battle, notable, nineteenth century
First Battle of Winchester
First Battle of Winchester was a battle fought on 25 May 1862 at Frederick County, in what is now Virginia, United States. It was part of the American Civil War, which ran from 1861 to 1865. The recorded result: Confederate victory. Recorded strength: 6,500 against 16,000.
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Where it sits in the American Civil War
Record
| Date | 25 May 1862 | |
|---|---|---|
| Place | Frederick County, Virginia, United States 39.177N, 78.174W | |
| Kind | Battle, nineteenth century | |
| Strength | 6,500 | 16,000 |
| Casualties and losses | 2,019; (62 killed; 243 wounded; 1,714 missing) | 397; (68 killed; 329 wounded) |
| Commanders | ||
Nearest engagements
- Second Battle of Winchester 1863, 1.0 km NE
- Battle of Opequon 1864, 4.1 km NE
- First Battle of Kernstown 1862, 4.2 km SW
- Second Battle of Kernstown 1864, 4.6 km SW
- Battle of Rutherford's Farm 1864, 5.9 km NE
In the same war
- Before: Battle of Lewisburg 23 May 1862
- After: Battle of Hanover Court House 27 May 1862
- All 527 engagements of American Civil War
Elsewhere in 1862
- Battle of Antietam United States
- Second Battle of Bull Run United States
- Battle of Shiloh United States
- Battle of Puebla Mexico
- Battle of South Mountain United States
Combat data (CDB90)
| Attacker: CS VALLEY ARMY | Defender: US V CORPS | |
| Strength | 16,000 | 7,000 |
| Casualties | 365 (2.3%) | 2,126 (30.4%) |
| Mission accomplishment, 1 to 10 | 8 | 3 |
| Outcome | attacker won | |
| Duration | 1 day | |
| Front width | 1.6 km | 1.6 km |
| Attacker advanced | 1.6 km | |
From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 180), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.
The National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program maps this as the First Winchester battlefield (site VA104): a study area of 8,546 acres, with a core area of 2,917 acres where the fighting was concentrated.
First Battle of Winchester is one of 3,507 engagements of the 19th century in the atlas and one of 1,148 in present-day United States (172 in Virginia).
Sources
Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q2106454, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article First Battle of Winchester, revision 1380715082, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Battlefield boundary and area from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (public domain). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.