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Acting on faulty intelligence that most Union troops had left Winchester, Jackson hurried north and attacked near Kernstown. Instead of a small rear guard, he faced Nathan Kimball’s full division of about 8,500 men. Union troops stopped the Confederate advance, then turned Jackson’s left flank and forced him to retreat.

It was Jackson’s only tactical defeat in the Valley—and the only recorded loss of his career—but it produced an important strategic effect. Alarmed by the renewed threat to Washington, President Lincoln held back or redirected troops that might otherwise have strengthened the Union drive on Richmond.

Jackson deceived Federal commanders by appearing to leave the Valley, then returned by rail to Staunton and marched west along the Staunton and Parkersburg Turnpike. On May 8 his force occupied Sitlington’s Hill above McDowell as Robert Milroy and Robert Schenck moved east from what is now West Virginia.

Although outnumbered, Milroy attacked late in the afternoon. Four hours of fierce fighting failed to break the Confederate position, and the Union force quietly withdrew that night. Jackson had closed the Valley’s western approach and was free to turn against other Federal armies.

Jackson crossed Massanutten through New Market Gap, joined Richard Ewell in the Luray Valley, and struck the exposed eastern end of Nathaniel Banks’s defensive line. At Front Royal, the Confederate 1st Maryland led the attack against John Kenly’s Union 1st Maryland—a bitter encounter between soldiers from the same state.

Kenly’s roughly 1,000 men held for nearly two hours before retreating across both forks of the Shenandoah. Confederate cavalry caught the column near Cedarville; about 700 Union soldiers were captured. The destruction of the garrison threatened Banks’s communications and forced his army at Strasburg to race toward Winchester.

After Front Royal threatened his flank, Banks abandoned Strasburg and retreated north along the Valley Pike. Jackson’s troops fought the withdrawing column through Newtown and Middletown before the Union army formed a defensive line on the north side of Abram’s Creek at Winchester.

At first light, Confederate attacks stalled on Camp Hill, but Richard Taylor’s Louisiana Brigade turned the Union right on Bowers Hill. Banks’s line collapsed and his troops fled through Winchester, losing nearly a third of their force and large stores of food and ammunition. The victory drew more Federal troops away from Richmond as Washington tried to trap Jackson.

Two Union columns pursued Jackson south on opposite sides of Massanutten Mountain. Jackson burned bridges to keep them apart, then chose the southern end of the mountain as the place to stand. Ewell’s division faced Frémont at Cross Keys while Jackson controlled the crossings at nearby Port Republic.

An early Union advance stumbled into a Confederate ambush that devastated the 8th New York. Isaac Trimble pressed the Federal left and threatened its artillery, prompting Frémont to withdraw despite progress elsewhere. The Union columns remained separated, allowing Jackson to turn against the second force the next morning.

Jackson tried to concentrate against James Shields’s smaller force east of Port Republic, but difficult river crossings left him initially outnumbered. Tyler’s compact Union line stretched from the South Fork to the Blue Ridge, with artillery commanding the field from a ridge known as “The Coaling.”

Repeated Confederate assaults failed until Richard Taylor’s Louisiana Brigade captured the guns in savage hand-to-hand fighting. Union counterattacks could not retake the ridge, and burned bridges prevented Frémont from reinforcing Tyler. Jackson’s second victory in two days ended the campaign and freed his army to join Lee near Richmond.

As Lee began his second invasion of the North, Ewell’s corps was ordered to clear the Lower Valley. Confederate columns converged on Milroy’s garrison at Winchester, but Milroy chose to remain in extensive fortifications west and north of town rather than withdraw before the larger force.

On June 14 the Louisiana Brigade seized West Fort and made the Union position untenable. Milroy attempted a night escape toward Charles Town, only to find Edward “Allegheny” Johnson blocking the route at Stephenson’s Depot. The Confederates captured about 2,400 men and opened the Valley road toward Maryland and Gettysburg.

After Gettysburg, Lee’s army recrossed the Potomac and moved up the Shenandoah Valley. Meade followed east of the Blue Ridge and sent French’s III Corps through Manassas Gap in a final attempt to cut off the retreating Confederate columns near Front Royal.

French slowly pushed William Walker’s brigade back through the gap. A strong late-afternoon assault gained ground, but Confederate reinforcements and artillery arrived before the attack could be coordinated into a breakthrough. The fighting ended at dusk; Lee’s army withdrew into the Luray Valley overnight and escaped beyond pursuit.

Grant sent Sigel south along the Valley Pike to destroy the railroad and canal complex at Lynchburg. At New Market, the Union column encountered Breckinridge’s improvised Confederate force, which included the Virginia Military Institute Cadet Battalion.

Breckinridge seized the initiative, driving the Federals out of town and onto the hills to the north. When a Union battery withdrew to replenish ammunition, a gap opened in the line. Breckinridge sent his entire force forward—including the cadets—and Sigel’s position collapsed. The Union army retreated to Cedar Creek, delaying the advance on Lynchburg.

After replacing Sigel, Hunter renewed the Union offensive and met Jones’s smaller Confederate army north of Piedmont. Severe fighting continued until Joseph Thoburn’s brigade turned the Confederate right flank.

Jones was killed while trying to stop the retreat, which quickly became a rout. More than 1,000 Confederates and three guns were captured. Hunter occupied Staunton the next day, joined George Crook’s column, and resumed the destructive advance toward Lexington and Lynchburg.

Hunter advanced from Lexington toward Lynchburg’s railroad, canal depots, and military hospitals. His tentative attacks on June 17 were checked as the first elements of Early’s corps arrived by rail from Charlottesville to reinforce the city.

Short of supplies and uncertain about the growing Confederate strength, Hunter withdrew after scattered fighting on June 18. His retreat through West Virginia removed the Union army from the Valley for nearly a month and left the route north open for Early’s raid into Maryland and toward Washington.

After threatening Washington at Fort Stevens, Early withdrew through Snickers Gap while Wright’s VI Corps and other Union troops followed closely. Federal cavalry tested the Shenandoah crossings, and Joseph Thoburn’s infantry division crossed downstream at Judge Richard Parker’s Ford on July 18.

Three Confederate divisions moved to contest the crossing. Robert Rodes struck and shattered Thoburn’s right flank on the Cool Spring plantation, though Union troops held behind a stone wall until darkness allowed them to withdraw. The battle delayed the Federal pursuit for several days.

As Early moved toward Strasburg under pressure from several directions, he sent Ramseur’s division to block Averell’s troops advancing south from Martinsburg. Ramseur was ordered to remain on the defensive north of Winchester but, underestimating the Union force, moved forward to attack.

The Federals struck first. Their right overlapped the Confederate left, where infantry and cavalry broke the flank and turned the retreat into a rout. Averell captured four guns and nearly 300 men. The victory encouraged Wright to send major Union formations away—creating the opportunity Early exploited four days later at Kernstown.

Believing Early no longer posed a serious threat, Wright sent the VI and XIX Corps toward Washington and left Crook’s smaller command to hold Winchester. Early moved north on much of the same ground where the first battle had been fought in 1862.

After an hour of resistance at Pritchard’s Hill, the Union line collapsed and Crook’s divisions streamed back through Winchester. Col. James Mulligan was mortally wounded, and Crook retreated across the Potomac. The defeat—followed by the burning of Chambersburg—caused Grant to return troops to the Valley and place them under Sheridan’s unified command.

Lee sent Joseph Kershaw’s infantry and Fitzhugh Lee’s cavalry from Petersburg to reinforce Early, with Anderson in overall command. Near Front Royal, Merritt’s Union cavalry surprised the column while parts of it were crossing the Shenandoah River.

The Federals captured about 300 Confederates in the initial clash. Anderson’s troops rallied, advanced, and gradually forced Merritt’s two brigades back toward Cedarville. Merritt withdrew after dark to Ninevah, leaving neither side with a decisive advantage.

Sheridan’s divisions moved south from Halltown and began concentrating near Berryville. Anderson’s Confederates unexpectedly encountered elements of Crook’s corps going into camp and attacked before the Union position was fully settled.

The assault achieved only limited results. Early brought up the rest of his army during the night, but by daylight Sheridan’s troops were too strongly entrenched to attack safely. The Confederates withdrew behind Opequon Creek, and the cautious maneuvering known as the “mimic war” continued.

Early mistook Sheridan’s early caution for weakness and spread his army between Winchester and Martinsburg. Once Sheridan learned that a Confederate division had left for Richmond, he attacked. A slow advance through narrow Berryville Canyon delayed the Union army and gave Early time to concentrate.

More than 54,000 men fought in the Valley’s largest and costliest battle, with over 8,600 casualties. Fighting seesawed across the hills east and north of Winchester until Crook’s corps and Union cavalry turned the Confederate left late in the day. Early’s line broke, beginning the end of Confederate dominance in the Valley.

After Third Winchester, Early withdrew to Fisher’s Hill—the “Gibraltar of the Valley”—where Massanutten and Little North Mountain narrow the Valley to about four miles. Heavy losses and detached units, however, left him too weak to man the entire line.

Sheridan rejected a costly frontal assault and approved Crook’s plan to move secretly along Little North Mountain. Hidden by darkness, woods, and autumn foliage, Crook’s two divisions reached the Confederate left and attacked late on September 22. The flank strike and frontal pressure from the VI and XIX Corps sent Early’s army retreating toward Woodstock and opened the Upper Valley to “The Burning.”

Confederate cavalry closely harassed the Federals carrying out “The Burning,” but its aggressiveness carried it far ahead of supporting infantry. Sheridan ordered Torbert to turn and defeat the pursuing horsemen, who were both outnumbered and isolated.

Merritt attacked Lunsford Lomax along the Valley Pike while Custer faced his former West Point classmate Rosser on the Back Road. After hours of resistance, Union flanking attacks broke both Confederate lines. Federal cavalry pursued for nearly 20 miles in the rout remembered as the “Woodstock Races,” badly weakening Early’s mounted arm.

Before dawn, John B. Gordon led three Confederate divisions on a difficult night march around the Union left. Early’s army surprised and routed the VIII and XIX Corps, driving much of the Federal force north while the VI Corps fought to stabilize a new line near Middletown.

The Confederate advance lost momentum as soldiers stopped to plunder captured camps and Early declined calls for another immediate assault. Sheridan rode from Winchester, rallied the retreating troops, and organized an afternoon counterattack that recovered the camps and routed Early’s army. The reversal ended effective Confederate resistance in the Valley and strengthened Lincoln’s prospects for reelection.

Sheridan rode south from Winchester with two cavalry divisions and found the remaining fragment of Early’s Valley army at Waynesboro. After a brief standoff, the Federals struck the exposed Confederate right and rapidly rolled up the line.

More than 1,500 Confederates surrendered, although Early and a few staff officers escaped. Sheridan crossed the Blue Ridge, raided the James River Canal, and later joined the Army of the Potomac near Petersburg. Waynesboro was the last significant Civil War action in the Shenandoah Valley.