On May 15, 1864, New Market was the site of the Battle of New Market - a battle in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. Students from the Virginia Military Institute fought alongside the Confederate Army and forced Union General Franz Sigel and his army out of the Shenandoah Valley. Every year VMI cadets commemorate the 85-mile march from Lexington to New Market done by the cadets in 1864 which ended in their victorious charge at the Battle of New Market.
