Cedar Mountain
 

Cedar Mountain lies east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Culpeper County, Virginia. Also known as Slaughter's Mountain or Cedar Run, it was the location of the first battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign (June-September 1862) on August 9, 1862.

In early August, Union Major General John Pope and the fourteen thousand men of the newly-formed Army of Virginia began their offensive into Culpeper County. They hoped to capture the strategic railroad junction at Gordonsville where the Orange and Alexandria Railroad crossed the Virginia Central Railroad. On August 9 at Cedar Mountain, Union forces commanded by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks attacked Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Confederate forces that had been sent by General Robert E. Lee to stop the Union advance into central Virginia. Lee placed almost half his command under Jackson in the hopes he could free the Shenandoah in preparation for the Army of Northern Virginia's advance into Maryland. Though the Union gained an early advantage, a swift counterattack by Confederate Lieutenant General Ambrose P. Hill's reinforcements drove the Union back, resulting in a Confederate victory. Lee would use the success at Cedar Mountain to build momentum for future offensive operations in Northern Virginia.

 

The Battle of Cedar Mountain was the first sustained military action involving the 10th Maine. Abial Edwards participated in the battle with Company K, which sustained light casualties compared to some of the other units in the regiment. A week after the battle, on August 16, Edwards wrote to Anna describing the long march towards the Rapidan River and the battle that followed. He told how the enemy's bullets seemed to fly in every direction—Edwards's ear was grazed by a bullet that had hit another soldier in the face, another bullet passed through the top of his cap, and buck shot tore his coat sleeve. Of the 1,630 men in Abial's Brigade, 811 survived uninjured.

Edwards wrote that the Confederates did not bury their dead although they held the field of battle that night. Instead, they appeared to Edwards to have been "stripping our [Union] dead Officers of everything they had on."

 

Click Center Image for Full Size Picture

 
After the Confederates under Major General A. P. Hill drove Brigadier General Samuel Crawford's 1st Brigade, 1st Division to the edge of wheatfield, the 10th Maine advanced to reinforce 1st Brigade  but was unable to stave off the Confederate onslaught. Two days after the battle, (Left to Right) Lieutenant Ephraim Littlefield of Company C, Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Whitney of Company C, Lieutenant Colonel James Sullivan Fillebrown of the 10th, Captain William of Company F, and 1st Sergeant Charles E. Jordan of Company C at the location of where the 10th entered the battlefield. Commanded II Corps, Army of Virginia at Battle of Cedar Mountain (Slaughter's Mountain).  Banks was on the defensive at Cedar Run, south of Culpeper Court House on August 9 when Brigadier General Jubal Early's Confederate forces under Major General Stonewall Jackson attacked. His Light Division's timely arrival and fierce counterattack against Federal forces turned the Battle of Cedar Mountain into a Confederate victory.  Hill's hometown was nearby Culpeper, Virginia. Commanded the left wing, Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Cedar Mountain (Slaughter's Mountain).  In mid-July, General Robert E. Lee assigned Jackson to Gordonsville, Virginia. Upon learning that the Union Army of Virginia was marching towards Gordonsville with the objective of capturing the rail junction, Jackson went on the offensive against Major General Nathaniel Bank's II Corps at Cedar Run. Appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to command the newly established Army of Virginia in late June 1862. Pope distributed his troops in an arc in Northern Virginia. Pope placed the main part of Major General Nathaniel Banks's II Corps in the center at Little Washington but also placed II Corps Brigadier General Samuel Crawford's Brigade and Brigadier General John Hatch's cavalry at Culpeper Court House.  Ordered his troops to march towards Gordonsville with the objective of capturing the rail junction. Federal artillery cooling their horses' hooves in a creek before entering the battlefield. Virginia was having a severe heat wave during August 1862 affecting man and animal alike.  Illustration of federal infantry soldiers marching onto the battlefield. To the left and right federal artillery batteries fire upon advancing Confederate forces. Illustration of the Battle of Cedar Mountain (also known as Battle of Cedar Run of Battle of Slaughter's Mountain). Engraving from the original painting by Alonzo Chappel.  Illustration shows federal troops advancing through the woods to meet the Confederates. Reproduction of the map that accompanied the official report of Major General John Pope, commander of the Army of Virginia, regarding the Battle of Cedar Mountain, which took place on August 9, 1862.