Post by yanks on Nov 15, 2022 3:13:21 GMT
Battle of Winchester
March 14th, 1862
It had been a rough month for the men in the Union army in the Valley. While the rebels sat relatively comfortably in quarters, General William B. Franklin had his men marching to and fro in rather poor weather. What happened from the beginning of this campaign was a failure of intelligence and cavalry tactics and what ended it was much of the same. General Jackson had arrayed his men spread throughout the valley - a dangerous and somewhat confusing decision but one that proved equally as confusing to his enemy.
The Union cavalry had spent late February into early March being split into tiny portions and run throughout the valley. Most of these met with larger patrols from the rebels under Col. Ashby. A handful managed to make it through, twice, and allowed intelligence back to General Franklin. What he learned was that Winchester had minor to moderate fortifications, built by Jackson over the winter, and that the rebel force was maybe a division worth of men in garrison. Ironically, only a handful of miles away from his own encampment in Charlestown, was one of the Army of the Valley's divisions, encamped and away from support. Had the Federals managed to break Ashby's screen, it could have been trouble. And had Jackson has Ashby scout after reports of Federal presence nearby (their campfires were within sight of each other's scouts), he may have known the danger he was in.
However, instead of knowing the rebels were nearby, panic gripped a few of General Franklin's officers, indicating that if most of Jackson's army wasn't here, they must be behind them heading into Maryland! Quickly, General Franklin ordered the withdrawal into Maryland, not at Harper's Ferry, but at Shepherdstown. Finally, resting at Sharpsburg. After a few days rest and calmer thinking, it was realized that Jackson was in fact, not, in Maryland. This lead to a line of thinking that perhaps Jackson had been reduced in strength and perhaps the Army of North Virginia had been reinforced with those men. This line of thinking turned into General Franklin's undoing.
Once again the Army of the Potomac's Valley detachment marched south, mostly on the same roads they came up from. This was miserable for almost all parties involved as the roads were practically destroyed by the marching of thousands of feet days prior in poor late winter conditions. Morale was lessened as the men were cold, tired, and miserable from marching for days on end with no real objective in sight. Word of this reached General Franklin and it made him determined to bring the fight to Jackson and seize the valley once and for all. His cavalry commander, Colonel Andrew T. McReynolds, was once again ordered to split his cavalry and send it multiple ways towards the enemy. This led to a sharp clash at Charlestown where McReynolds' men, only 500 strong, were attacked by Colonel Ashby and sent running back to camp, followed by another battle with a second battalion of 500 cavalry. Both combats were bloody and close as neither are armed with anything but pistols and sabers. This allowed Ashby to report to Jackson that the Federal Army was coming - Jackson quickly reunited his army at Winchester and prepared.
After a brief battle maneuver at Charlestown caused by lack of intelligence and the assumption the rebels were there - General Franklin decided to march on Winchester itself. Once again his army set out, with the mood lightening as the men were inspired by the thought of bringing the rebels to battle. But after some time of being watched by Colonel Ashby and not being ordered to scout himself, Colonel McReynolds gathered up his force without orders and set out - determined to find actionable information that could help. After a brief bit of contact, he broke through Ashby's somewhat thin screen and identified that Winchester was occupied. He dutifully reported back that it looked as if Jackson's whole force was there but he did not have time to determine if Jackson's force was larger or smaller than intelligence from February.
Emboldened by this information, General Franklin's officers encouraged him to attack the enemy despite the potential that they may be facing an equal foe and attacking fortifications. General Franklin, himself, was worried about further decay in morale from not fighting and decided to engage. But instead of attack into the teeth of the enemy's defense, he marched North to hit the lesser developed portions of the rebel defenses. The advantage gained from the shifting the attack away from the main approach to Winchester was negated by the poor terrain. The main approach was relatively flat up until the primary defenses, whereas the area North of Winchester was a bit rougher. This would slow down any advance and likely impact unit cohesion.
On the morning of the 14th, General Franklin watched as neat blue lines from his Second Division marched to join in battle. Slowly, the timing of the regiments broke up as they navigated the terrain. As they neared, men stopped to fire and reload before being ushered on by officers. Closer and closer they crept as rebel artillery struck from safe positions. Finally, rebel musketry erupted from behind basic entrenchments. The area had some basic rifle pits or breastworks, with a few areas without defenses that were less in need of. As the Union troops advanced, their rate of fire increased to try and suppress the rebel works.
General Franklin's view was of his lines meeting a cloud of smoke from the black powder weapons, and his own forces adding to this cloud. This made seeing anything of detail extremely difficult. After maybe less than ten minutes of this one of his officers pointed towards the main hill, one of his regiments was routing. Then a second. Then a third. Eventually his entire Division was retreating from the attack. Most regimental officers being able to control their men in the retreat and preventing it from being a full rout. General Franklin learned that his Division that advanced was possibly outnumbered by the defenders, but most of the Division was rallying to attack with First Division (minus one brigade in Harpers Ferry).
It was decided that the artillery would concentrate on the part of the enemy line that was not protected by entrenchments of any kind. There were two primary areas that lacked defenses, but these areas did have the benefit of being a "valley" between two higher hills; allowing a limited enfilade fire on attacking regiments through these gaps. It was here the battle was decided as the Federal troops pushed forward and into the breach. Combat quickly closed to hand in hand between the two sides. Multiple regiments from both sides were thrown into this portion of the line and combat lasted for what seemed like an eternity - but was more like 30 minutes. It was subtle at first, but one of the officers noted it looked like the line was moving backwards. As General Franklin craned his neck, he saw it too. He was running out of reinforcements and he was being pushed out.
Within moments of the realization, it was as if a dam broke and a sea of blue went running. Bursting through the line was a mass of gray yipping at the heels of the retreating Union troops. Aghast at the loss, Franklin was in a daze, he could only hear ringing in his ears. Eventually a voice echoed through his head "Sir..." it was frantic "We need to order the retreat and get out of here. Sir! Sir!" General Franklin came out of his reverie and just nodded and begun to ride off. Bugles sounded, hooves beat into the ground and boots fled North.
The battle was over, a total defeat for the Union. General Jackson looked from atop the hill as his army surged forward, taking many prisoners, capturing many guns and taking the field for what would be minor casualties. The day was over and it was hardly past 2:00 PM.