The Battle of New Market was an American Civil War battle fought on May 15, 1864 over control of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. 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 forces. Siegel had about 9,000 men when he started up the valley, but for some reason split his army. When he arrived outside the town of New Market, he had with him a force of about 6,500 Union soldiers. The Shenandoah valley was the breadbasket of the Confederacy and provided food to feed General Robert E. Lee's hungry army. Lee sent General John C. Breckinridge with about 4,100 men to stop Siegel and force the Union Army out of the valley. Breckenridge, with Lee's permission, called up the 500 cadets from the nearby Virginia Military Institute (VMI), some as young as 15 years old. The Confederates won the battle, defeating Siegel's larger force.