The success of Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley during the spring of 1862 was due in part to the Federal forces he confronted belonging to three separate departments that did not cooperate with one another. That would change in the summer of 1862, as those former departments became corps in a new Federal army under General John Pope. On August 9, 1862, Jackson decided to strike Union General Nathaniel P. Banks’ isolated corps before Pope’s army consolidated. During a brutally hot day which likely hit the century mark, Jackson first engaged Banks in an artillery duel as his infantry formed for an assault. Jackson enjoyed a sizeable advantage in numbers over Banks, which may have given him a level of confidence that contributed to both Jackson and division commander General Charles Winder being distracted by the artillery contest rather than attending to the proper alignment of Winder’s infantry. While Jackson was preparing to attack the Federal forces, it was Banks who first attacked the Confederates, wreaking havoc on the poorly positioned Confederate left. With Jackson rallying his troops and the timely arrival of Confederate reinforcements, a counterattack brought gray-clad superior numbers to bear and turned a near-defeat into a Confederate victory.