The Battle of New Market

A bloody day of the American Civil War where not even the children were spared. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Put the boys in. We'll discussas we take a bite out of history
with ingles markets. It's May ofeighteen sixty four in the middle of Virginia,
in the heart of our Civil War. Granted Lee are battling it out
up and down the Shenandoah Valley,and their armies meet in a small town
called New Market. General John C. Breckinridge of the Confederacy found himself outnumbered
in needed more troops. They turnedto their one option, the child Cadets

(00:22):
of the Virginia Military Institute. Twohundred and fifty infantry and an artillery section
of cadets left VMI and march towardsNew Market. Their average AIDS was just
sixteen, but when the fighting started, the Union artillery put a glaring gap
in the middle of the Confederate line, and Breckenridge had no choice but to
play that hole with VMI cadets.The cadets fought valiantly, never gave up
the ground, and the Confederates wonthe day. The field where the cadets

(00:45):
fought was freshly plowed and muddy.Many of the kids lost their shoes the
mud as they marched and charged.Today, it's simply known as the Field
of Lost Shoes. Ten VMI cadetswere killed in the Battle of Newmarket.
This has been a bite out ofhistory with Ingles markets