Virginia 23rd Infantry Battalion, Company B (Confederate)

First Kernstown

In the spring of 1862, relying on faulty intelligence that under-reported the strength of the Union garrison at Winchester in the lower Shenandoah Valley, Confederate Maj. Gen. 'Stonewall' Jackson marched aggressively north with his 3,800-man division. In Winchester, the 8,500 Federals were a detachment from the Army of the Potomac's Fifth Corps, and were commanded by Col. Nathan Kimball, who outnumbered Jackson more than two to one. Kimball established a defensive position on the Valley Turnpike and Midd…READ MORE

McDowell

As Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan prepared to march his Army of the Potomac up the Virginia Peninsula and capture Richmond, Confederate Gen. Joseph E. Johnston ordered Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to prevent Union troops in the Shenandoah Valley from reinforcing McClellan. After his tactical defeat at the First Battle of Kernstown, Jackson moved up the valley to confront a Union force entering it from western Virginia. Joining forces with Brig. Gen. Edward "Allegheny" Johnson's Army of the…READ MORE

Antietam

The Army of the Potomac, under the command of Maj. Gen. George McClellan, mounted a series of powerful assaults against General Robert E. Lee's forces along Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17th, 1862.READ MORE

Droop Mountain

Droop Mountain is one of West Virginia's largest and last important Civil War battles. The battle was fought on November 6, 1863 between the Union army of Gen. William Averell and the Confederate army of Gen. John Echols. Echols's army was pushed south into Virginia and never regained control of southeastern West Virginia.READ MORE

Spotsylvania Court House

Following the Battle of the Wilderness, Lieut. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant marched the Union army south with the hope of capturing Spotsylvania Court House and preventing Robert E. Lee's army from retreating further. Lee's Confederates, however, managed to get ahead of the Federals and block the road. Fighting began on May 8th, when the Union Fifth Corps under Maj. Gen. Gouverneur K. Warren and the Sixth Corps under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick engaged Confederate Maj. Gen. Richard Anderson's First Corps at Laurel Hi…READ MORE

Third Winchester

To clear the Shenandoah River valley of Confederates, Maj. Gen. Phil Sheridan moved on Winchester in mid-September 1864. Sheridan's force of over 39,000 men was more than twice the size of Maj. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate army defending the valley. After Brig. Gen. Joseph Kershaw's division left Winchester to rejoin Robert E. Lee's army at Petersburg, Early renewed his raids on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at Martinsburg in the lower valley, dispersing his four remaining infantry divisions. On Septem…READ MORE