On 24 May 1862, when Stonewall Jackson’s Confederate forces were advancing northward on the Valley Pike from Middletown. They had earlier defeated Union troops in Front Royal the previous day. Jackson’s men were hitting the rear columns of the retreating Federal forces as they reached Newtown. At Newtown, General George H. Gordon (1825-1886) of the Second Massachusetts Infantry ordered the Federal troops under his command to make a stand and stop the Confederate advance. For the next hour or more, there was skirmishing and continual artillery fire between the lines over and around the town. Gordon’s men were able to halt the advance of the Confederate forces long enough to ensure that no more Federal wagons were lost. Gordon left the town to Jackson’s forces, and both sides claimed a victory. Years later, Inez Virginia Steele (1838-1902), the eldest surviving sister in the Steele family, recalled the events of that day when "the town changed possession six times” and the artillery battle raged. "Considering how thickly the shot and shell sometimes flew, it seems almost incredible that but two houses were struck by cannon balls.”