Background
Following two unsuccessful Union attacks on his flanks at Kabletown and Berry's Ferry, General Early ordered a withdrawal from the Confederate position at Berryville towards a more secure position at Strasburg on July 19. The movement required the evacuation of the military hospitals and storage depots from the Confederate base of operations at Winchester. To cover the evacuation, Early ordered Ramseur's division to Winchester, with orders to stay within the city's defensive works and not to precipitate any unnecessary engagements with the enemy.
Three days prior, Union Maj. Gen. David Hunter had received an erroneous report of Confederate cavalry in Winchester preparing for a raid on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. To meet this threat, Hunter dispatched Averell's division from Martinsburg. Averell got underway on July 19 and crept slowly up the valley, wary of being overrun by Early's army, making it as far as Bunker Hill by nightfall, where he made camp.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Rutherford's Farm
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