BATTLE OF WINCHESTER, VA.
March 22, 23, 1862.
On the 21st of March, General Shields, commanding a division of the Fifth Army Corps of the Potomac, under General Banks, was stationed at Winchester, with a force of about seven thousand men. General Jackson, with a rebel force of ten thousand men, and twenty-eight pieces of artillery, was then at Strasburg, ten miles distant, closely scrutinizing the movements of the Federal army, and only awaiting the arrival of General Johnston, his superior, who was daily expected with a much larger force. With these united, they expected to strike a telling blow on the army of General Banks, and thus prevent any combined action on his part with General McClellan.
Not anticipating an immediate attack from General Jackson, General Banks had just left Winchester for Harper’s Ferry, and General Williams’ division had marched the same day towards Centreville. Of these movements the rebel General was duly notified, as his numerous spies within the Federal lines lost no opportunity of supplying the enemy with full details of all the actions of the Federal commanders.
Though looking for reinforcements from Generals Longstreet and Smith, Jackson determined to attack Shields’ troops;—but his attempt to surprise them was frustrated by the vigilance of that officer. Apprehensive that the enemy designed an early advance, General Shields had just completed a hasty reconnoissance to Strasburg, by which he obtained important information of Jackson’s numbers and intentions. This induced him to withdraw most of his men to a position two miles north-east of Winchester, while his pickets extended five miles beyond, on the Strasburg road. The enemy were led to believe that the town was open to their occupation, and that the greater portion of the Federal troops had been withdrawn from the vicinity.
On Saturday afternoon, March 22, about a quarter-past two o’clock, the Federal advanced pickets on the Strasburg road discovered the rebel cavalry, under Colonel Ashby, about half a mile beyond them, reconnoitering the woods on both sides of the turnpike, and steadily advancing. The pickets consisted of a few men of the Fourteenth Indiana infantry at that point, and they fell back half a mile to the hamlet of Kernstown, four miles from Winchester. Steadily did the troopers advance as the Union men wheeled to aim and fire. The first volley sent many rebels reeling from their saddles, and threw the rest into confusion. Before they could be again rallied for a charge, the gallant little band of infantry was beyond their power, without having lost a man killed or wounded. General Shields hearing of the advance of the rebel cavalry, ordered four advanced companies of infantry to rally to the support of the pickets, and hold the rebels in check till he could move down the division. These companies were one from the Maryland First, one from the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania, one from the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania, and one from the Twenty-eighth New York. Their regiments had marched away under General Williams.
A battery of artillery was also sent forward, and General Shields, after ordering out the division, rode to the front, accompanied by his staff. While engaged in directing the fire of the artillery, a shell from the rebel battery of four guns, which now began to play on them, burst near him, and a splinter from it struck him in the left arm, just above the elbow, fracturing the bone and creating a painful wound. But without heeding it he gave a fresh order to the artillery, and continued on the field till satisfied that all was right.
The Federal division began to arrive in force on the field towards dark; the rebels, perceiving this, did not push their advance, but halted about three miles from Winchester for the night, lighted their camp fires and bivouacked, while the opposing army lay between them and the town.
About ten o’clock on Sunday, reinforcements of five regiments of infantry and two batteries of artillery having arrived from Strasburg, under General Garnett, were welcomed by vociferous and prolonged cheers from their lines. The attack was not long delayed. The enemy advanced his army, which now consisted of sixteen regiments of infantry, numbering eleven thousand men; five batteries of artillery, with a total of twenty-eight field pieces, and three battalions of horse, under Ashby and Stewart. His line of battle extended about a mile on the right of the village of Kernstown, and a mile and three-quarters on the left of it. The village lay on the road between the rebel right and centre. There is a mud road branching from the turnpike a mile or so from Winchester to the right of the road going towards Strasburg. This road passed through the left of the enemy’s centre, and was one of their points of defence. Beyond that is a grove of trees, and farther on, a ridge of hills with a stone wall about breast-high running along its summit. This was the rebel line of offence and defence on the right of the Union line.
The most advanced regiment on the Union side was the Eighth Ohio, of General Tyler’s brigade. The rebels made a furious onslaught about half-past ten o’clock, A. M., on Thursday, with the intention of turning the right flank. The Ohio Eighth met them with a deadly fire of rifles. Five times did the enemy emerge from the woods and from behind their stone parapet with vastly superior numbers, and strive in vain to accomplish their object. The Union left wing, consisting of the Thirteenth Indiana, Seventh Ohio and a battery of the Fourth regular artillery, under Captain Jenks, had a feint made on it, while the real attack of the enemy was being directed against the Union right wing. The feint on the left was a heavy fire of artillery posted on both sides of the village and the turnpike, which, however, did trifling damage. The Union battery replied, silencing those of the enemy, though the firing was well maintained for a long time on both sides. The Union centre consisted of the Fourteenth Indiana, the Eighth and Sixty-seventh Ohio, and the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania. Two artillery batteries belonging to the First Ohio artillery, and the cavalry, consisting of the First Michigan and First Ohio, were drawn up in the rear. The Union right wing was made up of the Fifth and Eighth Ohio regiments and a battery of the First Virginia regiment. The reserves consisted of the Twelfth Indiana, the Thirty-ninth Illinois and a squadron of the Michigan cavalry. General Shields was unable to appear on the field in person, and the command consequently devolved upon Acting Brigadier Kimble, who led the centre. The right was commanded by Acting Brigadier General Tyler, while Colonel Sullivan directed the operations on the left.
The battle raged along the whole line with great fury from eleven A. M. till half-past two P. M., when General Shields, who received accounts of the progress of the fight on his couch, ordered the right, where the contest raged the hottest, to charge upon the enemy. That was an awful charge. The left of the enemy prepared desperately to repel the gallant troops, but their rush was irresistible. Previous to this the Union line of battle had been somewhat changed. The Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania reinforced its right, and also a battery of artillery. The whole Union force now engaged was about six thousand men, while that of the enemy was at the lowest estimate eight thousand. The rebels had also changed their line, and extending both their wings, presented a concave front. They had reinforced their left wing, and the charge to be made by the Union right was all important in its consequences. On it, at three o’clock, depended the fate of the entire battle. Tyler led the charge, sword in hand. The rebels fired from the woods with artillery and small arms, while the Federals advanced against their murderous showers of lead and iron, returning few shots and reserving their fire.
SPLENDID CHARGE OF THE RIGHT WING, UNDER GENERAL TYLER.
Up to this time the armies had not been much nearer to each other than three hundred yards, unless in some few instances. The wood was soon cleared at the point of the bayonet, the Unionists discharging their pieces at twenty and even five yards distance from the rebels, and then dashing at them with the bayonet.
The rebels fought well. They contested the ground foot by foot, and marked every yard of their retreat with blood. They retired behind the stone wall, on the ridge, but the Unionists jumped over, and drove them in the greatest confusion and with fearful slaughter upon their centre. The panic was contagious. Kimble ordered a charge along the whole line, and for a short time the fighting was desperate. The roar of the cannon was no longer heard, unless in occasional bursts, but the rattle of musketry was more deafening than ever.
The rout of the rebels had fairly commenced; two of their guns and four caissons were taken, and though many of them turned and fired again and again at the pursuing host, many more threw away muskets and bayonets without hesitation. Darkness and the extreme fatigue of the Union troops, however, saved them for the time, and the Federals retired about two miles and bivouacked.
At daybreak General Shields ordered the rebel position to be attacked, and the enemy, after replying by a few shots from his artillery, continued his retreat. Meantime General Banks, who had been at Harper’s Ferry, arrived, and taking command of the troops in person, continued the pursuit with about ten thousand men, and pressed the rebels beyond Middleburg, cutting off many stragglers. The object was to capture his whole force, if possible. General Williams, with his forces, arrived on the field, too late to participate in the action. They joined in the chase.
The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded was six hundred. The number of prisoners taken was three hundred.
The Union loss in killed was one hundred, and about four hundred wounded. Though the enemy had a much larger force, four pieces of cannon more than the Federals, the selection of fighting ground, and every other advantage, yet all the trophies of the occasion belong to the Union army.
The rebels had an Irish battalion of one hundred and fifty men, of whom forty were killed on the field, and many of the rest wounded. Their commander, Captain Jones, was captured, having lost both eyes by a bullet.
The loss on the Union side was heaviest in the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania regiment. Of the five companies of three hundred men, in all, engaged, they lost Colonel Murray, a brave officer; one captain, one lieutenant, twenty-three privates and non-commissioned officers killed, and sixty-three wounded. The loss in the Eighth and Fifth Ohio regiments was about seventy-five and sixty, respectively, killed and wounded.
Lieutenant-Colonel Thorburn, of the Third Virginia, was among the wounded. These were the only field officers killed or wounded in the Union forces.
The battle-field after the struggle was a terrible sight. The night was dark and cold. After the battle the ambulances were busily engaged removing the wounded. The enemy carried off most of their wounded and some of their dead. The wounded were intermingled with the dead, and their sufferings before they were removed to the hospitals were heart-rending. The next day was spent in burying the dead. The ghastly aspect of the field after the wounded were removed, and before the dead were interred, was appalling.