Generalrpt1

                               General Phil Batten's Battle Report for New Market

Gentlemen,

        First of all let me say thank you to all of those who braved the
rain and "stuck" it out for New Market. For those of you who were not there,
you may have stayed dry, but you missed a hell of a fight. Our Brigade was
assigned to Gen. Jim Maupin's Division, and we were..........hold your
breath on this one....the largest Brigade in our Division. This included PACS,
Longstreet's Corps., and CMF. Congratulations to everyone and thanks to
all for helping us to make this organization what it has become.

       For Saturday's battle, we were assigned to hold down the left flank
for the entire army. The Federals pushed back the ANV Division, who were
in advance, only to find our Division waiting for them along a fence line.
The yankees stacked their forces directly in front of our Brigade and hit us
with the brunt of their line. Although this forced our Brigade to give ground,
it did allow the other Brigades in the Division to punish the yankee troops
with enfilade fire on their flanks. Our Brigade fell back to the Bushong farm,
and, despite being pushed rather hard, was able to reform on the fence
line behind the peach orchard. We held there while the rest of the Division
came on line and withdrew up the hill to our rear. It was there that we made a
final stand. The yankees, obviously thinking that we were spent,
assaulted the center of our Division this time. However, our boys still had plenty
of fight in their veins and we flanked the advancing yankees pushing them
back to the farm.

        On Sunday, our Brigade was the very first unit into action as we led
the advance of the army. Although we were met with great resistance by
the yankee army, our Brigade kept them people occupied while Longstreet's
Corps was able to advance and assist us in pushing the yankees back. As we were
on the left of the Division again, we advanced strongly upon the Union right
where they were in a weak defensive position and pushed them streaming
from the field. Our troops were allowed a brief rest while the ANV was ordered
forward on to the left of our Brigade, leaving us to hold the center line
of the army. The yankees reformed on the fences along the Bushong farm, but
our advance and steady fire caused them to quickly reconsider their
deployment. Our Brigade pushed through the farm to the sound of the bullets flying
around us and into the peach orchard. We were able to push the yankees handily
as they appeared to be in great confusion. The federals reformed their lines
on the hill beyond the peach orchard. Our boys blood being up to push them
out of the Valley for good, we advanced and pushed them further. Artillery
fire was directed at our Brigade causing heavy casualties, but reinforcements
from the VMI Cadets steadied the line and we were able to resume our assault
pushing the yankees north towards Winchester.

       Each and every man performed their jobs extremely well and
compliments on our Brigade are still coming in. This weekend will go a long way to
enhance our credibility and recognition in reenacting. As you may know,
we have been assigned to Gen. Jim Maupin's Division again for Manassas, and
he has already asked me to assure him that we will be in his division and is
looking forward to our Brigade serving with him. These compliments give
me great pride and I consider it an honor to serve men like yourselves. You
are the ones who have earned these compliments through your efforts.

       I would like to especially recognize Lt. John Miller for his efforts
this weekend in helping with the layout of the camp and the posting of
guards and pickets. Lt. Miller went above and beyond the call of duty, and my
thanks go out to him for all his hard work. Be careful John, you may have
earned a job :-) !!

       Thanks again for everyone's hard work this weekend. As always,
please pass this along to those troops who are not on my mailing list so that
they may receive this dispatch.

       In hopes that this finds everyone well, I remain...

Your most obedient servant,
General Phillip R. Batten, Commanding
First Confederate Legion