New Market Part 3
From Union Far Right
This is the view from Carlin's and Snow's batteries of 3 inch rifles. From here, you can see most of the western side of the battlefield. From here, Union rifled artillery stretched down nearly to von Kleiser's five smoothbore Napoleons. Union infantry was to the rear of the guns, protected behind the ridgeline. Sigel had seen the Confederates falter, then endure artillery fire behind the fence-line. He believed the Confederates were vulnerable, so he ordered his whole line to attack. Here on the Union right, the 34th Mass. moved forward to attack. The 1st WVa. on their left lagged behind, leaving the 34th Mass., as well as the 54th Pa. on the Union left, vulnerable. The 34th Mass got halfway to the Confederate line and stalled. The Union artillery had been taking small arms fire and Sigel ordered them to withdraw. Breckinridge now sent his army forward to attack. Regular infantry and cadets alike advanced, pushing the Union infantry back and capturing three abandoned guns. The cadets advanced through the muddy "Field of Lost Shoes" visible as the low dark green area. The Union troops began to retreat under the cover of du Pont's artillery further to the rear.
From the 54th Pa. Monument Near the Valley Pike
After Sigel ordered his general attack, his cavalry on the left flank charged down the Valley Pike. Confederate artillery and infantry on the green ridgeline on the left of the picture as well as infantry on the near side of the road opened fire on the horsemen as they were crossing a small bridge. The Confederates inflicted heavy casualties, forcing the cavalrymen to retreat. (The area to the left of the road is private property and is unprotected.)
Upon seeing the 1st WVa. advance on their right, the 54th Pa. began to charge across this rocky field. The West Virginians retreated soon after they met enemy fire, leaving their comrades in the 54th Pa. to advance by themselves, much like the 34th Mass. Confederates from the 62nd Va. were in the far gully, an extension of that shown in a previous picture. When the surprised Pennsylvanians reached the ridgetop overlooking the gully, the Confederates opened a devastating fire. The Federals took heavy casualties and retreated. Confederates advanced in pursuit, overlapping both flanks of the Yankee regiment, which by day's end had lost 45% of its men.
The whole Union army was now in retreat covered by its artillery. Sigel's army rallied on Rude's Hill but continued the retreat. If only Imboden had reached the Union rear according to plan, the Confederate victory could have been complete. As it was, Sigel lost 841 of 6,280 engaged to Breckinridge's 531 of 4,876 engaged.
With Sigel repulsed, Lee ordered Breckinridge to either advance northward through the Shenandoah Valley or march east to join the Army of Northern Virginia. Breckinridge decided to join Lee, and his men were valuable reinforcements for the North Anna and Cold Harbor campaigns, which could have brought destruction to Meade's Army of the Potomac. In part, this reinforcement of Lee makes the Battle of New Market one of the most important of the smaller battles of the war.
But Union troops in the Valley, now under David Hunter, soon recovered and raided the Valley. In response, Lee dispatched Breckinridge's division and Early's Second Corps to the Valley in early June. After dealing with Hunter, Early moved north and threatened Washington after a clash at Monocacy, forcing Grant to send troops from his army at Petersburg. Although initially successful, Early met resistance at the defenses of Washington and withdrew to the Valley. In September and October, he met defeat at the hands of Phil Sheridan at Third Winchester, Fishers Hill, and Cedar Creek.
The Virginia Military Institute in Lexington still remembers the sacrifices of its cadets. In addition to a chapel with artwork depicting the charge of the cadets, VMI also has the graves of some of the casualties and the statue "Virginia Mourning Her Dead".
