Battle of Piedmont, June 5, 1864
The first Union offensive of 1864 in the Shenandoah Valley, led by General Franz Sigel, ended in inglorious defeat on May 15 at the Battle of New Market. The Union forces retreated to Cedar Creek and the Confederate forces were dispatched to the Richmond front, where General Lee was fighting off General Grant. However, unlike in previous years, the Union army surprised the Confederate defenders by rapidly returning to offensive operations under General David Hunter, who had replaced Gen. Sigel.
Hunter's command of about 8,500 marched out of Cedar Creek on May 26 and by June 3 was poised to attack Staunton, a major road and rail center which had so far remained out of reach of Federal troops. Meanwhile, the Confederates mustered about 5,500 troops, including home guards and other irregular forces, to the defense of Staunton. These two forces met near the village of Piedmont on June 5.
The Confederate infantry was entrenched behind 'rail pens', barricades of fence rails, on the brow of a hill between a bend in the Middle River and the East Road. Moor's 1st Brigade, which included the 116th Ohio, made several attempts to storm these works but were pushed back, then forced to defend themselves against counterattacks. A final assault, which included a flanking movement by Thoburn's 2nd Brigade, was successful and, as I. N. put it, 'completely routed the Rebels'.
The 116th Ohio was in the thick of this battle, suffering the highest casualties of any Union regiment, over a third of the total killed and around a quarter of the wounded. Col. Wildes reported that every color bearer and every one of the color guard was wounded, and that this was the 'most desperate and stubbornly contested battle we were ever engaged in'.
With all Confederate resistance eliminated, the Union forces marched on to Staunton the following day and occupied the city 'without a fight', again to quote I. N.
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