McDowell
and Highland County History:
History
of The Battle of McDowell
and the Valley Campaign:
Generally
considered the second full scale engagement of Jackson's brilliant
Valley Campaign, the Battle of McDowell took place May 8, 1862 on the
slopes of Sitlington's Hill, a spur of Bullpasture Mt. lying above
the village of the same name. It was here that 2000 Federal troops
under Robert Milroy & Robert Schenck attacked an advanced force
of Confederates under Edward "Allegheny" Johnson, who had already
occupied the hill. Johnson's troops were reinforced by the brigades
of Taliaferro and Campbell (under Jackson), and the Federal attacks
were successfully repelled. Nevertheless, the battle furnished enough
time for the remaining 4000 Federal troops to retire beyond McDowell,
where they were joined by the attacking force at dark. Jackson's
army, numbering nearly 10,000, took up the pursuit the next day,
leaving behind a detachment of cavalry and the VMI Cadet Battalion to
guard Federal prisoners (mostly wounded). The remainder of Jackson's
troops chased the Federals through Monterey, and down the South
Branch valley to just south of Franklin, West Virginia, where they
turned back.
In many ways
the battle could be considered a lopsided, "Pyrrhic" Southern
victory, as the Confederates suffered 498 casualties vs. the
Federals' 256. Milroy had boldly attacked Jackson's advanced guard
and the courage of the Federal troops had staved off a potential
Union disaster. Nevertheless, the battle accomplished several
important objectives for Jackson. It immobilized the major portion of
Union General Fremont's Army, isolating them well beyond the imposing
barrier of Shenandoah Mountain, and intimidated Fremont himself from
any further deployment for nearly a month. It also convinced
Nathaniel Banks, overall commander of the Valley Region, that Jackson
had much greater strength than he actually possessed, a suspicion
which Banks had held since the Battle of Kernstown. Finally, it
provided Jackson's troops, especially the men of his second
(Campbell's) and third (Taliaferro's) brigades, with a much needed
victory, boosting their lagging morale and convincing them of their
ability to win. The hard marching and fighting of the McDowell
action, often with little or no rest, soon resulted in their
referring to themselves as Jackson's "foot cavalry".
More
Information About the Battle:
Photos & Maps of the Site:
History
of the Town of McDowell and Highland County:
Key
Resources:
Websites:
Highland
Historical Society
(event sponsors)
Highland
County Chamber of Commerce (event
sponsors)
Highland
County, VA USGenWeb genealogy site:
has lists of early settlers, residents in 1848, etc
Valley
of the Shadow Project
University of Virginia online research project containing large
amounts of information (original newspaper scans, etc) for
neighboring Augusta County.
Books and
Periodicals:
History of Highland
County, Virginia, by Oren F. Morton, published by B. L. Regional
Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1972 (first published in 1911)
The
Battle of McDowell,
by Richard Armstrong
Make Me a Map of the
Valley: The Civil War Journal of Stonewall Jackson's Topographer,
by Jedidiah Hotchkiss;
Stonewall Jackson
Day by Day by John Schildt;
Civil War Battle
Alters Lives of McDowell Families from "The Recorder" newspaper,
April 30, 1999.
Further
information to be provided.
If you have any information to share, please email
us.
