On May 13th and 14th, 1989, over 2,000 Civil War reenactors encamped at the New market Battlefield Park and recreated the early stages of the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign and the Battle of new market. This video documents the portrayal of those events by the participating infantry, cavalry, artillery, and civilians.
Joseph W. A. Whitehorne, author, teacher and U.S. Army Historian, sets the stage for the campaign and ties together the various phases of the battle. The production follows the newly formed armies of John C. Breckinridge and Franz Sigel, as they move on a collision course that results in the Battle of New Market. This large scale Living History Commemoration was staged on portions of the existing New Market Battlefield around the historic Bushong House. Additional living history sequences were taped in Lexington, VA, at Stonewall Jackson’s gravesite and at the Virginia Military Institute. With the aid of historic narrative, stereo audio and graphic maps, this reenactment brings to life the Battle of New market 125 years after the rattle of musketry and the boom of artillery has faded from the hallowed ground in the Shenandoah Valley.
About the Battle of New Market:
This Confederate victory of the Lynchburg Campaign (May-June 1864) was fought in Shenandoah County, Virginia on May 15, 1864. As a part of his Spring offensive, Lieutenant General U.S. Grant ordered Major General Franz Sigel to move up the Shenandoah Valley along the Valley Pike with 10,000 men to destroy the railroad and canal complex at Lynchburg. At New Market, Sigel was attacked by a makeshift Confederate army commanded by Major General John C. Breckinridge.
At a key point in the battle, a crucial Union battery was withdrawn from the line to replenish its ammunition. This left a weakness that Breckinridge was quick to exploit. He ordered his entire force forward, and Sigel's stubborn defense collapsed. Threatened by the Confederate cavalry on his left flank and rear, Sigel ordered a general withdrawal and burned the North Fork Bridge behind him. Sigel retreated down the Valley to Strasburg.
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