The Second Battle of Winchester was fought between June 13 and June 15, 1863, in Frederick County and Winchester, Virginia as part of the Gettysburg campaign during the American Civil War. As Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell moved north through the Shenandoah Valley in the direction of Pennsylvania, his corps defeated the Union Army garrison commanded by Major General Robert H. Milroy, who had already received numerous orders to retreat, that he had ignored. The rebel army stormed the heavily fortified union positions around the city, prompting the unionist army to retreat to a fort overlooking the city. This was abandoned in the evening. The rebel army closely pursued the retreating union army, intercepting its line of retreat and causing heavy casualties and chaos among the retreating baggage train and columns of the Union army. A large number of union soldiers and stores were captured in the ensuing rout, though the union commander escaped, in what became one of the worst defeats the union had suffered in the war, prompting the severe censure of the Union general Milroy.
Background
After the Battle of Brandy Station on June 9, 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee ordered Ewell's 19,000-man Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, to clear the lower Shenandoah Valley of Union opposition so that Lee's army could proceed on its invasion of Pennsylvania, shielded by the Blue Ridge Mountains from Union interference.
Union General-in-chief Henry Wager Halleck expressed great concerns about the Middle Department's defensive strategy for its primary objective of protecting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad corridor. Brig. Gen. Benjamin Franklin Kelley, commander of the "railroad division" (Department of Harper's Ferry), had been advised that his plan along with Maj. Gen. Milroy's and Maj. Gen. Robert C. Schenck's (Commander of the Middle Department) was unsound:
Headquarters Eighth Army Corps,Baltimore, January 5, 1863.
The following telegram was received to-day from Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief:
"Major-General Schenck: No attempt should be made to hold Winchester against a large force of the enemy ..."
General Halleck does not quite agree with General Schenck and yourself as to the policy of covering and protecting the road principally by keeping up advanced posts at Leesburg, Winchester and Romney.
— WM. D. WHIPPLE, Assistant Adjutant-General.
Opposing forces
Ewell's Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's force of 19,000 consisted of:
- The division of Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early, with the brigades of Brig. Gens. Harry T. Hays (Louisiana Tigers), William "Extra Billy" Smith, John B. Gordon, and Isaac E. Avery
- The division of Maj. Gen. Robert E. Rodes, with the brigades of Brig. Gens. Junius Daniel, George P. Doles, Alfred Iverson, Stephen Dodson Ramseur, and Col. Edward A. O'Neal
- The division of Maj. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson, with the brigades of Brig. Gens. George H. Steuart, James A. Walker (Stonewall Brigade), John M. Jones, and Col. Jesse M. Williams (Nicholls' Brigade)
- The unattached 1st Maryland Battalion
- The cavalry brigade of Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins
- Corps Artillery Reserve under Col. J. Thompson Brown
2nd Division, VIII Corps, Middle Department
Maj. Gen. Robert H. Milroy's force of 6,900 consisted of three infantry brigades, under Brig. Gen. Washington L. Elliot and Cols. Andrew T. McReynolds and William G. Ely, and two small outposts northwest of town under Col. Joseph W. Keifer.
Preliminary maneuvers
Army of Northern Virginia (A.N.Va.) movement
Ewell's movements were coordinated as part of an overall orchestration of the Army of Northern Virginia into position for crossing the Potomac River toward Pennsylvania by using the Blue Ridge Mountains as a screen. This strategic offensive maneuver was put into effect on 3 June, when Gen. Robert E. Lee stated his intent to "transfer the scene of hostilities beyond the Potomac", by moving in a concealed fashion down the Shenandoah Valley.
Longstreet's First Corps (via Snickers Gap) and Hill's Third Corps (via Ashby's Gap) paralleled the movements of Second Corps to the east through Berryville, Virginia, and Stuart's Cavalry Division was under orders for careful synchronization and screening for Lee's Army by conducting demonstrations and screening actions along the ANV's right flank east of the Blue Ridge.
Ewell's Second Corps movements
- North intercept & cut-off maneuver to Berryville & Martinsburg:
- Units: Rodes' Division and Jenkins' cavalry brigade
- Direction of movement: detached north through Berryville, Virginia to Martinsburg, West Virginia
- Ewell's objective: To capture, if possible, McReynolds' force of 1,800 men stationed at Berryville and then to press north to Martinsburg
- Main strike maneuver to Winchester:
- Units: Early's Division, Johnson's Division and the 16th Virginia Cavalry Battalion (Maj. James H. Nounnan) of Jenkins' Brigade
- Direction of movement: Northwest to Winchester, Virginia
- Ewell's objective: To attack the fortifications in Winchester and Milroy's force of 6,000 to 8,000 men
By the end of the day on 12 June, Rodes' Division was 5 miles (8 km) north of Front Royal, encamped at Stone Bridge, while Johnson's Division arrived at Cedarville, and Early's Division was encamped near the Shenandoah River.
Milroy's defensive preparations
Berryville outpost
By April, four months into his occupation of Winchester, Milroy's loose grip on Confederate raiding in the lower Shenandoah Valley caused enough concern for the Middle Department commander, Schenck, to directly order Milroy to post one brigade further to the east at Berryville. It offered a base of operations to patrol crossings of the Shenandoah River and lookout for Confederates raiding in and out of both Snicker's Gap and Ashby's Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the eastern border of the valley. In response, Milroy posted McReynolds' brigade in Berryville, with orders to evacuate to Winchester upon the signal of the firing of one of the heavy artillery guns.
Cavalry defenses
Milroy stationed pickets and videttes around Winchester, but they were positioned too close to Winchester, due to bushwacking of his patrols. Therefore, Milroy had practically no surveillance of the situation around himself. His caution in posting outlying videttes was also perhaps due to the severe losses he incurred in trying to suppress various Confederate cavalry raids that kept occurring in his district, such as on 26 February, when he sent the 1st New York Cavalry and the 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry out to pursue raiders. They met the 7th and 11th Virginia Cavalry, under the command of Col. O. R. Funsten, and suffered a devastating loss of 197 Federal cavalry, including 12 officers. Milroy also often recorded many other grand-sounding cavalry incursions supposedly capturing or killing many of Colonel John S. Mosby's rangers in the weeks and months leading up to June; however, the records of Mosby's Rangers do not corroborate or mention most of these engagements Milroy's farthest outlying videttes to the south were located at or near Parkins Mill Battery at the Opequon Creek crossing, a mere 4 miles (6 km) south of Winchester. Other reports of Federal videttes to the west of Winchester were never seen or encountered by Confederate forces.
Fortifications
Winchester was heavily fortified by forts and lunettes circumferencing the town, as well as along the outlying turnpike routes entering town. Within Winchester, Milroy constructed or improved ten defensive fortifications, numbered Battery No. 1 through Battery No. 10, making improvements on many pre-existing forts and fortifications left by prior Confederate and Federal occupations. The fortifications were linked in places with roads and trenches, and the use of these were a key to Milroy's defensive strategy. Through a combination of retreating his forces into the defensive works, and then using his long-range heavy artillery, Milroy felt that he could hold out for weeks (if not months) against any force that may be thrown against him.
During the battle, Milroy concentrated his forces on the ridges west of town in his three highest and most improved forts connected by trenches. The larger forts were named:
- Battery No. 2 - Fort Milroy: Originally built by Confederate troops and called the "fortification on the heights" or the "Main Fort", this was improved under Maj. Gen. Banks and called "Fort Garibaldi" by the 39th New York regiment. The fort was improved extensively by Milroy's troops and held 14 guns, including heavy artillery, and renamed Fort Milroy (but then renamed Fort Jackson after the battle).
- Battery No. 3 - Star Fort: This fort was built by Federal troops in 1862, improved by Milroy, and equipped with 8 guns. (Renamed Fort Alabama).
- Battery No. 5 - West Fort: This was a 4-gun lunette located due west of Fort Milroy (later renamed Louisiana Heights)
The lesser fortifications initially used, but abandoned by Milroy during the course of the battle were:
- Battery No. 1: A linear entrenchment-lunette along Bower's Hill south of Fort Milroy (Battery 2).
- Battery No. 4: A large star lunette with entrenchments and minor lunettes containing 6 guns, located due north of Star Fort (Battery 3) along the same ridge line (north of modern VA 37).
- Battery No. 6: A small lunette with 2 guns on a hill peak located in between West Fort (Battery 5) and Battery 7 (modern exit of VA 37 onto VA 522).
- Battery No. 7: A large lunette and trench line with 8 guns on Apple Pie Ridge west of Apple Pie Ridge Road (modern James Wood High School).
- Battery No. 8: A grouping of two redans downhill west of Star Fort (Battery 3).
- Battery No. 9: Unknown location.
- Battery No. 10: this was the Confederate Fort Collier built on the east side of the Martinsburg turnpike on the north end of town.
- Fortification at Opequon Crossing (Parkins Mill Battery): A lunette or redan 4 miles south of Winchester at the Opequon River crossing on the Front Royal turnpike (modern VA 522).
For further information see:The Occupation of Major General Robert Milroy
Main battle
June 13: initial engagements
Ewell's attack plan
Ewell and his generals were well acquainted with the tactical situation in Winchester, having fought through here under Lt. Gen. Jackson during the First Battle of Winchester, and understood the layout of the various fortifications and terrain masking opportunities on the west side of town. Therefore, Ewell further split his main attack force of two divisions into two basic flanking movements:
- West (Left) Flanking Movement
- Units: Early's Division, Brown's artillery battalion, 1st Maryland Infantry Battalion and the Baltimore Light Artillery
- Direction: West to Newton, on the Valley Pike
- Ewell's objective: Approach Winchester from the southwest, and seek flanking avenues of approach from the west and northwest ridges of town
- East (Right) Flanking Movement
- Units: Johnson's Division, 16th Virginia cavalry battalion
- Direction: Northwest to Winchester on the Front Royal Pike
- Ewell's objective: Perform demonstrations moving north along the east side of Winchester to "divert attention" from Early's movements
Johnson's Division advances on the Front Royal Pike
Johnson's division, while moving northwest on the Front Royal Pike, drove back Federal pickets at the Opequon River crossing (Parkins Mill Battery) around 8:30 a.m., and engaged in cavalry skirmishes at Hoge Run around 9:30 a.m. Johnson's advance stalled under fire from Fort Milroy's heavy guns shortly before noon, and skirmishing and artillery engagements commended afterward with Federal artillery located on the hill near Hollinsworth Mill. Johnson held his position at that point to synchronize with the arrival of Early's Division.
Early's Division advances on the Valley Pike
Ewell ordered Early's Division to cross west via Ninevah to Newtown and move north on the Valley Pike. Arriving at the outskirts of Kernstown light infantry and artillery engagements commenced around noon. Late in the afternoon, around 4 p.m., Early pushed back Federal skirmishers at the Valley Pike toll-gate and after minor engagements, the Federal forces retreated north of Abrams Creek.
Milroy concentrates into his forts
Milroy, despite the engagements up to point, still had no idea that he was facing the entire Second Corps of Lee's Army. Milroy concentrated all of his forces in the three forts defending the town. Having feared exactly this type of a scenario, General-in-chief Henry W. Halleck had asked Schenck to order Milroy to fall back from Winchester to Harpers Ferry. Although Schenck had discussed evacuation with Milroy, he left no clear direction for Milroy to evacuate, since Milroy had convinced Schenck that his defensive position in Winchester was strong. Milroy had previously decided to disregard concerns from Washington because he was confident that the strength of his fortifications would allow his garrison to withstand an assault or a siege.