Death Valley: Battles for the Shenandoah Expansion

Battles for the Shenandoah: A Death Valley Expansion is the ninth installment of the Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) series, published by GMT Games. Four full battles are included.

McDowell, May 8, 1862 McDowell is considered the first battle of Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign. After his loss at Kernstown, Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson retreated up the Shenandoah Valley, finally stopping at Swift Run Gap to rebuild his army. By May of 1862, the threat from the north had diminished when two of the three Union divisions under General Nathaniel Banks were redeployed to support the Union advance on Richmond.

However, there was another Union force, led by Brigadier General Robert H. Milroy, approaching the critical town of Staunton from the west. Jackson planned to drive the Union from the Shenandoah Valley and help relieve the pressure on Richmond by consolidating several scattered Confederate forces and defeating the two Union armies in detail. The first step was to move his army to join Brigadier General Edward “Alleghany” Johnson’s Army of the Northwest and defeat Milroy.

The Confederate armies were consolidated on May 6 and begun advancing on Milroy’s Union force. Milroy retreated before them until May 8th, when he was reinforced with a brigade under Brigadier General Robert C. Schenck. That afternoon, the aggressive Milroy turned to attack the Confederate forces arriving on the heights overlooking the hamlet of McDowell.