First Battle of Falling Waters (Battle of Hoke’s Run; Battle of Hainesville)

At the July 2, 1861 First Battle of Falling Waters, Union Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s army defeated a smaller Confederate army near Hainesville, Virginia (now WV).

On July 2, 1861 Union Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson’s 11,000-man army forded the Potomac River at Williamsport,Maryland. Col. Thomas J. Jackson, who commanded the Confederate force, ordered the Fifth Virginia Infantry and a four-gun battery to advance and meet the enemy. Union brigades commanded by Col. John J. Abercrombie and Col. George H. Thomas engaged the Confederates near Hainesville, Virginia (WV). In the half hour battle, the advance of Thomas’s brigade threatened to outflank the smaller Confederate force.Jackson, under orders to withdraw in the face of superior numbers, did so, retreating to Big Spring below Martinsburg. During the battle, Confederate cavalry commanded by Col. J.E.B. Stuart captured nearly fifty Union soldiers who mistook him for a Union officer because he still wore his pre-war U.S. Army blue uniform.

Because Jackson gave up the field to Patterson, the First Battle of Falling Waters was a minor Union victory. Casualties on both sides were light, however.