New Market Battlefield State Historical Park and Hall of Valor Museum: Woodson's Missouri Cavalry
N 38° 39.843 W 078° 40.031
17S E 702966 N 4282079
The Missouri Cavalry was put under the command of Capt. Woodson at the Battle of New Market.
Waymark Code: WMBGQW
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 05/20/2011
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The New Market Battlefield State Historical Park and Hall of Valor Museum on the Valley & Mountain/Route 11: Winchester to Port Republic section of the Virginia
Civil War Discovery Trail is a 280-acre park that features a Civil War museum, a walking tour through the battlefield, and a restored 19th-century farm.
One of the stops is on the battlefield or the Field of Lost Shoes as it was dubbed by a VMI cadet whose shoe was sucked off in the mud of the wheat field -- “Good-bye, Lieutenant, I am killed.” Woodson’s Missouri Cavalry in the Battle of New Market. On May 15, 1864 , Union Gen. Sigel and his 10,000 troops clashed with a small Confederate force of 4000 and cadets from the nearby Virginia Military Institute led by Gen. Breckenridge at the New Market battlefield. Seventy men of the 1st Missouri Cavalry were assigned to Confederate Capt. Charles H. Woodson's command. Because of the lack of horses, the cavalry fought on foot. During the battle that ensued, the Missourians faced heavy fire from the 30th NY artillery battery. In an account Lt. Ed Scott gave of his experiences that day, he said, "Tommy Cave came to me with blood pouring from his neck and said, ‘Good-bye, Lieutenant, I am killed.’ I took his hand and eased him to the ground. These were the last words he spoke." Four men from the MO Cavalry were killed and 35 were wounded.
In 1905, two veterans of the company erected a monument on the New Market battlefield. The simple inscription reads:
This rustic pile
The simple tale will tell:
It marks the spot
Where Woodson’s heroes fell.