23 May: Front Royal Is Attacked
At first word of the attack upon Front Royal, Col. Gordon offered Banks some sound military advice. Get the hell out of Strasburg! Their current camp was indefensible, he argued, and urged the immediate dispatch of all wagons and the sick to Winchester, 18 miles away. Gordon, who had served with Jackson in Mexico, knew the wily Confederate better than anyone in Banks' command and correctly surmised that his old West Point classmate intended to cut them off from their line of retreat before they could reach Winchester.
Rather than heed Gordon's advice, Banks chose to believe that the reports from Front Royal were exaggerated. To Gordon's trained eye, the former governor of Massachusetts seemed "confused and uncertain" by the sudden turn of events and refused to even consider pulling out of Strasburg, ever repeating "I must develop the force of the enemy." Gordon's nagging bordered upon insubordination but he persisted until Banks exclaimed, "By God, sir, I will not retreat! We have more to fear, sir, from the opinions of our friends than the bayonets of our enemies!" Now Gordon, the soldier, fully understood Banks, the politician: the commanding general was afraid of being thought to be afraid.
Without waiting for the orders he knew would eventually come, Gordon returned to his camp and got his sleeping brigade, including his own regiment, the 2nd Massachusetts, under arms. He also sent all of his own wagons off to Winchester, thus saving his train from destruction.
24 May: The Retreat Begins
When Banks emerged from his fog, he ordered an immediate withdrawal to Winchester up the Valley Pike, but valuable time had been lost. The column did not commence its movement until 9 a.m. and the 2nd Massachusetts did not get off until 11. The chase was on.
Jackson sent Ewell directly to Winchester on the Front Royal Road while he cut across country to intercept Banks at Middletown, 13 miles south of Winchester. But Jackson got there too late. "Maryland" Steuart's cavalry was luckier at Newtown (9 m. south of Winchester), where he swooped down upon the cumbersome train after the main body had passed through the town. His men had a field day scooping up supplies and other necssities from the Federals.
24 May: Skirmishing at Newmarket
Gordon was about 2 miles beyond Newtown when news of the attack reached him. He had left the 27th Indiana behind, along with a section of artillery as a rear guard, and was now ordered by Banks to send another regiment back. Then Banks high-tailed it for Winchester, leaving Gordon with no further orders. Gordon returned to Newtown his best regiment, his own 2nd Massachusetts.
When Lt. Col. Andrews arrived at Newtown, he found about 20 overturned wagons in the road and Rebel Cavalry men in the woods. Gordon's artillery cleared them out. Then, said Capt. Samuel Quincy:"Our color [company] was then ordered to take four men, go into the highest house he could find, get out ont he roof & wave the colors as a signal to General Hatch, whose rear guard was supposed to be behind the enemy, that we still held the town...It was quite fine in the sunset light to see the stars & stripes waving a signal to all left behind that in spite of thundering batteries Yankee Doodle was still in that village."
When BG John P. Hatch arrived on the scene, Gordon deferred command to the higher ranking officer. Hatch declined, saying that he could do no better than Gordon was already doing. Then he, too, left for Winchester.
Gordon's artillery duelled with that of Stephen Crutchfield for more than an hour. Crutchfield fumed over the lack of support from Ashby's cavalry, who were still happily plundering wagons and getting drunk on Union whiskey. Not until an infuriated Jackson arrived did any concentrated effort against Gordon commence.
Capt. Edward Abbott's Company A, being the only one visible to the enemy, took most of the incoming fire, and although the shells fell hot and furious, he proudly reported, "the men never flinched."
24 May: Jackson meets the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry
As Gordon pulled the 27th IN out, the 2nd MA covered the retreat. Andrews fell back slowly, buying as much time as he could. At nearby Bartonsville, the regiment stopped to retrieve its discarded knapsacks. During the halt, Maj. Dwight anticipated an attack and prepared for it. Before long, he heard the demonical rebel yell and the sound of approaching hoofbeats. A well-timed volley from his rear-guard scattered the attackers.
While Capt. Richard Cary waited for the other companies to collect their knapsacks, a rebel round shot landed nearby causing a stampede of Hatch's cavalry. "They went right over us & in trying to get out of the way I tumbled over the companies beyond me, not knowing them to be our cavalry, fired down the road & they surprised in their turn began firing every way & we not knowing what it was all about were, to state it mildly, considerably startled." Lt. Harry Russell, who had the misfortune of having a horse fall on him in the scramble, called the cavalrymen, "worse than nothing" in a fight.
Morse could feel the ground shake as the Rebel cavalry returned. "Not a shot was fired until they were within 50 yards of us when Major Dwight gave the order, 'Rear rank, aim, fire! Load! Front rank, aim, fire! Charge bayonets!' But bayonets were not needed. Men and horses were rolled over together, breaking he charge and sending them back in confusion." For the second time Jackson saw his cavalry thrown back and declared it "Shameful!"
Lt. Col. Andrews continued up the Valley Pike until reaching Kernstown (3. south of Winchester), where he risked halting to attend to his wounded. He sent for ambulances that never arrived, waiting one tension-filled hour before the approach of the enemy compelled him to continue his march, reluctantly leaving the wounded behind in the care of Dr. Francis Leland, who fell into enemy hands along with the men.
25 May: Winchester
Upon reaching Winchester, Gordon found Banks at the local hotel fresh from a nice warm bath and appraised him of the dire situation his division was in. Amazingly, even now Banks remained unconvinced that he was actually under attack. Maj. Dwight also spoke with Banks that night but left his presence with neither specific orders nor "nor any intimation of any plan or purpose for the next day."
It was left to the brigade commanders to prepare for the attack as best they could. Gordon placed his brigade on a ridge on the right of the Valley Pike, facing southward. The 2nd MA held the right, then the 3rd WS, the 27th IN, and the 29th NY on the left. Donelly's men were posted on the left of the road. The Federal line extended about 2 1/2 miles long, stretching from the Front Royal Road to the west of the Pike. Donelly was supported by Best's guns on Camp Hill; Gordon by batteries on Bowers Hill. As for Hatch's cavalry, they "might just as well have been at home for all we saw of them," Lt. Morse complained.
That night the men of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry prepared for its first battle. After waiting for nearly a year, the time had come at last. Captains George Bangs and Richard Goodwin sat quietly and spoke earnestly of what one of them would do for the other should one of them fall. Then, left to his own thoughts, Goodwin issued the soldier's universal prayer that he would not disgrace his family's good name. After all, no man knew for certain how he would behave when the bullets flew thick.
25 May: The Battle of Winchester
The position was a strong one but Gordon knew they had no chance of holding it with only 7 regiments averaging less than 600 men apiece, against an enemy 3 times their number. The Confederate attack began with artillery and were answered in kind. Jackson outgunned Gordon, but the latter's artillery was placed to better advantage.
Positioned at an advanced position at a stone wall, Capt. Richard Cary's company became the special target of the Rebel artillery. One shell crashed into the wall, killing one man and sending Cary and his 1st Sergeant flying. For a moment, Edward Abbott thought they must be killed, "but it was queer they escaped without a scratch." Such is the fickle nature of war. Abbott then caught sight of Lt. Francis Crowninshield standing "in full sight as cool as cool could be. I then spoke to Capt. Cary and asked him if he had not better tell C. to get down and not expose himself, whch he did and Frank got down behind the wall."
The 2nd Massachusetts was game, but it was only a matter of time. While Ewell attacked Donnelly on the left, Gen. Richard Taylor's Louisiana Tigers moved to turn Gordon's right flank. He quickly moved the 29th PA and 27th IN over to the right of the 2nd MA, but according to Lt. Thomas Robeson, they "fired one volley, and the next thing we saw, they were running in all directions."
With his right gone, and "but 15 rounds of ammunition left for my battery,", there was nothing left for Gordon to do but fall back. For three hours he had kept Jackson at bay. "Not until my adjutant's horse wa shot dead by my side, not until my aide returned to reply that he had given my message to General Banks that my right had been turned and I was falling back, did I, with the last of my command, leave the field."
While Donnelly retired east of the town, Gordon's brigade fell back through the streets of Winchester. For Capt. Quincy, the order to wheel to the rear and march away from the hill was unnerving. "To stand, fight & die was all in the programme, and what we bargained for, but to run away & get shot in the back--Well--we did it, first at quick time and then doublequick." Soon the Louisiana troops were atop the hill and the bullets "seemed to sweep by in gusts like rain." Their only salvation was that most of the bullets sailed high over their heads. "But enough of our poor fellows were knocked out of the ranks as it was. They dropped quietly without a groan or cry. Two of my men reported themselves hit & fell out of ranks without a word more."
25 May: Race to the Potomac
On the outskirts of town, Lt. Crowninshield was struck in the calf by a minie ball which just touched the bone but did not break it. He was the first officer of the 2nd Massachusetts to fall with a wound (his comrades would argue that such as event was long overdue for their regiment).
Several of his men broke ranks and went to his assistance, carrying him along until an ambulance was located.
Lt. Col. Andrews halted the 2nd MA in the first cross street of the town and re-formed his lines, briefly entertaining the idea of making a stand. But finding the regiment all but surrounded and a heavy fire assailing them from the side streets, "there was nothing else to do," said Capt. Richard Cary, "we ran." Andrews earned Edward Abbott's admiration by walking his horse beside Company A all the way through the town. Abbott called him "prefectly fearless."
It was bad enough to have the Confederate troops shooting at them, comlained Lt. Robert Gould Shaw, without the townspeople doing sniping at them from windows, "women as well as men." To Chaplain Quint, it was the "education of slavery" that "brutalizes the people it curses," and predicted a harsh retribution for the people of Winchester. "Conciliate! Conciliate rattlesnakes, if you will. The spirit of the slaveholder, as such, is the spirit of hell."
Losses mounted as the regiment raced through the town, fires from a burning warehouse now threatening to engulf them. Lt. Charles Mudge went down. His men, like Crowninshield's, stopped to carry him along rather than leave him to an uncertain fate.
Maj. Dwight, having lost his horse on the hill outside of Winchester, did not hesitate to answer a wounded private's desperate call for help, and got himself captured as a result. Capt. Sam Quincy, who was far from robust under the best of circumstances, fell so far behind that his men gave him up for lost and were "discussing my inumerable merits with a view to the composition of an epitaph," when he finally caught up to them.
It had now become a total route. Jackson was avenged for Kernstown. As Gordon gained the crest of a hill north of the town, he turned to see the gray masses swarming on the ridges beyond and then caught sight of Banks for the first time that morning, "making a feeble effort to arrest the troops, and uttering some words about promised reinforcements....I think there was no doubt in his own mind that the enemy had 'developed' his force to him."
As the Union troops fled up the Valley Pike for 23 miles, the Confederates failed to follow up their victory with a rigorous pursuit. Jackson could only watch helplessly as his prey scampered away. Once again, the cavalry had failed him, with Steuart flatly refusing an order to pursue unless it came through Ewell.
Lt. Morse, for one, was grateful that the regiment had "got out of this scrape with pretty whole skins." He summed up the last 24 hours for the 2nd Massachusetts: "we had marched sixty miles, been in two severe fights, had only three hours' rest, and had scarcely a particle of food."
As the survivors of Banks' shattered brigades re-crossed the Potomac, Gordon observed grimly that they had come full circle. "Yes, we were again where, in July of the preceding year, we had made our march so gayly into Virginia."
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