"I had to depend entirely upon myself ... "
— 1864 Valley Campaign —
Here Capt. Henry DuPont, commanding B Battery, 5th U.S.Artillery, protected Union Gen. Franz Sigel's defeated army as it retreated after the Battle ofNew Market on May 15, 1864.Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge had routed Sigel's forcethat afternoon in an engagement made famous by the participation of 247 cadets from Virginia Military Institute. Arriving on the battlefield abouttwo miles south of this location as the Federals began to withdraw, DuPont immediatelydeployed his six-gun battery to cover the infantry, placing his cannons across the Valley Turnpike (present-day U.S. Rte. 11). He positioned them in sections of two guns each, then "leap-frogged" each section north to cover the others as well as the army. DuPont shifted hisbattery several times, and hisfinal combat position was north of the ridge above this site. He then moved the guns two miles farther north along the turnpike to Meems Bottom and burned the bridge across the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.HM Number | HM59S |
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Series | This marker is part of the Virginia Civil War Trails series |
Tags | |
Placed By | Civil War Trails |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Sunday, October 5th, 2014 at 4:28pm PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 17S E 704380 N 4285306 |
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Decimal Degrees | 38.69278333, -78.65000000 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 38° 41.567', W 78° 39' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 38° 41' 34.02" N, 78° 39' 0.00" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 540 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 4601-5167 US-11, New Market VA 22844, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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