First Battle of Kernstown The First Battle of Kernstown was fought on March 23 , 1862 , in Frederick County and Winchester , Virginia , the opening battle of Confederate Maj . Gen . Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson ' s campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War . Attempting to tie down the Union forces in the Valley , under the overall command of Maj . Gen . Nathaniel P . Banks , Jackson received incorrect intelligence that a small detachment under Col . Nathan Kimball was vulnerable , but it was in fact a full infantry division more than twice the size of Jackson ' s force . His initial cavalry attack was forced back and he immediately reinforced it with a small infantry brigade . With his other two brigades , Jackson sought to envelop the Union right by way of Sandy Ridge . But Col . Erastus B . Tyler ' s brigade countered this movement , and , when Kimball ' s brigade moved to his assistance , the Confederates were driven from the field . There was no effective Union pursuit . Although the battle was a Confederate tactical defeat , it represented a strategic victory for the South by preventing the Union from transferring forces from the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce the Peninsula Campaign against the Confederate capital , Richmond . Following the earlier Battle of Hoke ' s Run , the First Battle of Kernstown may be considered the second among Jackson ' s rare defeats . Background . Jackson ' s division had been withdrawing " up " the Valley ( to the higher elevations at the southwest end of the Valley ) to cover the flank of Gen . Joseph E . Johnston ' s army , withdrawing from the Centreville – Manassas area to protect Richmond . Without this protective movement , the Federal army under Banks might strike at Johnston through passes in the Blue Ridge Mountains . By March 12 , 1862 , Banks occupied Winchester just after Jackson had withdrawn from the town , marching at a leisurely pace 42 miles up the Valley Pike to Mount Jackson . On March 21 , Jackson received word that Banks was splitting his force , with two divisions ( under Brig . Gens . John Sedgwick and Alpheus S . Williams ) returning to the immediate vicinity of Washington , D . C . , freeing up other Union troops to participate in Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan ' s Peninsula Campaign against Richmond . The remaining division , under Brig . Gen . James Shields , was stationed at Strasburg to guard the lower ( northeastern ) Valley , and intelligence indicated that it was withdrawing toward Winchester . Banks made preparations to leave the Valley personally on March 23 . Jackson ' s orders from Johnston were to prevent Banks ' s force from leaving the Valley , which it appeared they were now doing . Jackson turned his men around and , in one of the more grueling forced marches of the war , moved northeast 25 miles on March 22 and another 15 to Kernstown on the morning of March 23 . His cavalry , under Col . Turner Ashby , skirmished with the Federals on March 22 , during which engagement Shields was wounded with a broken arm from an artillery shell fragment . Despite his injury , Shields sent part of his division south of Winchester and one brigade marching to the north , seemingly abandoning the area , but in fact halting nearby to remain in reserve . He then turned over tactical command of his division to Col . Nathan Kimball , although throughout the battle to come , he sent numerous messages and orders to Kimball . Confederate loyalists in Winchester mistakenly informed Turner Ashby that Shields had left only four regiments and a few guns ( about 3 , 000 men ) and that these remaining troops had orders to march for Harpers Ferry in the morning . Ashby , who normally had a reputation as a reliable cavalry scout , inexplicably did not verify the civilian reports and passed them on to Jackson . Jackson marched aggressively north with his 3 , 000 - man division , reduced from its peak as stragglers fell out of the column , unaware that he was soon to be attacking almost 9 , 000 men . Battle . Jackson moved north from Woodstock and arrived before the Union position at Kernstown around 11 a . m . , Sunday , March 23 . The devoutly religious Jackson preferred to avoid battles on the Sabbath , but throughout his Civil War career he did not hesitate when military advantage could be gained . He later wrote to his wife : Jackson performed no personal reconnaissance before he sent Turner Ashby on a feint against Kimball ' s position on the Valley Turnpike while his main force — the brigades of Col . Samuel Fulkerson and Brig . Gen . Richard B . Garnett ( the Stonewall Brigade , Jackson ' s own first command ) — attacked the Union artillery position on Pritchard Hill . The lead brigade under Fulkerson was repulsed , so Jackson decided to move around the Union right flank , about 2 miles west on Sandy Ridge , which appeared to be unoccupied . If this were successful , his men could move down the spine of the ridge and get into the Union rear , blocking their escape route to Winchester . Kimball countered the maneuver by moving his brigade under Col . Erastus B . Tyler to the west , but Fulkerson ' s men reached a stone wall facing a clearing on the ridge before the Union men could . Jackson ' s aide , Sandie Pendleton , obtained a clear view from the ridge of the Union forces arrayed against them and he estimated that there were 10 , 000 . He reported this to Jackson , who replied , " Say nothing about it . We are in for it . " Around 4 p . m , Tyler attacked Fulkerson and Garnett by using an unorthodox approach with his brigade in " close column of divisions " — a brigade front of two companies with 48 companies lined up behind them in 24 lines , in all about 75 yards wide , and 400 yards long , a formation difficult to control and lacking offensive power at the front . The Confederates were temporarily able to counter this attack with their inferior numbers by firing fierce volleys from behind the stone wall . Jackson , finally realizing the strength of the force opposing him , sent out Col . Jesse Burks ' s brigade , which had been held in reserve , but by the time they arrived around 6 p . m . , Garnett ' s Stonewall Brigade had run out of ammunition and he pulled them back , leaving Fulkerson ' s right flank exposed . Panic set in among the Confederates , and as Burks ' s brigade arrived , it was caught in the fleeing mob and forced to retreat . Jackson tried in vain to rally his troops . He called out to a soldier " Where are you going , man ? " The soldier replied that he was out of ammunition . " Then go back and give them the bayonet ! " Jackson said . However , the soldier ignored him and kept running . Kimball organized no effective pursuit . That night , a cavalryman sat with Jackson by a campfire alongside the Valley Pike and jokingly said " It was reported that they were retreating , General , but I guess they were retreating after us . " Jackson , not known for his sense of humor , replied , " I think I am satisfied , sir . " Aftermath . Union casualties were 590 ( 118 killed , 450 wounded , 22 captured or missing ) , Confederate 718 ( 80 killed , 375 wounded , 263 captured or missing ) . Despite the Union victory , President Abraham Lincoln was disturbed by Jackson ' s audacity and his potential threat to Washington . He sent Banks back to the Valley along with Alpheus Williams ' s division . He also was concerned that Jackson might move into western Virginia against Maj . Gen . John C . Frémont , so he ordered that the division of Brig . Gen . Louis Blenker be detached from McClellan ' s Army of the Potomac and sent to reinforce Frémont . Lincoln also took this opportunity to re - examine Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan ' s plans for the defenses of Washington while the Peninsula Campaign was underway and decided that the forces were insufficient . He eventually ordered that the corps of Maj . Gen . Irvin McDowell , which was moving south against Richmond in support of McClellan , remain in the vicinity of the capital . McClellan claimed that the loss of these forces prevented him from taking Richmond during his campaign . The strategic realignment of Union forces caused by Jackson ' s battle at Kernstown — the only battle he lost in his military career — turned out to be a strategic victory for the Confederacy . The remainder of Jackson ' s Valley Campaign consisted of lightning movements and five victories against superior forces organized into three Union armies , which elevated him to the position of the most famous general in the Confederacy ( until this reputation was later supplanted by his superior , Gen . Robert E . Lee ) . Jackson refused to accept any responsibility for the defeat and subsequently arrested the commander of his old Stonewall Brigade , Brig . Gen . Richard B . Garnett , for retreating from the battlefield before permission was received . The Stonewall Brigade ' s withdrawal , which came after it received the bulk of the Union fire and suffered the majority of Confederate casualties , uncovered the right of Fulkerson ' s Brigade , forcing it to also withdraw and starting a panic . He was replaced by Brig . Gen . Charles S . Winder . During the invasion of Maryland in September , Robert E . Lee ordered the charges against him dropped , but Garnett suffered from the humiliation of his court - martial for over a year , until he was killed at Gettysburg during Pickett ' s Charge . A Second Battle of Kernstown occurred in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 .