The Shenandoah Valley Campaign (1862)

The Background of Shenandoah Valley Campaign

General McClellan had assembled a massive 150,000 man army to attack Richmond, but before he launched his men down the Peninsula, he needed to deal with Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. As long as Jackson roamed the Valley, the government in Washington could not rest easy. General Nathaniel Banks and his 38,000 troops were given the job of destroying or dispersing Jackson’s forces and then joining McClellan for the “on to Richmond” campaign.

The Campaign:

In practice, it didn’t work out that way. Jackson’s swift-moving infantry, or “foot cavalry,” never numbered more than 6,000 men, but their mysterious marches, countermarches, and sudden attacks, were enough to mislead, surprise, and defeat the enemy throughout the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1862 in the battles at Kernstown (23 March, a tactical defeat but a strategic victory because it diverted troops from McClellan’s Richmond campaign), McDowell (8 May), Front Royal (23 May), Winchester (25 May), Cross Keys (8 June), and Port Republic (9 June).

What You Need to Know:

Not only did Jackson save the Valley, he deprived Union General McClellan of tens of thousands of troops he wanted for his offensive against Richmond, as Federal forces in the Valley were reinforced and sent to capture Jackson. The only troops that slipped out of the Valley to fight near Richmond were Jackson’s own, when Robert E. Lee, taking due note of the clever commander of the Valley, summoned him to Richmond’s defense at the battle of Seven Days.

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