Rose Hill
“I do not recollect having ever heard such a roar of musketry.”
The First Battle of Kernstown, on March 23, 1862, was also the first major Civil War battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley. Throughout the morning, 16 Union cannons on Pritchard’s Hill held off Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s overmatched Confederate command. Relying on intelligence that was soon proved faulty, Jackson not only attacked a force that outnumbered his by 3,000 men, but also tried and failed to dislodge the Union guns by direct assault.
In mid-afternoon, the tide of battle swept over the William W. Glass farm (Rose Hill) when Jackson ordered Col. Samuel Fulkerson’s and Gen. Richard B. Garnett’s brigades here to Sandy Ridge in a movement against the Federal right flank. Union Col. Nathan Kimball countered with reinforcements. The Confederate line stood firm for about two hours behind a stone wall east of the Glass house, and at times the two sides exchanged fire within 80 yards of each other. At last, however, Garnett’s brigade retreated as it ran out of ammunition; Fulkerson’s had to follow, and the retreat nearly became a route. By the time the Confederates retreated, one out of every seven had been killed or wounded.
Although Jackson suffered the only defeat of his career at Kernstown, the U.S. War Department ordered 25,000 additional men to the Shenandoah Valley instead of to other areas where they were sorely needed. Kernstown began the campaign that soon made Stonewall Jackson’s name famous throughout America.
Marker is on Jones Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
