ORDER OF BATTLE // May 25, 1862
First Battle of Winchester
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 22,500 estimated
United States
6,500
Medium-confidence figure
Confederate States
16,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The First Battle of Winchester was a major Confederate victory in Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862. Facing a Union force under Nathaniel P. Banks that was outnumbered more than two to one, Jackson enveloped the Union right flank and drove Banks's army across the Potomac River into Maryland, inflicting over 2,000 Union casualties. The outcome was notable within the campaign because Jackson achieved the force concentration early in the engagement that had eluded him in earlier Valley battles, producing a more decisive result. By routing Banks and pushing Federal forces out of the Valley, Jackson's campaign threatened Washington and tied down Union troops that might otherwise have reinforced George McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, directly shaping the broader strategic situation in the Eastern Theater during the spring of 1862.
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