Relying on faulty intelligence that reported the Union garrison at Winchester numbered only about 3,000, “Stonewall” Jackson marched aggressively north with his 3,400-man division. The 8,500 Federals, commanded by Col. Nathan Kimball, stopped Jackson at Kernstown and then counterattacked turning Jackson’s left flank and forcing him to retreat. Despite this Union victory, President Lincoln was disturbed by Jackson’s threat to Washington and redirected substantial reinforcements to the Valley, depriving McClellan’s army of these troops. McClellan claimed that the additional troops would have enabled him to take Richmond during his Peninsula campaign.
References
CWSAC Battle Summaries, National Park Service (http://www2.cr.nps.gov/abpp/battles/bycampgn.htm)
The First Battle of Kernstown was fought on March 23, 1862, in Frederick County and Winchester, Virginia, the opening battle of Confederate Army Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, during the American Civil War.
Although the battle was a Confederate defeat, and in fact Jackson's only defeat in the war, it represented a strategic victory and started Jackson on the road to being one of the most celebrated Confederate generals.
After the battle, Jackson arrested the commander of his old Stonewall Brigade, Richard B. Garnett, for failing to succeed in his attacks, violating his orders by retreating from the battlefield before permission was received from Jackson.
The Strasburg or Valley pike is the middle or center of three roads leading into Win- chester from the south, the other two being the Cedar Creek road on the west and the Front Royal road on the east.
The Confederate line of battle was 2 miles long, extending in a semi-circle from a ravine near the Front Royal road on the east to near the Cedar Creek road on the west.
The Confederates commenced the attack, advancing from Kernstown and occupying a position on the heights to the east of the Strasburg pike with the batteries, while the cavalry and infantry took position on the plain on the other side.
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