KERNSTOWN (Winchester), Second Battle of. On 22 July 1864 General Crook, with four small divisions of infantry and cavalry, joined General Averell's cavalry di vision at Winchester, Va., Crook assuming chief command of the united force of 11,000 men. On the 23d Crook advanced four miles south to Kernstown and skirmished with Confederate cavalry, and on the 24th went into position on the same ground held by the Union troops in the battle of 23 March 1862. The infantry di visions of Colonels Thohurn, Duval and Mulli gan covered the valley pike, with the cavalry of Duffie and Averell on either flank. Upon the approach of the enemy Averell was sent down the Front Royal road to turn his right. Gen eral Early, who, after his raid on Washington, had recrossed the Potomac and taken position beyond Cedar Creek on the 21st, hearing of Crook's advance, put all his army in motion on the morning of the 24th to attack him. At Bartonsville Ramseur's division moved by a road to get around Crook's right, while the di visions of Gordon, Rodes, Breckinridge and Wharton moved along the valley Dike and on either side of it. The cavalry was divided and moved in two columns, one on the right along the Front Royal and Winchester road, the other on the left and west of Winchester, the two to unite in rear of Winchester and cut off Crook's retreat. At 10 A.M. Crook's skirmishers were driven in, and it was discovered that his left extended through Kernstown, and that Averell having left, that flank wa: exposed; whereupon Wharton's division was moved under cover of some ravines on the right to attack it. The movement was promptly exe
cuted, and Wharton struck the left flank and rear of Col. Rutherford B. Hayes' command as it was advancing and threw its left into some confusion. Hayes changed front and, forming behind a stone fence, held Wharton in tem porary check. Almost simultaneously with Vklarton's flank attack, Rodes, Gordon and Ramseur advanced on Crook's centre and right, and the entire line gave way and retreated through Winchester, followed by Early's in fantry and artillery beyond Winchester, and by Rodes' division as far as Stephenson's Depot. The retreat was continued on the 25th through Martinsburg to the Potomac, Crook crossing at Williamsport and marching down the north side of the river to Maryland Heights and Harper's Ferry. Early occupied Martinsburg and began the destruction of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail road. The Union loss, 23-26 July, was 100 killed, 606 wounded and 479 missing. Among the mortally wounded was Colonel Mulligan, commanding division. The Confederate loss is not accurately known, but it was comparatively light. Consult 'Official Records' (Vol. XXXVII) ; Pond, 'The Shenandoah Valley in 1864' ; The Century Company's 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil War' (Vol. IV).