In Shenandoah Valley campaign, following initial tactical defeat at the First Battle Of Kernstown (March 23, 1862), Confederate General Stonewall Jackson withdrew down the valley to Rude's Hill upon the advice of his newly appointed cartographer Jedidiah Hotchkiss and made Locust Grove his headquarters from April 2–17, 1862. There he rallied his troops and reorganized his command, with his forces swelling to 6,000 men on Rude's Hill. On April 16–17, 1862 there was a skirmish at Rude's Hill with advance elements of the Union forces. With Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks approaching with 20,000 troops, Jackson was planning to make a stand on Rude's Hill but his cavalry, under pressure of the Union's skirmishing advance on the 16th, had failed to destroy the gateway bridge over Mill Creek at Mt. Jackson. So Jackson withdrew south on April 17, but ultimately defeated Union generals in a series of moves and battles up and down the Shenandoah Valley from May to June, 1862.