May 23, 1862---The Battle of Front Royal

MAY 23, 1862:             

The Battle of Front Royal. 

Stonewall Jackson confounds a Union army of 9,000 men into retreating from the Shenandoah Valley simply by using his intimate knowledge of the topography of the Valley to divide the Union forces. Two small detachments of troops from each side created the scenario for the general Union retreat.

The Confederates met the Federals within the environs of Front Royal. A number of brief, sharp skirmishes at occurred at Spangler’s Crossroads, the Luray Road, Prospect Hill and Richards’ Hill; these pushed the Union forces out of Front Royal. Under fire, the Confederates advanced, using the lay of the ground in flanking the Union forces, and then flanking them again, causing the Union force to withdraw even further. When the Confederates rushed the Union line, nearly 700 Federals merely threw down their guns and surrendered. About 100 men each were killed or wounded on each side. The “Louisiana Tigers” unit began to make their reputation at Front Royal.

The battle is notable in that the 1st Maryland C.S.A. was thrown into battle with their fellow Marylanders, the Union 1st Maryland Regiment, the only time in United States military history that two regiments of the same numerical designation and from the same State had engaged each other in battle. On the day of the battle Captain William Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry, C.S.A. captured his brother Charles Goldsborough of the 1st Maryland Infantry, U.S.A., and took him prisoner. The Southern Marylanders aided their Northern wounded neighbors, shared rations with them, and renewed acquaintances; many were friends and relatives who had not seen each other in over a year since the outbreak of the war.

After the lopsided defeat of the Union forces at Front Royal, it was decided to pull back the Union lines in the area, forcing a general retreat.