What is Battle of New Market?
[[File:Cadets at New Market.jpg |thumb|right|300px|{{Center|Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute at the Battle of New Market}}]] The '''Battle of New Market''' was an [[American Civil War]] [[battle]] fought on May 15, 1864 over control of the [[Shenandoah Valley]] in [[Virginia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/vmi-cadets-fight-in-battle-of-new-market |title=1864 VMI cadets fight in Battle of New Market |website=This Day in History |publisher=A&E Television Networks, LLC |access-date=1 September 2016}}</ref> The battle was part of the [[Union Army]] [[Valley Campaigns of 1864]]. [[Lieutenant General]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]] had ordered General [[Franz Sigel]] to take his army into the Shenandoah Valley and clear it of [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] forces.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/newmarket.htm |title=American Civil War: Battle of New Market |author=Kennedy Hickman |website=About Education |publisher=About, Inc |access-date=1 September 2016 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906015954/http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwar/p/newmarket.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Siegel had about 9,000 men when he started up the valley, but for some [[reason]] [[wikt:split|split]] his army. When he arrived outside the town of [[New Market, Virginia|New Market]], he had with him a force of about 6,500 Union [[soldiers]].<ref name=MorrisonNYT>{{cite web |url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/15/the-cadets-at-new-market/?_r=0 |title=The Cadets at New Market |author=Jed Morrison |date=15 May 2014 |publisher=The New York Times |access-date=1 September 2016}}</ref> The Shenandoah valley was the [[wikt:breadbasket|breadbasket]] of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] and provided food to feed General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s hungry army. Lee sent General [[John C. Breckinridge]]{{efn|Breckenridge was a former [[United States representative]], [[United States Senator]], and was elect