Jackson may have fallen short of his objective to destroy Banks (eventually he would humiliate all 3 of the Federal armies in Northern VA), but the effects of his victory were far reaching. News of the crushing defeat and Banks' expulsion from Virginia spread quickly throughout the North. In three days, Banks had lost approximately 3,000 of his 8,000 men. Jackson's loss paled in comparison--400. Lost, too, were tons of food and other stores. So frightened were Lincoln and his Cabinet that they suspended McDowell's operations against Richmond in order to send reinforcements back to the Valley. Stanton sent frantic telegrams to the Northern governors begging for help to fend off the expected march upon Washington by the enemy.

The battle of Winchester should have demonstrated to Washington that former governors did not belong commanding armies, but Lt. Harry Russell correctly predicted that Banks would "fall on his feet" and"reap glory" for the defeat. Sure enough, the newspapers were quick to bestow misplaced praise upon the commanding general for accomplishments he had nothing to do with. "Banks is getting great credit which he does not deserve," grumbled Capt. Richard Cary. "If it had not been for Gordon we never should have got out at all." Even Capt. Edward Abbott, who was no great admirer of his former regimental commander, was quick to point out the truth of the battle to his family. "It was Gen. Gordon who carried us through, in fact, Gordon gave all the orders during the fight and took care of the retreat....I wish they would send old Banks to the North Pole to see if he could not discover something wonderful, if he could not find anything he would at least make the people think so who sent him."

The effect the battle of Winchester had upon the officers and men of the 2nd Massachusetts was significant. After being in the field for nearly a year, they had finally faced the ultimate test of their mettle and manhood. They had suffered their first losses in battle--the most of any regiment engaged at Winchester--and although driven from the field, they had every reason to be satisfied with their performance under fire. There was no question that the months of hated drill and the discipline insisted upon by the West Pointers, Gordon and Andrews, had served them well. The officers, many of them from Boston's "elite," had proven to their men that they were worthy leaders who could be relied upon to remain cool in the most deadly circumstances, to act responsibly, and to share every danger right alongside their men. From that day on, said Chaplain Quint, both officers and men "understood each other, taught as only this baptism of fire could teach."

Lt. Robert Gould Shaw certainly noticed a markedly different attitude of the men towards their officers."Last winter a writer in the 'Baltimore Clipper' said that we should all be killed by our own men in the first action."

This change in attitude was manifest in the regiment's concern over the fate of the missing Major Wilder Dwight, and their subsequent reception upon his release from captivity. Immediately after the battle, Edward Abbott wrote to his father and called Dwight his "hero" of the fight. "I never saw a braver man in my life....He is the idol of the men now. If anything happens to him they will avenge him. They adore him." "I wish you could have heard the shout the men sent up when he fairly came in reach of them. They finally made a rush at him; it seemed as if they would tear him to pieces in their eagerness to touch his hand or some part of him; every cap was off and every face was on the broad grin, and in almost every mouth was 'God Bless the little Major.'"

Captains Cary and Abbott were the first to seize hold of Dwight. He was then passed from officer to officer, while the men cheered and some cried. "We made such a noise," Abbott related, "that it brought the officers and men out of other camps to see what the matter was."

The jubilation of Dwight's deliverance could not aleviate Abbott's anger. "A vast Army was cut up in small pieces to soothe this and that political hack, and to prevent any one from gaining a reputation to eclipse his own." The Northern government had still to learn how to win a war. RETURN TO WINCHESTER MAIN PAGE
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