Cavalry Engagement

On 15 Nov. 1863, Col. William H. Boyd reconnoitered with a Federal cavalry and artillery detachment south from Charlestown (in present-day W.Va.) toward New Market. The next day, the force encountered Maj. Robert White's cavalry command just north of Mount Jackson. White's Confederates retreated fighting through the town and crossed the Shenandoah River bridge to Rude's Hill. Realizing that White's artillery could sweep the bridge, Boyd withdrew to a bivouac two miles north of Woodstock, pursued by Capt. Thomas S. Davis's cavalry company, and soon returned to Charlestown. Losses from the Mount Jackson engagement were light on both sides.