Battle of New Market
| Battle of New Market | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
 "Cadets at New Market" |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States (Union) |
 CSA (Confederacy)
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Franz Sigel | John C. Breckinridge | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6,275 | 4,087 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 841 | 531 | ||||||
The Battle of New Market was a battle fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. A makeshift Confederate army of 4100 men, which included cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), forced Union Major General Franz Sigel and his army out of the Shenandoah Valley.
In the spring of 1864, Union commander in chief Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant set in motion a grand strategy designed to press the Confederacy into submission. Control of the strategically important and agriculturally rich Shenandoah Valley was a key element in Grant's plans. While he confronted General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the eastern part of the state, Grant ordered Major General Franz Sigel's army of 10,000 to secure the Valley and threaten Lee's flank, starting the Valley Campaigns of 1864. Sigel was to advance on Staunton, Virginia in order to link up with another Union column commanded by George Crook, which would advance from West Virginia and destroy the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad and other Confederate industries in the area. Sigel's force totaled about 9,000 men and 28 cannons, divided into an infantry division commanded by Brig. Gen. Jeremiah C. Sullivan and a cavalry division commanded by Maj. Gen. Julius Stahel (detachments made during the campaign reduced the Union force to about 6,300 by the time of the battle).
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