Jackson’s 2nd Corps Established
Stonewall Dons a New Uniform
Having remained with his command
in the vicinity of Winchester since the
Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam, by
November 22, 1862, Gen. Thomas J.
“Stonewall” Jackson was again on
the march. With more than 32,000
soldiers, Jackson’s force made its
way up the snow-covered Shenan
doah Valley toward New Market and
then toward Columbia Bridge by
way of this gap.
On reaching a point atop Massanutten Mountain, sometime late
in the evening on November 23,
Jackson took the rare opportunity
to rest and made camp nearby. In
the brisk air of the following morning, as his staff admired a command
ing view of the Page Valley below,
Jackson emerged from his tent and
unintentionally prompted his staff
to redirect their awe upon the old
hero of Manassas. Having recently
been promoted to lieutenant general
and wearing a new coat given him
by General J.E.B. Stuart, a tall hat
purchased by his mapmaker, Jedediah Hotchkiss, and a captured sword
donated by a cavalryman, Jackson
ignored the stares and boldly
announced to his staff, “Young gentlemen, this is no longer the headquarters of the Army of the Valley,
but of the Second Corps of the
Army of Northern Virginia.”
The march that followed in the
succeeding days took the new corps
across the South Fork of the Shenandoah at the site of the Columbia
Bridge near Alma, across Fisher’s
Gap, and out of the Valley in order
to rendezvous with Gen. Robert E.
Lee and the main body of the Army
of Northern Virginia. Less than
three weeks later, Jackson’s Corps
would be holding the Confederate
right flank as Federal forces under General Ambrose Burnside unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge Lee from his strong line of defense at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 13, 1862.
Marker is on U.S. 211 4 miles from New Market, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
