When
Banks was expelled from the Shenandoah Valley, in 1862, the city of
Washington could only be relieved from peril by the defeat of the
Confederates.
For this purpose
McDowell sent a force over the
Blue Ridge, to intercept them if they should retreat, and
Fremont pressed on from the west towards
Strasburg with the same object in view.
Perceiving the threatened danger,
Jackson fled up the valley with his whole force, hotly pursued by the Nationals, and at
Cross Keys, beyond
Harrisonburg,
Fremont overtook
Ewell, when a sharp but indecisive battle occurred.
Ewell had about 5,000 men, strongly posted.
There he was attacked, on Sunday morning, June 7, by
Fremont with the force with which he had moved out of
Harrisonburg.
General Schenck led the right,
General Milroy the centre, and
General Stahl the left.
Between the extreme was a force under
Colonel Cluseret.
At eleven o'clock the conflict was general and severe, and continued several hours,
Milroy and
Schenck all the while gaining ground, the former with heavy loss.
At four o'clock the whole National line was ordered to fall back at the moment when
Milroy had pierced
Ewell's centre, and was almost up to his guns.
Milroy obeyed the order, but with great reluctance, for he felt sure of victory.
The Confederates occupied the battle-field that night, and the Nationals rested within their first line until morning, when
Ewell was called to aid
Jackson beyond the
Shenandoah River.
The National loss in the battle was 664, of which two-thirds fell in
Stahl's brigade.
