New Market, Battle of

During the American Civil War, Union defeat by the Confederates 15 May 1864 at the village of New Market, Virginia. The Union commander General Franz Sigel was replaced after this defeat and played no further part in the war.

Sigel's force of about 5,000 troops was moving down the Shenandoah Valley toward Staunton, intending to join forces with a column led by General George Crook which was moving east from West Virginia. Sigel carelessly exposed his flank to a Confederate force under General John C Breckinridge. The Confederates attacked and the Union infantry retreated into a wood, behind their own artillery. A 250-strong company of boys from the nearby Lexington Military School attached to Breckinridge's force charged the Union gun line and routed the gunners, capturing the guns but losing 80 of the boys in the process. The Union troops broke and retreated in disorder for some 40 km/25 mi before pausing to reorganize.