A part of Confederate Major General Thomas J Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign, the Battle of Front Royal was fought May 23^rd 1862.

Union Major General Nathaniel P Banks had about 9,000 troops in the area of Strasburg, Virginia on May 21^st 1862.  Union Colonel John R Kenly had another 1,000 soldiers at Front Royal, Virginia.  Confederate Major General Thomas J Jackson’s Army of the Valley totaling about 16,500 men was advancing along the Luray Road May 22^nd 1862, within ten miles of Front Royal.

On the morning May 23^rd 1862 Confederate Colonel Thomas L Flournoy’s cavalry crossed the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, approaching Front Royal from the south.  There was some minor skirmishing with Union pickets, who withdrew.  The leading Confederate brigade under Brigadier General Richard A Taylor deployed along Prospect Hill, with the 1^st Maryland and the Louisiana Tigers entering Front Royal and clearing it of Union skirmishers.  Kenly’s Union troops pulled back to Camp Hill and the support of a section of artillery.  Finding more Confederate Cavalry coming from the west Kenly retreated across the South and North Fork bridges, trying to burn them behind him.  The Confederate troops were able to put out the flames and make repairs to the bridges.  Flournoy’s cavalry continued to press the Union men.  Kenly continued his withdrawal fighting a rear guard action against the 6^th Virginia Cavalry.

Kenly withdrew to beyond Cedarville, Virginia with the Confederate Cavalry in pursuit.  Upon reaching the Thomas McKay House about a mile north of Cedarville, the Union troops made a stand deploying on the heights.  Flournoy’s Confederate Cavalry flanked the Union troops, Kenly was wounded.  The Union saw losses of 960 men of which 691 were captured or surrendered after Kenly’s wounding.  The Confederates lost only 56 men.

The advance on Front Royal allowed Jackson to get into the rear of the Union army and place his troops in position to move on Winchester, Virginia.

The Farmer Statesman

Union General Andrew Lintner Harris the last Civil War General to serve as a United States Governor, was born November 17th 1835.


Andrew Lintner Harris was born November 17th 1835 in Milford, Butler, Ohio. He was the son of Benjamin and Nancy [Lintner] Harris. He attended local schools and graduated from Miami University in 1860. He returned home to farm and read for the bar at the law firm of Thompson and Harris in Eaton Ohio.

When the Civil War began Harris enlisted in the Union Army as a private. He rose in rank quickly and was soon the Colonel of the 75th Ohio Infantry. Harris had command of a brigade at Gettysburg, and defended Cemetery Hill on the evening of July 2nd 1863 against the famed Louisiana Tigers. He would see action in eighteen major battles, and was wounded several times. Harris was mustered out of service January 15th 1865. He received a brevet to Brigadier General for “gallant and meritorious” service in 1866.

Following the war Harris took up the practice of law. He served in the Ohio State Senate, and as the Preble County Ohio Probate Judge from 1875 to 1882. In 1889 he was a trustee of the Ohio Soldiers’ Sailors’ and Orphans’ Home. Harris was the 23rd and the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio. He was a Republican, and active in the temperance movement. He served the State of Ohio as Governor, after the death of Governor John M Pattison on June 18th 1906. Harris was nominated again in 1909, but lost to Warren G Harding. He was the last civil war veteran to serve as a Governor. Harris, often called the “Farmer Statesman” died on his farm of heart problems September 13th 1915.