After light fighting near Bath, Virginia, Jackson's men reached the vicinity of Hancock late on January 4 and briefly fired on the town with artillery.

Union Brigadier General Frederick W. Lander refused a Confederate request to surrender on January 5, and that day and the next saw exchanges of artillery fire between the two sides.

After reaching the vicinity of Hancock with the leading elements of his force, Jackson ordered the Rockbridge artillery to fire on the civilian-filled town, in revenge for Union bombardments of Shepherdstown, Virginia, in 1861.

That night, Union Brigadier General Frederick W. Lander arrived in Hancock to take command; he planned for aggressive action against the Confederates the next day.

[5] The Stonewall Brigade was brought up that morning, and Jackson aligned his men on Orrick's Hill across the flooded and ice-choked Potomac River from Hancock.

He asked Major General Nathaniel P. Banks to either cross the Potomac in Jackson's rear or to send him reinforcements, with which Lander would attack the Confederates directly.

[11] The Confederate retreat was made difficult due to low wind chills and the failure to properly shoe the command's horses before the campaign.

After halting at Unger's Store, Virginia on the night of January 7/8, Jackson learned that Union forces from Brigadier General Benjamin F. Kelley's command had defeated a Confederate outpost at Blue's Gap as a diversion in support of Lander.

[6] A unit of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is located along the Potomac near Hancock, and includes several signs commemorating the battle.