Second Kernstown, July 24, 1864

[LCYingling3rd]

There are so many little battles that many of us have never heard of or know very little about. The Second Battle of Kernstown is one of them for me. I had never even heard of it until the reenactors at Ceder Creek decided to reenact it on a Saturday one year. I love that they do that sometimes and I understand that the reenactors like it because they get to enact battles that rarely get reenacted. They did a great job and I learned some things that day.

There is very little written about this battle and, until I picked up Scott C. Patchen's wonderful book, "Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign," I hadn't known anything about it. One of the reasons I am so passionate about studying the Civil War is that there are seemingly endless interesting stories that seem to pop up out of nowhere. Second Kernstown is just such a story for me.

Oh, I was all over Jubal Early's 1864 march to Washington. Monocacy is one of the battles I am most interested in studying and I have gobbled up every book I could find on it. I'm from Maryland, my great grandfather in the 87th PA charged the Thomas Farmhouse at "Araby" there, and I have visited it many times. And I have probably studied Sheridan's 1864 Valley Campaign even more than I have studied Antietam and possibly more than I have the Gettysburg Campaign. (Well no, that's not true, but I have studied it a lot! LOL) This period, however, between Early's retreat from Fort Stevens and the formation of Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah, had essentially escaped me.

Okay, I knew that Chambersburg had been burned in 1864, yet I really didn't think about when that was. It wasn't until I discovered that I had a great uncle in the 3rd WV Cavalry that was mortally wounded at the battle of Moorefield that I began researching this period and I discovered a whole slew of little-known battles and engagements to study. It is fascinating, like opening a door you didn't know was there and discovering a completely new area you had never seen. That is fun!

So, Jubal Early and Breckenridge just took it to ole George Crook and gave him a good old-fashioned whooping one hundred and sixty years ago; on July 24, 1864. It is a fascinating story as Mr. Patchen tells it in his extremely well researched book. It seems Crook ignored word and warnings of the size and approach of the Confederate force from his Cavalry and then blamed his Cavalry in his after-action reports because he wasn't fond of his Cavalry commanders, William Averell and Alfred Duffie. His refusal to heed their warning, combined with poor tactics, caused one of the worst routs the Union had seen. Infantry commanders, like future President Rutherford B. Hayes, were allegiant to Crook, believed him and supported his blame of Cavalry.

This is the kind of story that makes these oft overlooked smaller engagements so interesting to me. Small, minor, but certainly devastating to the families of the fallen - so never inconsequential in my mind. They are stories filled with anticipation, action, personality, and often intrigue. I think this was a summer of ramifications seen and unforeseen. On July 25th the 6th and 19th Corps were ordered back to the Shenandoah and not to Petersburg. Chambersburg would be burned, and Grant would call on Sheridan to take Crook's force, a large Cavalry force and the 6th and 19th Corps to clear the Shenandoah Valley once and for all.

What if Crook and done better? Held his ground or even driven Early back? I just find that these kinds of stories just make the study of the Civil War all the more exciting for me.

What do you think of this engagement, and do you have stories that do the same for you?

 

[DorwinBlack]

My 2nd GGF was in the 8th Ohio Cav (1st Brigade, Averell's division), so I also have been interested in the summer 1864 Valley Campaign. Not sure if my ancestor was among the dismounted skirmishers at Kernstown that had to hitch rides from the 1st WV Cav to avoid being cut off by the Confederate troops. He was later wounded in the leg when his horse fell on top of him during a cavalry charge at Bunker's Hill on Sep 3rd.

'Shenandoah Summer' is the best book on the subject that I have found.

 

[CDGillum]

My 3rd GGF was there as well. He was a member of Co. D, 23 Battalion, Virginia Infantry (part of Breckinridge's division). He was mainly in the Kanawha & Shenandoah Valleys from August 1861 until the end of the War. I to love learning about the less heard of battles. I read a lot of Terry Lowry's books.

 

[LCYingling3rd]

My 2nd GGF was in the 8th Ohio Cav (1st Brigade, Averell's division), so I also have been interested in the summer 1864 Valley Campaign. Not sure if my ancestor was among the dismounted skirmishers at Kernstown that had to hitch rides from the 1st WV Cav to avoid being cut off by the Confederate troops. He was later wounded in the leg when his horse fell on top of him during a cavalry charge at Bunker's Hill on Sep 3rd.

'Shenandoah Summer' is the best book on the subject that I have found.

Thank you for your response.

This was truly a fascinating series of battles, and I cannot believe I knew so little about them. That is an amazing story about your GGrandfather being wounded when his horse fell on him. Wow, I am often moved thinking of the experiences the soldiers had and the hardships they endured! Do you know if your second Great grandfather survived that injury?

Bunker Hill, WV, just north of Winchester, VA, is another of those little towns that few have heard of yet, they are filled with history. Confederate forces camped there often during the war. Stolen B&O Railroad locomotives were dragged by teams of horses thought the town in 1862. My Great Grandfather of the 87th PA Infantry "saw the elephant" for the first time fighting there on June 13, 1863 during the Second Battle of Winchester. Confederate general Johnston Pettigrew, of "Pickett's Charge" fame, was mortally wounded during the battle of Falling Waters during the retreat from Gettysburg. His body was taken to a home in Bunker Hill. Nearly every general, including R. E. Lee, visited him there before he passed away in that house. And your ancestor fought and was wounded there.

My ancestor fought in the 3rd WV Cavalry and was mortally wounded at the fight in Moorefield, WV in August of 1864. The 8th OH and the 3rd WV fought side by side at Moorefield. It is possible your ancestor was very near when mine was wounded, and they could very well have known each other.

 

[LCYingling3rd]

My 3rd GGF was there as well. He was a member of Co. D, 23 Battalion, Virginia Infantry (part of Breckinridge's division). He was mainly in the Kanawha & Shenandoah Valleys from August 1861 until the end of the War. I to love learning about the less heard of battles. I read a lot of Terry Lowry's books.

Thank you for your response.

My mother was from West Virginia, and I am always looking for books about WV during the war. Thank you for referring to the Terry Lowry books. It looks like he has some good ones!

None of my Confederate ancestors fought in the Kanawha Campaign, but it looks like a campaign I will be interested in.

 

[DorwinBlack]

Do you know if your second Great grandfather survived that injury?

He did survive. Not sure how extensive the injury was. Apparently it was not severe enough to be discharged, but he later claimed a pension based on it.

He continued with the regiment in the Valley, and was later captured near Luray while part of a small raiding party during "the burning" ...after the battle of Fisher's Hill.


Having two kids in school at Virginia Tech, I have driven down I-81 through that section of the Valley many times. One of these days, I need to take a bit more time to stop and visit the various Civil War historical sites. I have stopped in Lexington to see the grave of Stonewall Jackson, and walked the short trail in Salem near the location of the Battle of Hanging Rock.

 

[Stryker65]

Believe this was the battle that Colonel James A. Mulligan fought in -- his last battle. After his death, the three divisions of the Army of West Virginia became two again. Mulligan is well-known for the Battle of Lexington, where his 23rd Illinois held out for many hours while surrounded by Confederate Missourians mounted on cotton bales.

 

[LCYingling3rd]

He did survive. Not sure how extensive the injury was. Apparently it was not severe enough to be discharged, but he later claimed a pension based on it.

He continued with the regiment in the Valley, and was later captured near Luray while part of a small raiding party during "the burning" ...after the battle of Fisher's Hill.


Having two kids in school at Virginia Tech, I have driven down I-81 through that section of the Valley many times. One of these days, I need to take a bit more time to stop and visit the various Civil War historical sites. I have stopped in Lexington to see the grave of Stonewall Jackson, and walked the short trail in Salem near the location of the Battle of Hanging Rock.

It is a beautiful section of the Country. I have a place to stay in Berkeley Springs, WV, less than a half an hour northwest of Winchester, which I can use as a base of operations for exploring the lower Valley. It is just over an hour to Gettysburg or Harper's Ferry. It is under an hour to sites like Monocacy, South MT, Antietam, Winchester, Cedar Creek, Strasburg and Front Royal. So, it is kind of perfect for me.

I would really like to start exploring farther south into the upper Valley. I certainly want to visit Lexington to see T. J. "Stonewall" Jackson's grave site. I have seen where he was wounded at Chancellorsville. I have been to the house in Guinea Station where he died. I have even been to the "grave" of his arm at Elwood Manor on the Lacy family farm property at the Wilderness battlefield. I have also enjoyed the Stonewall Jackson Headquarters Museum in Winchester. So I should finally visit his grave too! LOL I also had relatives that served in the 2nd VA Infantry of the "Stonewall" Brigade, so that would be a fitting tribute. I would like to see the VMI museum as well. There is so much to see in the Shenandoah Valley and I am learning about many new battlefields to explore.

I think it is amazing that we had ancestors that fought alongside one another for the Union. My ancestor, Phillip Siler, was a great uncle. I actually knew his younger half-sister, Lucy T. Siler Stuckey. She was my maternal grandfather's mother. When I was little we visited her quite a few times before she passed away in 1965. Phillip was in Co. C of the 3rd WV Cavalry (Union) and it has been fun learning about him and his regiment.

Another ancestor, my Confederate GGgrandfather, Thomas J. Bishop, had a fate similar to your GGgrandfather. He was in the 7th VA Cavalry and, according to the roster, was "severely" wounded in the leg during the battle of Cedar Creek. He too was well enough to return to his regiment and was ultimately captured, also in the Shenandoah Valley, in January of 1865. They were both in the Cavalry, they both suffered leg injuries, and were both captured in the Shenandoah Valley.

Maybe someday we can tour some of the sites our federal ancestors fought in together? I know I would like to visit the Moorefield battle site where the 8th OH and the 3rd WV fought side-by-side. I think it is probable that our ancestors were near one another in Averell's Division and saw the smoldering ruins of Chambersburg after it's July 30th burning. They would have pursued McCausland from Hancock, MD through the town of Bath (Berkeley Springs), to Springfield, Romney and ultimately Moorefield, WV where McCausland was finally routed.

 

[Luke Freet]

There are so many little battles that many of us have never heard of or know very little about. The Second Battle of Kernstown is one of them for me. I had never even heard of it until the reenactors at Ceder Creek decided to reenact it on a Saturday one year. I love that they do that sometimes and I understand that the reenactors like it because they get to enact battles that rarely get reenacted. They did a great job and I learned some things that day.

There is very little written about this battle and, until I picked up Scott C. Patchen's wonderful book, "Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign," I hadn't known anything about it. One of the reasons I am so passionate about studying the Civil War is that there are seemingly endless interesting stories that seem to pop up out of nowhere. Second Kernstown is just such a story for me.

Oh, I was all over Jubal Early's 1864 march to Washington. Monocacy is one of the battles I am most interested in studying and I have gobbled up every book I could find on it. I'm from Maryland, my great grandfather in the 87th PA charged the Thomas Farmhouse at "Araby" there, and I have visited it many times. And I have probably studied Sheridan's 1864 Valley Campaign even more than I have studied Antietam and possibly more than I have the Gettysburg Campaign. (Well no, that's not true, but I have studied it a lot! LOL) This period, however, between Early's retreat from Fort Stevens and the formation of Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah, had essentially escaped me.

Okay, I knew that Chambersburg had been burned in 1864, yet I really didn't think about when that was. It wasn't until I discovered that I had a great uncle in the 3rd WV Cavalry that was mortally wounded at the battle of Moorefield that I began researching this period and I discovered a whole slew of little-known battles and engagements to study. It is fascinating, like opening a door you didn't know was there and discovering a completely new area you had never seen. That is fun!

So, Jubal Early and Breckenridge just took it to ole George Crook and gave him a good old-fashioned whooping one hundred and sixty years ago; on July 24, 1864. It is a fascinating story as Mr. Patchen tells it in his extremely well researched book. It seems Crook ignored word and warnings of the size and approach of the Confederate force from his Cavalry and then blamed his Cavalry in his after-action reports because he wasn't fond of his Cavalry commanders, William Averell and Alfred Duffie. His refusal to heed their warning, combined with poor tactics, caused one of the worst routs the Union had seen. Infantry commanders, like future President Rutherford B. Hayes, were allegiant to Crook, believed him and supported his blame of Cavalry.

This is the kind of story that makes these oft overlooked smaller engagements so interesting to me. Small, minor, but certainly devastating to the families of the fallen - so never inconsequential in my mind. They are stories filled with anticipation, action, personality, and often intrigue. I think this was a summer of ramifications seen and unforeseen. On July 25th the 6th and 19th Corps were ordered back to the Shenandoah and not to Petersburg. Chambersburg would be burned, and Grant would call on Sheridan to take Crook's force, a large Cavalry force and the 6th and 19th Corps to clear the Shenandoah Valley once and for all.

What if Crook and done better? Held his ground or even driven Early back? I just find that these kinds of stories just make the study of the Civil War all the more exciting for me.

What do you think of this engagement, and do you have stories that do the same for you?

Fascinating engagement. I consider this battle to be the last major Confederate victory of the war (moreso the last one that changed the dynamics of the conflict). It was because of the victory over Crook that Early sent McCausland north to raid and burn Chambersburg, which in turn forced Grant to deploy Sheridan with VI & XIX Corps and a large portion of his cavalry to the Valley to deal with Early.
This occurs at the same time that Grant is repulsed at the Crater, and Stoneman's raiders are captured by Wheeler's troops around Macon. Things turned around for the Confederacy for the last time in the entire war, and all of this occurred within a little over a week of each other.