Confederate
Major General Thomas J Stonewall Jackson took his troops through Thoroughfare
Gap on August 26th 1862, on his way to raid the Union supply depot
at Manassas Junction. The next day Union
Major General Irwin McDowell headed for Manassas in pursuit. To protect his left flank he sent the 1st
New Jersey Cavalry and Brigadier General James B Ricketts’ Brigade towards
Thoroughfare Gap. Ricketts’ halted about
6 miles east of the Gap at Gainesville, Virginia, sending the Cavalry to occupy
the Gap. At the same time Confederate
Major General James Longstreet’s Corps was following Jackson, coming toward the
Gap from the West.
On the
morning of August 28th 1862 the 1st New Jersey Cavalry
encountered Longstreet’s lead troops while they were falling trees to block the
road on the East side of the Gap. Word
was sent to Ricketts to bring up his troops, but he moved slowly, only making
it as far as Haymarket still 3 miles from the Gap at 2 pm. At that point Longstreet had pushed the Union
Cavalry out of the Gap.
Longstreet
moved his men to the high ground on either side of the Gap and then moved to
outflank the Union position. The 9th
Georgia Infantry part of Confederate Colonel George T Anderson brigade moved to
Chapman’s Mill on the East side of the Gap and attacked the 11th
Pennsylvania. South of the Gap the 2nd and 20th Georgia
met the 13th Massachusetts and drove them back down the steep
slopes. Holding the Gap, Confederate
Colonel Evander M Law’s Brigade moved against the Union right at the same time
Confederate Brigadier General Cadmus M Wilcox took 3 Brigades North through
Hopewell Gap to outflank the Union and hit them in the rear. With the Union position becoming untenable
Ricketts ordered the men to fall back to Gainesville, leaving the Gap before
Wilcox got into position to cut him off.
This was a
rather small action, but opened up the way for Longstreet to join his Corps
with Jackson’s leading to the Union loss at the Second Battle of Manassas.
No comments:
Post a Comment