Part of a series of articles titled If This Valley is Lost, Virginia is Lost.
Previous: Battle of McDowell
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Battle of Front Royal
NPS
By late May of 1862, Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson had 17,000 men in his ranks. He moved them north against US Gen. Nathaniel Banks’ main force at Strasburg. Using his knowledge of Valley geography, Jackson side-stepped Banks by marching the bulk of his army across Massanutten Mountain. The Confederates surprised and overwhelmed a small Federal outpost at the Battle of Front Royal, at the northern end of Massanutten, on May 23. Banks, finding Jackson in his rear, had no choice but to order a rapid retreat to Winchester, in hopes of making a stand there.
Front Royal Battlefield
Virginia historical highway marker J-8 commemorates the capture of Front Royal. It is at the Warren County Courthouse, on the southeast corner of South Royal Avenue (US Route 340) and East Main Street.
Jackson in Pursuit
Following his victory at McDowell on May 8, 1862, Confederate Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson pursued his defeated foe, Federal Brigadier General Robert Milroy, towards Franklin, Virginia (now West Virginia). From there, Jackson and his men retraced their steps back to McDowell, and finally to Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley. By this time, Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Ewell’s division, over 8,000 strong, was biding its time at Swift Run Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Federal Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks’s force had already started its withdrawal from Harrisonburg, Virginia, north down the Valley, reaching Strasburg, Virginia, on May 13th.
On May 18th Ewell met with Jackson at Mount Solon, southwest of Harrisonburg, to discuss plans for dealing with Banks’s Federals. The first problem they faced was Ewell’s orders from their superior, General Joseph 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 – Ewell was allowed to stay with Jackson. Johnston’s orders now read, in part: “The objective you have to accomplish is the prevention of the junction of General Banks’s troops with those of General McDowell.” Maj. Gen. Irwin McDowell was waiting in Fredericksburg with perhaps 30,000 troops and was scheduled to march south in support of Federal Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s campaign against Richmond.
Initially Jackson and Ewell planned to unite at New Market, Virginia – together their forces would number about 17,000 – then march north on the Valley Pike, striking Banks at Strasburg. Reaching New Market on May 21, 1862, however, Jackson learned that only a small Federal garrison held the town of Front Royal, about fifteen miles east of Strasburg. Jackson decided to cross Massanutten Mountain over the New Market Gap, link up with Ewell in Page County, then march north and overwhelm the 1,100 or so Federals at Front Royal.
Leaving part of Colonel Turner Ashby’s 7th Virginia Cavalry to press north on the Valley Pike, leading Banks to think the main Confederate thrust would come from that direction, Jackson led his command over Massanutten Mountain. On May 22nd he linked up with Ewell, and together they pushed 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 Jackson’s force approached Front Royal from the south, Confederate cavalry under Colonels Ashby and Thomas Flournoy, which had led the advance, swung west and crossed the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Their mission was to cut Federal communication between Strasburg and Front Royal.
From Federal pickets captured south of Front Royal, Jackson learned that most of the Federal garrison there belonged to the 1st Maryland Infantry. Knowing that, he called on his own 1st Maryland to lead the attack, supported by part of Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor’s Louisiana Brigade. This would be the only time in the Civil War when regiments from the same state - and with the same regimental designation - would confront each other in battle.
A little before 2 p.m. on May 23rd, as the advance began and the firing started, a young woman came “running like mad down from the hill on our right…gesticulating wildly to us.” Stopping and gasping for breath, this woman – Belle Boyd (see sidebar) – spoke briefly to two of Jackson’s staff officers, Sandie Pendleton and Henry Kyd Douglas. As Douglas remembered it, she said, “Go back quick and tell him (Jackson) that the Yankee force is very small…Tell him to charge right down, and he will catch them all.” Douglas and Pendleton thanked her, although Jackson was already aware of the information she brought.
The Confederate attack caught the Federal garrison, commanded by Colonel John R. Kenly, by surprise. Although Kenly’s 1st Maryland Infantry scattered, he was able to rally them on Camp Hill, also called Richardson’s Hill, about two miles north of the town. There they held for several hours, until Taylor’s Louisianans threatened Kenly’s left flank. Kenly then ordered a retreat across the bridges over the South and North Forks of the Shenandoah River, making a second stand on Guard Hill. There he reestablished a defensive line, anchored by two artillery pieces commanded by Lieutenant Charles Atwell.
Once on Guard Hill, Kenly sent some of his men back to burn the bridges, but they were only partially successful, and Confederate soldiers were able to douse the flames. Around 6 p.m. Kenly had to fall back again when Flournoy’s Virginia cavalry started crossing the North Fork. This time the Federals retreated some two miles north to Cedarville, but when Flournoy’s troopers pursued and hit Kenly’s Marylanders on both flanks, the Federal soldiers panicked. Kenly’s line collapsed.
Jackson’s victory at Front Royal placed Federal Gen. Banks and his army in a difficult position. Over 690 Federal soldiers were captured, with another 82 killed or wounded. Confederate casualties numbered merely 36. Still faced with Confederates in his front – a force he thought was much larger than it actually was – and a strong enemy presence to the east, Banks was unsure where the next blow would fall. But one thing was certain – he had to get out of Strasburg, and that evening the Federal retreat to Winchester began.
Last updated: May 13, 2023