Battle of New Market

• 1. Introduction

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  The Battle of New Market was fought on the 15th of May 1864, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, and it produced a moment so unusual that it stands alone in American military history. A makeshift Confederate force of 4,100 men defeated a larger Union army that day. That alone was remarkable. But the detail that lodged itself in memory was something else entirely: partway through the fighting, a Confederate general ordered a corps of teenage students to fill a gap in his battle line. They were cadets from the Virginia Military Institute, averaging 18 years of age, with some no older than 15. They charged across a muddy field, lost their shoes in the mire, and helped turn the battle. No American school has ever sent its student body into organized combat before or since. How did a Civil War engagement reach that point? Who were the men who made those decisions, and what happened to the boys who marched forward?

• 2. Grant's Valley Strategy

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  Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Union commander-in-chief, set his grand strategy into motion in the spring of 1864. His aim was to press the Confederacy from multiple directions at once, leaving no army free to reinforce another. The Shenandoah Valley was central to this plan. The valley was not only strategically important for its road and rail connections; it was also the agricultural heartland that fed Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. Grant assigned the job of taking the valley to Major General Franz Sigel, whose army of roughly 10,000 men would march south toward Staunton, Virginia. Sigel's force included an infantry division under Brigadier General Jeremiah C. Sullivan and a cavalry division under Major General Julius Stahel, along with 28 cannons. Simultaneously, a separate Union column under George Crook would advance from West Virginia to destroy the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The two Union forces were meant to link up at Staunton, severing Confederate communications and supply lines to western Virginia.

• 3. Breckinridge's Improvised Force

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  Major General John C. Breckinridge received word that the Union army had entered the valley and scrambled to assemble whatever he could find. His command was a patchwork: two infantry brigades under John C. Echols and Gabriel C. Wharton, a cavalry brigade under John D. Imboden, and various independent commands. The VMI cadet corps was folded in as well. The cadets numbered 247 and were organized as an infantry battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Scott Shipp, with a two-gun artillery section attached. Breckinridge concentrated his infantry at Staunton and sent Imboden's cavalry north to slow Sigel's southward advance along the valley. On the morning of the 13th of May, rather than wait for Sigel to come to him, Breckinridge chose to move north and force a confrontation. By the evening of May 14, Sigel's advance forces had taken a position north of New Market, while Breckinridge was at Lacey Spring, eight miles to the south. The Confederates started marching at 1:00 a.m. on May 15, hoping to catch and destroy the Union force. Breckinridge kept his cadet battalion in reserve as he prepared to engage, a decision he intended to hold to for as long as possible.

• 4. The Field of Lost Shoes

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  Combat opened south of New Market around mid-morning on May 15. Colonel Augustus Moor initially commanded the Union forces on the field, deploying infantry and cavalry between the North Fork of the Shenandoah River and the Valley Turnpike, with his main line centered on Manor's Hill. Breckinridge placed Wharton's brigade on his left and Echols's brigade on his right; Echols was ill that morning, so his brigade was commanded that day by Colonel George S. Patton, Sr. Breckinridge first tried to draw the Union infantry into attacking him, but Moor held his position. At about 11:00 a.m., Breckinridge launched his own infantry assault, slowly pushing Moor's brigade north toward Bushong's Hill. After pausing to reorder his lines near the town, Breckinridge resumed the attack at about 2:00 p.m. Concentrated Union rifle and artillery fire then disorganized the Confederate center. The right wing of the 51st Virginia Infantry and the 30th Virginia Infantry Battalion broke and retreated, leaving a gap in the line. Breckinridge reluctantly ordered the VMI cadets forward to plug it. While crossing the field near Bushong's orchard, several cadets sank into the mud and lost their shoes. Soldiers in the Confederate line watching the boys charge gave that ground a name it carries to this day: the Field of Lost Shoes. Shipp was wounded during this advance and was replaced by Captain Henry A. Wise.

• 5. Collapse and Pursuit

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  As the cadets moved forward, Sigel launched two counterattacks to try to stabilize his position. General Stahel led a mounted cavalry charge on the Union left, but Confederate artillery routed it. Three infantry regiments attacked on the Union right and were also repulsed. Sigel, who was noted for issuing orders in his native German, contributed to the confusion within Union ranks during these attempts. Breckinridge pressed his advance again shortly after 3:00 p.m. As the Confederate line closed on Union artillery positions, Sigel's gun crews retreated, abandoning five cannons. One of those cannons was captured by the VMI cadet battalion. Battery B of the 5th U.S. Artillery, which arrived on the field only at that point, joined two infantry regiments in slowing the Confederate pursuit long enough for Sigel to organize a rearguard on Rude's Hill. Imboden's cavalry, which had been ordered to loop behind Union lines via Smith's Creek, arrived with the report that the creek was too swollen to cross, eliminating any chance of cutting off Sigel's retreat. Sullivan reached Rude's Hill during this period with the 28th and 116th Ohio infantry. Sigel retreated across the Shenandoah River to Mount Jackson, and Union soldiers burned the bridge over Mill Creek to prevent the Confederates from following.

• 6. Casualties and Consequences

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  Union casualties at New Market totaled 841: 96 killed, 520 wounded, and 225 captured or missing, a casualty rate of 13.4 percent. Confederate losses came to 43 killed, 474 wounded, and 3 missing, representing 13 percent of their force. The wounded were treated in Bushong's barn, at the Smith Creek Baptist church, and in a warehouse in town. The dead were buried in the graveyard of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church. Of the 247 VMI cadets engaged, 60 became casualties, roughly 24 percent of those in the fight. Five cadets were killed in action. Five others died later of their wounds. Fifty more were wounded but survived. Eight VMI staff accompanied the cadets, and Commandant Scott Shipp was wounded as well. Grant, furious at the defeat, replaced Sigel with General David Hunter and reassigned Sigel to command the reserve division at Harpers Ferry. The Confederate victory secured the valley long enough for the local harvest to be gathered, supplying Lee's army. Virginia newspapers and Confederate soldiers compared Breckinridge to Stonewall Jackson. Lee himself suggested that Breckinridge pursue the retreating Union force into Maryland, but swollen rivers and a stretched supply line made that impossible. Breckinridge's force was transferred east and reinforced Lee at the Battle of Cold Harbor. Sergeant James Burns of the 1st West Virginia Infantry was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1896 for saving the regimental flag during the battle.

• 7. VMI's Living Memory

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  New Market did not remain merely a historical event for the Virginia Military Institute. It became the Institute's most solemn annual observance. The memorial at VMI is a sculpture called Virginia Mourning Her Dead, created by Cavaliere Moses Ritter von Ezekiel, a member of the VMI Class of 1866 who was himself a veteran of the battle. The names of all cadets who served in the Corps of 1864 are inscribed on the monument, and six of the ten cadets who died are buried at that site. Each year on New Market Day, the Corps of Cadets assembles in front of the monument for a roll call that began in 1887. As the name of each cadet who died is called, a cadet from the same company in the modern Corps answers: "Died on the Field of Honor, Sir." A three-volley salute follows, then "Taps" is played, and the entire Corps passes the monument in review. The battle also traveled into popular culture. In fall 1923, Marine Corps Brigadier General Smedley Butler directed a reenactment of the battle on its original ground, using Quantico marines. The crowd was estimated at over 150,000 spectators. John Ford's 1959 film The Horse Soldiers includes a scene loosely based on the cadet charge. Sean McNamara's 2014 film Field of Lost Shoes follows seven VMI cadets, based on real participants, in a fictionalized account of the day.