Qualla: First Battle of Kernstown

First Battle of Kernstown: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. Stonewall Jackson hated fighting on Sundays. He was a deacon at his Lexington Presbyterian church and made no secret of his belief that the Sabbath should be kept. On Sunday, March 23, 1862, he fought anyway. He believed he had cornered four Union regiments. He had instead stumbled onto a full Union division of nearly 9,000 men. By nightfall he had lost the battle, his old Stonewall Brigade had run out of ammunition, and he had ordered the arrest of its brigadier general for retreating without permission. He had also, almost by accident, won the strategic point that would shape the next four months of the war.

Image: Nyttend | Public domain

First Battle of Kernstown: What Jackson Was Sent to Do

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. In March 1862, Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate army was pulling back from the Centreville-Manassas area to defend Richmond against George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign. Jackson's small division, posted in the Shenandoah Valley, had a single job: prevent the Union forces in t...

Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain

First Battle of Kernstown: Bad Intelligence

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KLOTZ, CC BY-SA 3.0. Confederate loyalists in Winchester sent word to Ashby that Shields had left only four regiments and a few guns - about 3,000 men - and that they were preparing to march for Harpers Ferry. Ashby, normally a careful scout, did not verify the civilian reports. He passed them on to ...

Image: KLOTZ | CC BY-SA 3.0

First Battle of Kernstown: The Stone Wall on Sandy Ridge

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mikereichold, CC BY-SA 2.5. Jackson decided to swing around the Union right via Sandy Ridge, hoping to cut off Kimball's line of retreat to Winchester. Samuel Fulkerson's brigade reached a stone wall at the edge of a clearing on the ridge moments before Erastus Tyler's Union brigade could occupy it. Tyler a...

Image: Mikereichold | CC BY-SA 2.5

First Battle of Kernstown: Casualties and Court-Martial

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sswonk, Public domain. Union casualties came to 590 - 118 killed, 450 wounded, 22 captured or missing. Confederate losses were heavier in proportion to the smaller force engaged. The 84th Pennsylvania's colonel, William Gray Murray, was among the Union dead. Jackson refused to accept any responsibility...

Image: Sswonk | Public domain

First Battle of Kernstown: Strategic Victory Out of Tactical Defeat

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kernstown1862.png: Hal Jespersen at en.wikipedia Derivative work: Dmitrij Rodionov/DR, CC BY-SA 4.0. Lincoln read the news of the battle and made a decision that would shape the rest of the spring. If Jackson had attacked 9,000 men with 3,000 of his own, the implication was that Jackson believed he had a real force behind him - or expected reinforcements. To protect Washington f...

Image: Kernstown1862.png: Hal Jespersen at en.wikipedia Derivative work: Dmitrij Rodionov/DR | CC BY-SA 4.0