Battle of Moorefield The Battle of Moorefield was a cavalry battle in the American Civil War , which took place on August 7 , 1864 , at Moorefield , West Virginia , as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 . Brig . Gen . William W . Averell led Union troops to a victory over Brig . Gen . John McCausland and his Confederate troops in Hardy County , West Virginia . Background . Following the resounding Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Kernstown on July 24 , General Jubal A . Early dispatched cavalry under Generals McCausland and Bradley Tyler Johnson to raid the towns of Chambersburg , Pennsylvania , and Cumberland , Maryland . On the 29th the cavalry force crossed the Potomac west of Williamsport , Maryland , evading their Union counterparts under General Averell . As the Confederates moved north towards their target , Averell mistakenly assumed they would turn east to attack Baltimore and moved his force to repel such a maneuver . In doing so he allowed the Confederates to raid and burn Chambersburg virtually unopposed and then make off for Cumberland and West Virginia . On August 4 , the Confederate cavalry continued with their objective of disrupting traffic on the B & O Railroad by attempting to raid New Creek ( present day Keyser , West Virginia ) . The raid proved to be unsuccessful as the small Union garrison used topography to its advantage , emplacing fortified artillery atop the mountains that surrounded the New Creek Valley . After aborting the raid the Confederates fell back towards Moorefield and made camp . Having been operating virtually unopposed since he left Virginia , McCausland felt he was in no imminent danger and carelessly set up his camp with his two divisions separated by the South Branch Potomac River . While the Confederates attempted to raid New Creek , Averell ' s force crossed the Potomac at Hancock , Maryland , and headed for Springfield , West Virginia . Upon arriving on August 6 , they learned of the Confederate raid and subsequent withdrawal to Moorefield . Averell determined not to let the Confederates escape him a second time and departed for Romney the following day , sending his scouts ahead to reconnoiter the Confederate position . By 6 p . m . that night his scouts met up with Averell at Mill Creek halfway between Romney and Moorefield . Because he was outnumbered nearly 2 to 1 , Averell planned a surprise attack on the Confederates by launching a night raid . The Federals marched from Mill Creek at 1 a . m on August 7 . Battle . At around 3 a . m . the Union vanguard led by Capt . Thomas Kerr encountered and captured the first Confederate pickets north of Moorefield . After the pickets were sent to the rear , Averell rode up and prepared for his attack , placing Maj . Thomas Gibson in the center along the Moorefield road . Two columns under Col . William Powell formed on the flanks of Gibson . Kerr again led the vanguard . With his line formed Averell ordered the attack . Gibson ' s column immediately smashed into the Bradley Johnson camp . Most of Johnson ' s men were asleep and woke up only in time to be taken prisoner or rush off in full retreat . The commotion of Johnson ' s retreating men was enough to awake the men in McCausland ' s camp on the other side of the river who were able to form a line and meet Gibson ' s advance at the river . Averell had anticipated meeting resistance at the river and thus sent his two flanking columns to cross up and down stream respectively of Gibson ' s crossing . The right and left columns crossed and poured into the flanks of the hastily formed Confederate line causing it to break into retreat . The pursuing Federals encountered Brig . Gen . William Jackson ' s cavalry on the Winchester Pike east of Moorefield . Jackson tried to bring his guns up to fire on the Federals , but because the routed Confederates were so interspersed among them he could not get a shot off before they were overrun and captured . This action , maintaining surprise and momentum , reflects tactics learned by Union commanders from encounters with Confederate Major General Thomas Jackson ' s forces . Aftermath . The official reports show that Averell captured 38 officers and 377 enlisted men in addition to killing at least 13 and wounding 60 . The Confederate losses to capture might have been higher , but due to the speed of the advance many Confederates initially captured were able to escape as they were sent to the rear . The victory cost Averell 11 killed , including 2 officers , 18 wounded , and 13 captured . Those captured were likely stragglers rounded up by John Hanson McNeill ' s partisan command , which was operating in the area . The devastating loss crippled the Confederate cavalry in the Valley . For the duration of the war in the Valley they would no longer have the dominance they previously enjoyed throughout the war .