Strasburg Woods

“In the Shenandoah Valley- General Fremont’s division marching through the woods to attack the Confederates. This exciting pursuit commenced on Saturday, May 31st, 1862, when the first collision occurred between the hostile armies in the lower valley, near Strasburg, to which place Jackson had fallen back from the Potomac upon hearing that Fremont was on the march to intercept him. In this retreat the indomitable and daring Ashby, the “Murat of the Confederates,” occupied the post of danger, dashing against the Federal troops whenever they pressed the retreating enemy too closely. At ten o’clock on the 31st the First Jersey Cavalry, led by the gallant Wyndham, and Ashby’s men had a desperate skirmish, in which the Confederates were driven back with some loss. Jackson rested his Confederate troops in Strasburg this night, and next morning resumed his retreat, when the Ashby cavalry and the First Jersey had another and heavier conflict, in which artillery was used. That night the enemy occupied Woodstock, having made fourteen miles in their retreat this day. So close was the Federal advance on the Confederates that General Bayard’s cavalry, when they entered Strasburg, captured the Confederate provost marshal and two hundred men. At the village of Edinburgh, five miles from Woodstock, the Confederate General Ashby, by Jackson’s orders, after seeing the rear guard safely across the bridge over Stony Creek, fired the wooden structure, and it was soon enveloped in flames.” —Leslie, 1896

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