Qualla: Battle of Good's Farm

Battle of Good's Farm: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. Turner Ashby had been appointed brigadier general just two weeks earlier. He was 33, the most celebrated Confederate cavalry officer in the Shenandoah Valley, the man Stonewall Jackson relied on to screen his army's movements and confuse Union pursuers. On June 6, 1862, on a farm just outside Harrisonburg called Good's Farm, his horse was shot out from under him. Ashby got up, drew his sword, and moved forward on foot to rally the men of his line. "Forward my brave men!" he shouted - and then a bullet went directly through his heart. Whose bullet it was has never been settled. The skirmish itself was minor. The death of Turner Ashby was not.

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Image: Nyttend | Public domain

Battle of Good's Farm: A Trap on the Road

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF., Public domain. On the morning of June 6, 1862, a company of the 1st New Jersey Cavalry pursued Confederate scouts from Harrisonburg out toward Good's Farm. The scouts were bait. Infantry of the 58th Virginia waited behind stone walls on either side of the road. When the Union horsemen reached t...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF. | Public domain

Battle of Good's Farm: The Bucktails

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF., Public domain. Colonel Thomas L. Kane of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves - the Bucktails, named for the deer tails they wore in their hats - received permission from Brigadier General George D. Bayard to advance and rescue the wounded. Bayard brought up cavalry and infantry together. From a vant...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF. | Public domain

Battle of Good's Farm: The Death of Turner Ashby

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF., Public domain. Ashby was rallying his line when he was shot through the heart. He died instantly. Soldiers of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves later claimed credit for the killing shot. Other accounts pointed to friendly fire from his own men in the confusion. The truth is now unrecoverable. What...

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Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF. | Public domain

Battle of Good's Farm: A Death That Outlasted the Skirmish

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF., Public domain. Tactically, Good's Farm was inconclusive - both sides claimed something, neither side won decisively. But Ashby's death rippled outward. Stonewall Jackson wrote of him as an irreplaceable loss; the Valley Campaign continued, but without the cavalry screen Ashby had provided. Conf...

Read more: Battle of Good's Farm on Qualla

Image: Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Buel (book authors). A list of artists and engravers can be found on p. 23 of the PDF. | Public domain