Stonewall Dons a New Uniform

Having remained with his commandin the vicinity of Winchester since theBattle of Sharpsburg/Antietam, byNovember 22, 1862, Gen. Thomas J."Stonewall" Jackson was again onthe march. With more than 32,000soldiers, Jackson's force made itsway up the snow-covered Shenandoah Valley toward New Market andthen toward Columbia Bridge byway of this gap.

On reaching a point atop Massanutten Mountain, sometime latein the evening on November 23,Jackson took the rare opportunityto rest and made camp nearby. Inthe brisk air of the following morning, as his staff admired a commanding view of the Page Valley below,Jackson emerged from his tent andunintentionally prompted his staffto redirect their awe upon the oldhero of Manassas. Having recentlybeen promoted to lieutenant generaland wearing a new coat given himby General J.E.B. Stuart, a tall hatpurchased by his mapmaker, Jedediah Hotchkiss, and a captured sworddonated by a cavalryman, Jacksonignored the stares and boldlyannounced to his staff, "Young gentlemen, this is no longer the headquarters of the Army of the Valley,but of the Second Corps of theArmy of Northern Virginia."

The march that followed in thesucceeding days took the new corpsacross the South Fork of the Shenandoah at the site of the ColumbiaBridge near Alma, across Fisher'sGap, and out of the Valley in orderto rendezvous with Gen. Robert E.Lee and the main body of the Armyof Northern Virginia. Less thanthree weeks later, Jackson's Corpswould be holding the Confederateright flank as Federal forces under General Ambrose Burnside unsuccessfully attempted to dislodge Lee from his strong line of defense at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 13, 1862.

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Show me all markers in:  Stanley, VA  |  Page County  |  22851  |  Virginia  |  United States of America

Page County / Shenandoah County
Battle of New Market
Battle of New Market
The Bloody Cedars
54th Pennsylvania Monument
A Genuine Relic
The Old Home of William F. Rupp
Thomas Garland Jefferson
In Memory of General Robert E. Lee
Jackson in New Market

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