The Battle of New Market
Today marks the 161st anniversary of the Battle of New Market. The Battle took place near Staunton in Virginia’s Shenandoah valley on 15 May 1964. It was the last Confederate victory in the Valley Campaigns.
While the Battle itself is interesting, there is a specific reason I’m writing about it today: the use of Cadets from the Virgina Military Institute or VMI.
In the spring of ’64, General Ulysses Simpson Grant decided to try to cut off the Confederacy from the rich lands of the Shenandoah valley. To achieve that end, he sent General Franz Sigel’s 10,000 man army into the valley to turn the flank of General Robert E Lee’s Army of the Shenandoah.
Sigel was to advance to Staunton to link up with General George Crook.
Upon hearing about the Union columns entering the valley, Major General John C. Breckinridge moved his scratch Force to intercept. Among his troops were 247 cadets from VMI, some as young as 15.
The two opponents met at New Market on the morning of the 15th. Sigel had about 6200 troops while Breckinridge had some 4000. The Rebs had their way early, pushing the Union troops back to a place called Bushong’s Farm. There, the confederates paused to dress their lines and regroup.
Union cannon and rifle fire played merry hell on the exposed, unmoving confederate troops. The unit at the center of the Confederate lines, the 30th Virginia, badly galled by the accurate union fire broke to the rear. At this point, Breckenridge was compelled to move the cadets into the gap in his line. They had been held in reserve up till now.
About 1500, the Rebs attacked again, and pushed the Union back once more. Sigel, knowing he was short of ammo decided to retreat across the Shenandoah river to Mt.Jackson.
Breckinridge held the field and won the day. While his victory allowed some crops to be harvested for the confederates and protected their flank and lines of communication to the west, it was a short-lived victory. Sigel’s replacement – Grant was pissed relieved him immediately – General David Hunter took Staunton by the beginning of June.
Those gallant cadets? While the performed well – they captured 1 of the 5 union artillery pieces captured that day – they suffered badly. Of the 247 of them at the Battle, some 24% or 60 of them were casualties of some sort. 5 were killed in the Battle, 5 more died of their wounds and 50 were wounded but survived.
A bunch of them also lost their shoes in the mud around Bushong’s farm. The field came to be known as the ‘field of lost shoes’.
The actual battlefield has been preserved. 300 acres are part of the New Market Battlefield state historical park and an additional 20 acres are held by the American Battlefield Trust.
