Battle of Hoke's Run

Date	July 2, 1861
Location	Berkeley County, West Virginia
Result	Union victory

Combatants

Commanders

Casualties

25^[1]

Manassas Campaign
Hoke's Run – Blackburn's Ford – 1st Bull Run

The Battle of Hoke's Run, also known as the Battle of Falling Waters or Hainesville, took place on July 2, 1861, in Berkeley County, West Virginia, as part of the Manassas Campaign of the American Civil War.

On July 2, Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson's division crossed the Potomac River near Williamsport and marched on the main road to Martinsburg. Near Hoke's Run, the Union brigades of Cols. John J. Abercrombie and George H. Thomas encountered regiments of Col. Thomas J. Jackson's Confederate brigade, driving them back slowly. Jackson's orders were to delay the Federal advance only, which he did, withdrawing before Patterson's larger force. On July 3, Patterson occupied Martinsburg, but made no further aggressive moves until July 15, when he marched to Bunker Hill. Instead of moving on Winchester, however, Patterson turned east to Charles Town and then withdrew to Harpers Ferry.

Patterson's retrograde movement took pressure off Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and allowed Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's army to march to support Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard at Manassas. Patterson's inactivity contributed to the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21.

[edit] References

National Park Service battle description
Kennedy, Frances H., ed., The Civil War Battlefield Guide, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998, ISBN 0-395-74012-6.