Background
In the spring of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant set in motion a grand strategy designed to press the Confederacy into submission. "My primary mission," reasoned Grant, "is to ... bring pressure to bear on the Confederacy so no longer could it take advantage of interior lines." Control of the strategically important and agriculturally rich Shenandoah Valley was a key element in General Grant's plans. While he confronted General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the eastern part of the state, Grant ordered Major General Franz Sigel's army of 10,000 to secure the Valley and threaten Lee's flank, starting the Valley Campaigns of 1864.
Receiving word that the Union Army had entered the Valley, Confederate General John C. Breckinridge pulled together all available forces to repulse the latest threat. The VMI Cadet Corps, over half of whom were first year students, or "Rats", were called to join Breckinridge and his army of 4,500 veterans. The cadets, under the direction of VMI Commandant of Cadets Lt. Col. Scott Shipp, marched 81 miles (130 km) in four days to meet General Breckinridge's Confederate force. The cadets were intended to be a reserve and employed in battle only under the most dire circumstances. The two armies met at New Market on May 15, 1864. "I shall advance on him", the aggressive Breckinridge declared. "We can attack and whip them here and we will do it!" As the general rode by the cadets, he shouted, "Gentlemen, I trust I will not need your services today; but if I do, I know you will do your duty."
Read more about this topic: Battle Of New Market
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