June 9, 1862 - Port Republic

June 9, 1862

Port Republic

Rockingham County, VA

Brig. Gen. Erastus B. Tyler

vs.

Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson: Ewell, Taylor's LA Tigers, Walker, Winder, Taliaferro> Stapleton Crutchfield. Thomas T. Munford 

* The final and most costly battle fought by Jackson's Army of the Valley during their Valley Campaign of 1862, but still a double-success on the heels of Cross Keys.

* We've got Tyler vs. Taylor here y'all! 

* The battlefield "retains its wartime agrarian appearance"; it is mostly preserved. The Coaling was the first land acquisition of the modern Civil War battlefield preservation movement. The 8.55-acre site was donated to the Trust's forerunner, the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (the founding battlefield preservation organization) by the Lee-Jackson Foundation in 1988.

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=254870

The cross road here roughly divides the Confederate and Union lines in the battle of June 9, 1862. Jackson attacked Shields, coming southward to join Fremont, but was repulsed. Reinforced by Ewell, Jackson attacked again and drove Shields from the field. At the same time he burned the bridge at Port Republic, preventing Fremont from coming to Shields’ aid.

View from half-way up The Coaling

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=230192

You are standing on the “Coaling.” By the Civil War this area was nearly devoid of trees, the timber having been used for the production of charcoal. This was the key Federal artillery position during the Battle of Port Republic.

Federal commander Brigadier General Erastus Tyler stretched his 3,000 infantry and 3 batteries of artillery in a line from a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains on your left, along the “Coaling” then ¾ mile to your right, to the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. It would prove a strong position.

On the early morning of June 9, 1862, Confederate Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, victorious the day before at Cross Keys, attacked the Federal line. His leading unit, the famous “Stonewall Brigade,” was easily repulsed two times by a “galling fire of musketry and canister.”

Following this reverse, the Federals on your right counter-attacked, pushing the Confederates back nearly ½ mile. At this point Jackson’s position was precarious. Fortunately for him, Confederate units were now approaching the field.

Civil War Battlefield preservation began (again) here. 

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=14346

Here, June 9, 1862

Gen. T. J. "Stonewall Jackson"

defeated Gen. J. Shield’s vanguard

advancing from Elkton under Gen. R. O. Tyler

Federals engaged, 4500

killed, wounded, and missing, 551, captured, 450

Confederates engaged, 6000

Killed and wounded, 804

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=230191

Federal commander Tyler placed at least 3 artillery pieces on this high part of the “Coaling,” and lined 3 more guns down the slope to the road on your right. All morning fire from this artillery played havoc with Confederate forces in front of you.

With Jackson’s men facing a desperate situation on the plain to your right front, Brigadier General Richard Taylor’s Louisiana brigade moved against the Union artillery position here on the “Coaling.”

Taylor’s men took the pivotal hilltop, lost it, retook it, then lost it again. The Federal defense was stubborn: Union artillerymen fought with their gun implements, and in spirited counter-attacks, Federal infantrymen from Ohio drove Confederates off the slopes.

Finally, on a third surge, the Louisianians, with the help of two Virginia infantry regiments, won this key to the battlefield, and this time held it. With it the Confederates captured five artillery pieces and forced the Federals to retire from the field. It had been a costly day—Federal casualties numbered more than 1100, while the Confederates lost about 800—but Jackson’s victory at Port Republic proved the culmination of a brilliant campaign.

A few more Port Republic sites...

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=254877

Madison Hall

Homesite scene of colonial settlement, Civil War clash

The crest of the hill was the site of Madison Hall, built in the mid-1700s for John Madison, the first Court Clerk of Augusta County, which originally included this area of Rockingham County within its frontier boundaries. In response to the presence of unfriendly Indians in the area during the French and Indian War, he built a fortified structure on the corner of the property. Madison's son, James, would become president of William and Mary College in 1777 and the first Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Virginia in 1785. John Madison's cousin was the father of another James Madison who would become President of the United States.

In June 1862, Madison Hall had become the home of Dr. George W. Kemper, Sr. and was serving as Confederate general Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's headquarters. On the morning of June 8, as Jackson prepared for a quiet Sabbath, he was confronted with an emergency. Advance Union raiders had surprised the ill-disciplined Confederate pickets and entered Port. Jackson galloped through the village, pausing at the church on Main Street to admonish one of his staff for cursing. He slipped across the covered bridge on North River with moments to spare, rallied his forces on the far shore, and pushed them into the village to rout the invaders.

As Col. Samuel Sprigg Carroll's Union cavalry charged up Main Street, a skirmish developed. Here on the grounds of Madison Hall, two dozen infantrymen and some raw artillery recruits, under the heroic direction of Confederate Capt. Samuel J.C. Moore, made a brief, brave stand that protected the army's valuable wagon trains and herds of cattle spread behind the house. There is no reliable casualty list from the skirmish, but area diaries recall the excitement, pandemonium, and heroics as civilians sought safety and the Yankees were driven from the village.

In June 1864, Madison Hall was occupied by Union general David Hunter and his staff while their squads were detailed to destroy industries in Port Republic. It served as the residence of four generations of the Kemper family until it was sold in 1908.

Speaking of which, Ashby Turner died in Kemper's house...

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=16634

…On June 6, 1862, Confederate general Turner Ashby was killed in a skirmish on the outskirts of Harrisonburg. Grieving comrades carried his body to this house where ladies of the village prepared it for burial. Townspeople and soldiers filed by a window to view the body of Ashby, the gallant cavalry officer known as the Knight of the Confederacy. General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who was headquartered in the village, entered the room to pay his respects. Since 1993, the house has been owned by the Society of Port Republic Preservationists and is used as the Port Republic Museum.

The big sign/map for Cross Keys is in the database, but not this old guy. Oh well. Faded but informative? Here's a good map from online instead:

By Andrein at en.wikipedia - Own work Transferred from en.wikipedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18213656

Sources:

https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/port-republic-battle-of/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Port_Republic