Posted on 07/24/2005 4:10:53 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
This Day In History | Civil War
July 24
1864 Battle of Kernstown, Virginia
Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops under General George Crook to keep the Shenandoah Valley clear of Yankees.
On June 13, 1864, General Robert E. Lee sent Early north from Petersburg to clear the Shenandoah of Union troops and relieve pressure on his own beleaguered force. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had been pinned in Petersburg after a bloody six-week campaign with General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac. The campaign mimicked that of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's in 1862, when the Confederates successfully relieved pressure on Richmond and held off several Union armies in the Valley.
Early moved into Maryland in July and even threatened Washington before moving back up the Potomac and into the valley with Yankee troops in pursuit. On July 23, Early's troops engaged the Union force under Crook near Kernstown, with no clear victory for either side. The next day, Early struck Crook with his entire force and found the Federals in a vulnerable position. The Yankees were routed and fled back down the valley.
Early's victory led to significant changes in the Union approach to the Shenandoah Valley. President Abraham Lincoln urged Grant to secure the area once and for all. Grant sent General Philip Sheridan to command the district in early August, and in the fall Sheridan dealt a series of defeats to Early and pacified the valley.
yeah...
we had a baseball tournament. My mom came down with heat exhaustion in the middle of the game and they had to take her to the hospital....
It's was really hot when the actual battle was fought. It's hard to believe those men fought in that heat with those uniforms.
yeah and they knew NOTHING about hydration or anything at the time. And by the 3rd day most of the creeks in the area had to be running a bit low....
Gettysburg was bad enough...but Monmouth must have been a nightmare.
I haven't ever been to Monmouth....
Neither have I. Yet another battlefield on my must visit list. I was surprised that it's run by the state of New Jersey rather than the NPS.
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