May 27, 1862---The Battle of Hanover Court House, Virginia

MAY 27, 1862:            

The Battle of Hanover Court House. 

McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign continued to grind slowly forward. A Union force of 12,000 met a Confederate force of 4,000 and, after a sharp firefight, routed them, opening a route for expected Union reinforcements to advance up the Peninsula. General McClellan announced it as a "glorious victory over superior numbers…one of the handsomest things of the war." 

In fact, the Union attack was disorganized and ill-coordinated; the battle was won by sheer overwhelming numbers. Still, afraid of being attacked by the phantom Confederate army he envisioned, McClellan did not exploit his “glorious victory” at Hanover Court House, instead choosing to await reinforcements. The expected reinforcements never arrived; after Front Royal, they were reassigned to the Shenandoah Valley.

May 26, 1862---The caissons are standing around...

MAY 26, 1862:             

As the Union troops withdraw toward Harper’s Ferry abandoning their supply trains along the way, the victorious Confederates take stock of the captured supplies: An imposing list it was too: 9,000 rifles, half a million rounds of ammunition, and several pieces of artillery, in addition to wagonloads of bacon, bread, sugar, and salt were counted. There were even several small herds of cattle.

May 25, 1862---The First Battle of Winchester, Virginia

MAY 25, 1862:             

The First Battle of Winchester, Virginia. 

The Union troops defeated at Front Royal fell back to Winchester, where massed Confederate forces with artillery advanced on them via the Front Royal Pike and the Valley Pike. When the Confederate forces attacked from both positions the Union troops evacuated Winchester, retreating further north. 

The Union lost over 2,000 of 6,500 men (many captured). The Confederacy lost 400 of 16,000 men total (mostly killed and wounded). It was a complete Confederate victory. 

The “Louisiana Tigers,” in their striped trousers and Zouave gear, excelled in battle at Winchester, as they had at Front Royal. 

May 24, 1862---Federals fall back from Front Royal

MAY 24, 1862:             

Following the Union defeat at Front Royal, Virginia, Stonewall Jackson kept pressure up on the retreating Union troops through a series of engagements at Middletown and Newtown.

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.