First Battle of Kernstown
First Battle of Kernstown
On March 23, 1862, the First Battle of Kernstown took place in Frederick County and Winchester, Virginia. It was the opening battle of Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign in the Civil War.
Jackson believed he could pin down Union forces in the valley by attacking a small part of Banks’s army, but the force at Kernstown turned out to be much larger than he expected. His cavalry under Turner Ashby first skirmished with the Federals, then Jackson reinforced with two brigades to try to outflank the Union right.
The Union position was strong on Prichard’s Hill, defended by Col. Nathan Kimball’s infantry. Jackson tried to move around the Union right along Sandy Ridge, but Col. Erastus B. Tyler moved to block him. After a tense fight in the late afternoon, and with ammunition running low for the Confederates, Jackson’s troops began to withdraw. There was no strong Union pursuit that night.
Casualties were about 590 for the Union and about 718 for the Confederates. Although Jackson’s forces won the tactical battle for Kernstown, the Union held the field and the Confederates failed to destroy Banks’s force.
Strategically, the battle was a Confederate victory because it kept Union troops in the Shenandoah Valley and prevented them from moving to the Peninsula Campaign against Richmond. The encounter helped raise Jackson’s reputation in the South, even though it was a rare defeat for him.
After Kernstown, Garnett was court-martialed for retreating without orders, and he later died at Gettysburg. A second Battle of Kernstown would be fought in 1864 during the Valley Campaigns.
Today, parts of the Kernstown battlefield are preserved by the Civil War Trust and Kernstown Battlefield Association. Kernstown Battlefield Park has trails and a small museum, and part of the battlefield was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:16 (CET).