Battle of Rutherford's Farm

Battle of Rutherford's Farm
Part of the American Civil War
Date July 20, 1864 (1864-07-20) Location Frederick County, near Winchester, Virginia Coordinates: 39°13′9.6″N 78°8′0″W / 39.219333°N 78.13333°W / 39.219333; -78.13333 Result Union victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	CSA (Confederacy)
Commanders and leaders
William W. Averell	Stephen D. Ramseur
Strength
2,350	3,300
Casualties and losses
220 total 36 killed 184 wounded	450 total 200 killed and wounded 250 prisoners
Location of the battle in Virginia

The Battle of Rutherford's Farm, also known as Carter's Farm and Stephenson's Depot, was a small engagement between Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur and Union forces under Brig. Gen. William W. Averell on July 20, 1864, in Frederick County, Virginia, during the American Civil War, as part of Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's Valley Campaign, resulting in a Union victory.

Following two unsuccessful Union attacks on his flanks at Kabletown and Berry's Ferry, General Early ordered a withdrawal from the Confederate position at Berryville towards a more secure position at Strasburg on July 19. The movement required the evacuation of the military hospitals and storage depots from the Confederate base of operations at Winchester. To cover the evacuation, Early ordered Ramseur's division to Winchester, with orders to stay within the city's defensive works and not to precipitate any unnecessary engagements with the enemy.

Three days prior, Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter had received an erroneous report of Confederate cavalry in Winchester preparing for a raid on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. To meet this threat, Hunter dispatched Averell's division from Martinsburg. Averell got underway on July 19 and crept slowly up the valley, wary of being overrun by Early's army, making it as far as Bunker Hill by nightfall, where he made camp.