s position in front
and Carrington’s Battery provides support, Taylor points out that he can sweep his 7th,
8th and 9th Louisiana regiments to the far right, past Johnson’s Marylanders, and cross
the relatively unguarded railroad trestle that spans the South Fork, getting in Kenly’s rear.
As they do so, Colonel Seymour’s 6th Louisiana Infantry Regiment would sweep to the left,
making a dash for the South Fork Bridge immediately behind Kenly’s camp and drawing
the Federals’ fire. Without hesitation, and no doubt impressed by the Louisianan’s enterprise,
Jackson nods in approval, and Taylor launches his first major attack of the war.
From his hilltop bastion, Colonel Kenly watches helplessly as the Louisianans make their way
around his position. He decides to order his men to torch the camp and retreat across both branches
of the Shenandoah before they are completely cut off. Once across the North Branch, Kenly orders
the bridge burned and establishes a new line along the riverbank, anchored by the precipitous
Guard Hill, to hold back the enemy as long as possible while he alerts Banks to the threat.
On the heels of Kenly’s retreating Federals, Colonel Johnson’s Marylanders charge up
Richardson’s Hill and through the burning camp, snagging a few prisoners and crossing
over the South Fork Bridge. Advancing another 400 yards up the road, they are stopped cold
by Kenly’s new line atop Guard Hill and by the burning North Fork Bridge. They are soon
joined by Taylor and his Louisiana regiments, who are just now crossing the South Fork.
With the low-lying North Fork Bridge on fire, overlooked by Federal artillery posted atop Guard
Hill, and with no sign of reinforcements, Taylor rides back to meet with Jackson,
who has just crossed the South Fork Bridge. Surveying the scene,
Jackson resolves to continue the attack. He would march across the North Fork Bridge - burning or
not - and drive the enemy into the ground. Fortuitously, at that moment, Major Wheat is
slowly escorting his Louisiana Tigers through the destroyed Federal camp and across the
South Fork Bridge. Jackson determines to use Wheat’s Battalion to lead the attack
and orders them to pass through the Marylanders and take the burning bridge.
Major General Ewell’s adjutant, Captain Campbell Brown, remembered: ‘I shall never forget the
style in which Wheat’s Battalion passed us as we stood on the road. [Wheat] was riding full gallop,
yelling at the top of his voice; his big sergeant-major running at top speed just after
him, calling upon the men to come on; and they strung out according to their speed and ‘stomach
for the fight,’ following after, all running; all yelling; all looking like fight. Their peculiar
Zouave dress, light striped, baggy pants, bronzed and desperate faces and wild excitement made up
a glorious picture. Wheat himself looked in a fight as handsome as any man I ever saw.’
With Wheat in the lead, the Tigers descend the road toward the river’s edge, storm across the
bridge through the flames, and secure the other side in the face of the enemy’s desperate fire.
Wheat’s Battalion is soon joined by Brigadier General Taylor and the remainder of the Louisiana
Brigade, who quickly put out the blaze. The span is saved, “but it was rather a near thing,”
Taylor later recalled. “My horse and clothing were scorched, and many men burned their hands
severely while throwing brands into the river.” With the North Fork Bridge now in Confederate
hands, Jackson orders Johnson’s 1st Maryland and Taylor’s Louisianans to push up the road
and through the wooded gap to dislodge the Federals. In the meantime,
Colonel Flournoy’s 6th Virginia Cavalry Regiment attacks the Federals from the rear,
unhinges their line and forces them to retreat farther up the road toward Winchester.
Jackson’s aide-de-camp, First Lieutenant Henry Kyd Douglas, remembered: “The pursuit begun was kept
up vigorously. There was much handsome work done by Flournoy’s cavalry, with good results.” By late
afternoon, the mounted Virginians run down what is left of Kenly’s doomed command near Cedarville,
capturing the whole lot, including the regiment’s colors and the Colonel himself.
While the cavalry and the 1st Maryland pursue Kenly, Wheat’s Tigers are recuperating along the
shady banks of the North Fork when they hear a train whistle coming from the direction of
Manassas Gap. Earlier in the day, Flournoy’s cavalry had cut the telegraph lines between
Strasburg and Manassas, and the engineer of the Federal train, which consists of two locomotives,
three passenger and 50 freight cars, apparently has no idea that the town
has been filibustered by Jackson’s army. Sensing an opportunity for more glory for his men,
Wheat quickly rouses his Tigers up from their late-afternoon snooze and orders them to charge
the moving train. Swarming up the embankment and across the flat land, the Tigers hop aboard the
locomotive, throw its wholly surprised driver to the ground, and bring the train to a stop.
When the former New Orleans wharf rats open the railcars, they are pleasantly surprised to find
more than $300,000 worth of commissary and quartermaster stores packed inside.
All told, the Battle of Front Royal costs Major General Banks about 900 casualties - 750
prisoners, 32 killed and 122 wounded - and Major General Stonewall Jackson loses only 36 men,
mostly from Flournoy’s 6th Virginia Cavalry. With Front Royal saved from the grasp of the Federals,
Jackson is able to turn Banks from his position at Strasburg,
hit him at Middletown on May 24th and press on towards Winchester by the next morning.
With the capture of Front Royal, the road to Winchester lay open - and with it,
the chance of finally driving Banks’ Department of the Shenandoah out of the Valley entirely.