| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Edinburg — AB 2 — Civil War Action in Edinburg |
| | During Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 1862 Valley campaign, Confederate Col. Turner Ashby's cavalry and Chew's Battery halted Union Maj Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks's steady advance southward. Ashby engaged Union forces 28 times in April along Stony Creek and the Valley Pike. Confederate guns located on Cemetery Hill to the southwest, dueled with Union batteries on Academy Hill directly across the center of Edinburg. In early October 1864, during their burning of the Shenandoah Valley, . . . — Map (db m23017) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Edinburg — Edinburg Mill — Saved During “The Burning” — 1864 Valley Campaign |
| | In 1850, George P. Grandstaff announced the opening of the large water-powered grist mill here nearly two years after construction began. This large facility competed with the Whissen Mill also on Stony Creek nearer the center of Edinburg. These two mills, together with the bridge across Stony Creek, were important components of this small Valley town. During September 1864, Federal Gen. Philip H. Sheridan began “The Burning” – a campaign against the resources of the . . . — Map (db m25382) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Edinburg — The Stony Creek Line — “We Shelled the Yanks and the Yanks Shelled Us” — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | On March 28, 1862, just 2 days after his appointment to serve as cartographer on the staff of Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, Jedediah Hotchkiss reported the Valley Army’s position at Narrow Passage Creek (four miles north of here) to be “unfavorable for defense.” Acting on that advice, Jackson moved his infantry to Rude’s Hill, two miles south of Mt. Jackson and directed Col. Turner Ashby to hold “the line of Stony Creek.” On April 1, a section of Capt. . . . — Map (db m25375) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Edinburg — The Stover - McGinnis House — “Make Me a Map of the Valley” — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | March 26, 1862: “In the morning our battalion was ordered back to Narrow Passage, … near the rest of the army. Hd. Qrs. were established at Miss Stover’s, in the stone house, near Narrow Passage Creek. Soon after we reached camp, Gen. Jackson sent me a message that he wished to see me. I promptly reported, when he said, after some general conversation about my topographical work in Northwestern Virginia last year, “I want you to make me a map of the Valley, from Harper’s Ferry to . . . — Map (db m22746) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — Battle of Fisher's Hill |
| | September 22, 1864 General Philip Sheridan with 30,000 Federals defeated General Jubal Early with 11,000 Confederates. Driven in route from Winchester September 19, by Sheridan's overpowering numbers, Early formed his line of battle across the brow of this hill, overlooking Tumbling Run, and prepared to check Federal pursuit. The 4-mile front was too long for the badly outnumbered Confederates to hold. On the 22nd, Sheridan concentrated Generals H.G. Wright's and W.H. Emory's corps against . . . — Map (db m4139) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — A 22 — Battle of Fisher's Hill |
| | After his defeat on 19 Sept. 1864 at the Third Battle of Winchester by Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early led his 9,500-man army here to Fisher's Hill, a favorite Confederate stronghold. Sheridan pursued, and on 22 Sept. attacked Early with most of his 30,000-man force. Brig. Gen. George Crook, with two divisions, struck Early's left flank about three miles west near Little North Mountain while Sheridan launched a general assault here on Early's center and right. The . . . — Map (db m4140) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — A 23 — Battle of Fisher's Hill |
| | Here Early's Adjutant-General, A.S. Pendleton, while attempting to check Sheridan's advance, was mortally wounded, September 22, 1864. — Map (db m4143) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — Fisher's Hill — Confederate Gibraltar |
| | 1864 Valley Campaign This is Fisher's Hill, the Shenandoah Valley's "Gibraltar" - a commanding height that offered Confederate forces a superb defensive position. Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early's beaten and bloodied army filed into position here on September 20, 1864, one day after the disaster at the Third Battle of Winchester. For the next two days the men strengthened their position, but no amount of digging could make up for Early's lack of men. Early's defensive line extended along . . . — Map (db m4169) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — Fisher's Hill — Union Flank Attack |
| | 1864 Valley Campaign You are standing behind the extreme left flank of Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early's thinly stretched infantry line. At 4 p.m. on September 22, 1864, the soldiers here found themselves wrapped in a deadly pocket of Federal fire. Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan had sent Gen. George Crook's corps sweeping around Early's left flank that morning, and around 4 p.m. Crook's men overwhelmed Confederate Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax's cavalrymen at the foot of Little North Mountain to . . . — Map (db m4170) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — Fisher's Hill Battlefield — Veteran's Picnic Grounds |
| | Soon after the end of the Civil War, veterans on both sides began holding reunions to walk the familiar battlegrounds and renew friendships with former comrades. Here at Fisher's Hill, veterans of the battle fought on September 22, 1864, started gathering in the 1880s to commemorate their war experiences. Local veterans and others purchased portions of the battlefield land to hold annual picnics. Over the years, hundreds and then thousands of Northern and Southern veterans attended with their . . . — Map (db m4146) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — The Battle of Fishers Hill |
| | Was fought on these bluffs - September 22, 1864 - Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's 60,000 Federals attacked Gen. Jubal A. Early's 18,000 Confederates. Through the advantage of overwhelming numbers, the Federals won the victory. — Map (db m4138) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fishers Hill — Valley Pike — Tumbling Run Near Fisher's Hill |
| | 1864 Valley Campaign Here on Tumbling Run are the remains of the "Old Pike" stone bridge. The Valley Turnpike Company was chartered in 1838 as a joint-stock corporation. The turnpike followed the route of the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia to the backcountry of the Carolinas, a major migration route of the mid-18th century. First an Indian path, then a wagon road, by the time of the Civil War the turnpike was a hard-surfaced macadamized commercial highway. Lack of maintenance and . . . — Map (db m4171) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Forestville — AB 3 — Andrew Zirkle Mill |
| | Built in the 1750s by the Zirkel brothers and owned by the Revolutionary War patriot Andrew Zirkle, the mill operated for 180 years. Flour milled here went to Boston when the harbor was blockaded after the Boston Tea Party and to the Continental Army in 1781. The building survived the burning of the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War because its miller hung a Union flag from the roof and pleaded with officers of Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer's cavalry for its safety. The mill contains . . . — Map (db m5276) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fort Valley — Birthplace of the CCC — Camp Roosevelt, NF-1 |
| | The Army with Shovels.
By 1933, the Great Depression had demoralized the nation. Millions of young men were unemployed and families were starving. On March 9, 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Its purpose was twofold—conservation of our natural resources and salvage of our men.
The CCC-boys were part of the greatest single conservation movement in history. As they worked, they learned—and regained—the confidence of men . . . — Map (db m10158) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Fort Valley — When Pig Iron was King |
| | The Elizabeth Furnace Cabin This cabin is one of the few wooden structures remaining from the early 1800s when Elizabeth Furnace was active and pig iron was king. In its heyday, Elizabeth Furnace pig iron supported an entire community. The Elizabeth Furnace Cabin is a combination of several buildings from that community. In 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps began construction on the Elizabeth Furnace Recreation Area. They moved logs from several buildings across Passage Creek and . . . — Map (db m3102) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Mount Jackson — A-68 — McNeill’s Last Charge |
| | In the predawn darkness of 3 Oct. 1864, Capt. John Hanson McNeill led thirty of his Partisan Rangers, including local resident Joseph I. Triplett, against a hundred-man detachment of the 8th Ohio Cavalry Regiment that was guarding the Meems Bottom bridge on the Valley Turnpike. The attack ended in fifteen minutes with most of the guard captured and McNeill, among the best-known Confederate partisan commanders, mortally wounded. Taken first to the Rev. Anders R. Rude’s house a mile south, . . . — Map (db m789) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Mount Jackson — AB-1 — Meem’s Bottom Covered Bridge |
| | Built in 1892 by Franklin Hiser Wissler to provide access to his apple orchards at Strathmore Farms, this is the longest remaining covered bridge in Virginia. a 200-foot single span, located one-half mile northwest, the bridge is a Burr Truss design, a combination of arch with vertical and diagonal supports. All construction materials were obtained locally. Damaged by arsonists in 1976, the bridge was restored and reopened in 1979. — Map (db m559) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Mount Jackson — A-65 — Our Soldiers’ Cemetery |
| | The Mount Jackson Confederate Hospital’s Cemetery,
now called Our Soldiers Cemetery, was dedicated on May 10, 1866 the third anniversary of Stonewall Jackson’s death. The “Memorial and Decoration Day” organized by the local ladies was one of the first such observances in the South. The service began with an address in the church by Major Henry Kyd Douglas, the youngest of Jackson’s staff officers. Afterward, a participant wrote that “ladies, gentlemen and children as well as . . . — Map (db m787) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Mount Jackson — A-66 — The Confederate Hospital |
| | The Confederate hospital was built here under the direction of Dr. Andrew Russell Meem, by order of the Confederate Medical Department in Sept. 1861. The hospital consisted of three two-story buildings, each 150 feet long, accommodating 500 patients. At the end of the war, the 192nd Ohio Volunteer Militia tore down the hospital and used the lumber to construct a large military installation that included a courthouse, guardhouse, gallows, and ballroom on Rude’s Hill, three miles south of Mount . . . — Map (db m786) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Mount Jackson — The Confederate Hospital |
| | The Confederate Hospital was established at Mount Jackson under the direction of Dr. Andres Russell Meem by order of the Confederate Medical Department in Richmond, Virginia about September 15, 1861. Dr. Meem, a native of the area, was a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania Medical College.
Dr. Meem, on a visit to Harrisonburg February 26, 1865, became ill with an unknown ailment and died at the age of 41.
The hospital consisted of three two-story . . . — Map (db m11696) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Mt. Jackson — Union Church - Circa 1825 |
| | Built through the efforts of Mrs. William Steenbergen, the church has served as a meeting place for Mt. Jackson churches. The cemetery represents a history of the town and its early citizens. Daniel Grey, a Revolutionary War soldier, is buried in the cemetery. During the Civil War, the church housed both armies, documented by the writings found on the walls. Organized in 1934, the Mt. Jackson Garden Club has played a supporting role in preserving this historic Landmark.
Mt. Jackson Historic . . . — Map (db m651) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — “Good-bye, Lieutenant, I am killed.” — Woodson’s Missouri Cavalry in the Battle of New Market |
| | In front of you is one of only two monuments erected by veterans of the battle. This one was placed by members of Woodson’s Company of Missouri Cavalry. The unit followed perhaps the strangest path to this field of conflict. Captured in Mississippi in 1862, the men were exchanged at City Point, Virginia a year later. In Richmond, some 70 officers and men were designated as Co. A, 1st Missouri Cavalry under the command of twenty-one-year-old Capt. Charles H. Woodson. The Missourians were . . . — Map (db m13197) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — 54th Pennsylvania Monument |
| | Erected to the memory of the heroic dead of the 54th Regiment, Pennsylvania Veterans Volunteer Infantry, who gave their lives in defence of their country. 1861–1865.
(brass tablet at base) At ceremonies conducted 16 September 1984, title to this monument was transferred from the Commonwealth of Virginia to the New Market Battlefield Park. The monument was originally dedicated on 25 October 1905 to the men of the 54th Pennsylvania Infantry. It now serves as a memorial to all . . . — Map (db m545) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — A Genuine Relic |
| | This very post was struck by a 3 inch rifle shell fired by Snow’s Maryland Battery in the Battle of New Market fought between General John C. Breckinridge and General Franz Sigel on the 15th of May 1864. When the shell struck, General Breckinridge was sitting on his horse in the middle of the Pike, about 5 yards from this post and was in the act of raising his field glass to make an observation of the enemy’s position, his staff being grouped a few yards in the rear. The battery that fired the . . . — Map (db m557) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Baptism of Fire — VMI Cadet Casualties in the Battle of New Market |
| | While the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute comprised one of the smallest Confederate units engaged in the Battle of New Market, they paid a disproportionately high price in their baptism of fire. Nearly one in four of the cadets were either killed or wounded during the fighting, resulting in the third-highest casualty rate in Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge’s army. In addition to 45 cadets who would survive their wounds, ten cadets were either killed outright or would die after the . . . — Map (db m13186) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Battle of New Market |
| | May 15, 1864. General U.S. Grant's plan to defeat the Confederacy in 1864 called for a raid by General G. Crook into southwestern Virginia. General F. Sigel, to keep the Confederates from concentrating against Crook, was to advance down Shenandoah Valley from the Harpers Ferry area. Skirmishing frequently with General J.D. Imboden's cavalrymen. Sigel's column reached New Market on May 14. During the night, Imboden was reinforced by General J.C. Brekinridge's command. On the 15th, after a . . . — Map (db m553) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — A 28 — Battle of New Market |
| | On the hills to the north took place the Battle of New Market, May 15, 1864. The Union army, under General Franz Sigel, faced southwest. John C. Breckinridge, once Vice-President of the United States, commanded the Confederates. Colonel Scott Shipp commanded the Cadet Corps of the Virginia Military Institute, which distinguished itself, capturing a battery. The battle ended in Sigel's retreat northward. — Map (db m554) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — A-26 — Cavalry Engagement |
| | On 15 Nov. 1863, Col. William H. Boyd reconnoitered with a Federal cavalry and artillery detachment south from Charlestown (in present-day W.Va.) toward New Market. The next day, the force encountered Maj. Robert White’s cavalry command just north of Mount Jackson. White’s Confederates retreated fighting through the town and crossed the Shenandoah River bridge to Rude’s Hill. Realizing that White’s artillery could sweep the bridge, Boyd withdrew to a bivouac two miles north of Woodstock, . . . — Map (db m835) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — DuPont at Rude’s Hill — “I had to depend entirely upon myself ... ” — 1864 Valley Campaign |
| | Here Capt. Henry DuPont, commanding B Battery, 5th U.S.
Artillery, protected Union Gen. Franz Sigel’s defeated army as it retreated after the Battle of
New Market on May 15, 1864.
Confederate Gen. John C. Breckinridge had routed Sigel’s force
that afternoon in an engagement made famous by the participation of 247 cadets from Virginia Military Institute. Arriving on the battlefield about
two miles south of this location as the Federals began to withdraw, DuPont immediately
deployed his . . . — Map (db m838) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — A-36 — Fairfax Line |
| | Here ran the southwestern boundary of Lord Fairfax’s vast land grant, The Northern Neck. It was surveyed by Peter Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson’s father, and others in 1746. — Map (db m652) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Gen. John Sevier — 1745-1815 |
| | Frontiersman - famed Indian fighter - Revolutionary patriot - Co-Commander Battle of King's Mountain - first Governor of Tennessee and six times Governor - first Congressman west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Founder of New Market, Va in 1765. His fur trading post stood on this spot and the logs in this cabin are from the original building. — Map (db m11698) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Heroism in Defeat — Captain Henry A. DuPont and Sergeant James M. Burns |
| | The main Union line of battle extended from here for one-half mile to the Valley Turnpike, now U.S. 11. Throughout the morning and into the afternoon, the Union force exchanged musket and cannon fire with the Confederates, who had advanced over a mile north from Shirley’s Hill to a fence along Jacob Bushong’s orchard. About 3 PM, Confederate Maj. Gen. John C. Breckinridge sensed that the tide of battle had turned. He ordered an advance, with the cadets from VMI in the center. As the . . . — Map (db m13203) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Jackson’s 2nd Corps Established — Stonewall Dons a New Uniform |
| | Having remained with his command
in the vicinity of Winchester since the
Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam, by
November 22, 1862, Gen. Thomas J.
“Stonewall” Jackson was again on
the march. With more than 32,000
soldiers, Jackson’s force made its
way up the snow-covered Shenan
doah Valley toward New Market and
then toward Columbia Bridge by
way of this gap.
On reaching a point atop Massanutten Mountain, sometime late
in the evening on November 23,
Jackson took the rare . . . — Map (db m16453) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Z-125 — Page County / Shenandoah County |
| | Page County. Area 322 square miles. Formed in 1831 from Shenandoah and Rockingham, and named for John Page, Governor of Virginia, 1802–1805. Luray cave is here.
Shenandoah County. Area 510 square miles. Formed in 1772 from Frederick, and first named Dunmore for Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, 1771–1775. In 1778 the county was renamed for the Shenandoah River. — Map (db m791) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — A-69 — Post-Appomattox Tragedy |
| | On 22 May 1865, after the Civil War ended.
Capt. George W. Summers, Sgt. I. Newton Koontz,
and two other armed veterans of Co. D,
7th Virginia Cavalry, robbed six Federal
cavalrymen of their horses near Woodstock.
The horses were returned the next day to the 192d Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Rude’s Hill. Despite assurances that all was forgiven, Lt. Col. Cyrus Hussy, temporarily commanding the 192nd, later ordered the men arrested. The others escaped, but Summers and Koontz were shot without . . . — Map (db m15903) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Z-178 — Rockingham County / Shenandoah County |
| | Rockingham County. Area 876 square miles. Formed in 1778 from Augusta, and named for the Marquis of Rockingham, British statesman. John Sevier, of Tennessee, was born in this county. In it took place the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic, 1862.
Shenandoah County. Area 510 square miles. Formed in 1772 from Frederick, and first named Dunmore for Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, 1771–1775. In 1778 the county was renamed for the Shenandoah River. — Map (db m653) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Rude’s Hill |
| | Stonewall Jackson’s camp ground April 2–16, 1862; his headquarters at the foot of this hill. Colonel John Francis Neff, Commander 33rd Regiment, Stonewall Brigade, born and buried near here. — Map (db m740) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Rude’s Hill — Knoll of Refuge and Attack — 1864 Valley Campaign |
| | The spring of 1864 opened with United States forces pressing Confederate armies defending fronts scattered throughout the Confederacy. Union Gen. Franz Sigel was assigned the task of securing the Shenandoah Valley; always one of the Civil War’s most hotly contested areas. On the last day of April 1864,
Sigel, with 9,000 men and 28 guns, marched south from Martinsburg. By May 11, Sigel’s advance ran into Confederates posted at Rude’s Hill under the command of a Maryland
Confederate, Capt. T. . . . — Map (db m17327) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — A-27 — Rude’s Hill Action |
| | Rude’s Hill was reached by two divisions of Sheridan’s Union cavalry following the Confederate General Jubal A. Early, on November 22, 1864. Early promptly took position on the hill to oppose them. The cavalry, charging across the flats, were repulsed in a sharp action and fell back northward. — Map (db m834) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — Rude's Hill — Jackson at Rude’s Hill — 1962 Valley Campaign |
| | This old house photographed during the early 20th century and still standing about 600 yards north on the west side of the Valley Pike, was occupied
at the beginning of the Civil War by a Lutheran minister, Rev. Anders R. Rude. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s small Confederate force went
into a defensive position here after retiring from the battle at Kernstown,
March 23, 1862. Confederate cavalry, commanded by Col. Turner Ashby,
kept the slowly advancing Federals at bay . . . — Map (db m836) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — A-34 — Sevier’s Birthplace |
| | Near here was born John Sevier, pioneer and soldier, September 23, 1745. He was a leader in the Indian Wars and the Battle of King’s Mountain, 1780. He was the only governor of the short-lived state of Franklin and the first governor of Tennessee. Sevier died in Georgia, September 24, 1815. — Map (db m654) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — The Battle of New Market |
| | The Battle of New Market was fought here Sunday morning, May 15, 1864. The Confederates under Gen. J. C. Breckinridge were victorious over the Federals under Gen. Franz Sigel. The decisive incident of the battle was the heroic capture of the Federal battery by the V.M.I. cadets. — Map (db m551) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — The Battle of New Market — May 15, 1864 — 1864 Valley Campaign |
| | In the spring of 1864, Union Gen. Franz Sigel marched his 10,000-man army south through the Shenandoah Valley as part of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s strategy to attack the Confederacy on several fronts simultaneously. To counter this threat, Gen. John C. Breckinridge led 4,000 Confederate troops to New Market, located on the only road over Massanutten Mountain, which divides the Valley and channels troop movements. In desperate need of soldiers, Breckinridge summoned the Corps of Cadets from . . . — Map (db m25400) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — The Bushong Farm — Caught in the Crossfire |
| | On June 22, 1791, Henry Bushong patented a 260-acre tract in Shenandoah County that would be home for several generations of his descendants. Henry’s son, Jacob married Sarah Strickler in 1818. They took up residence in a four-room log house and began a family that would grow to include four boys and two girls. In 1825 Jacob Bushong built this vernacular Federal-style home. An 1852 expansion added double porches attached on the north end to provide extra room for the growing family. The . . . — Map (db m13193) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — The Old Home of William F. Rupp |
| | The old home of William F. Rupp who was one of the Valley's most skilled fresco painters. In the Rupp house also lived George M. Neese, the author of “Three Years in the Confederate Horse Artillery.” Descendants still own and occupy the house. — Map (db m558) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — The Shirley House — A Legacy of Service |
| | In 1875, Confederate veteran Christian Shirley constructed this brick house on the site of his family's former home, which had burned two years earlier. The Shirleys were longtime residents of Shenandoah County who had farmed their 153 ares since the late 1700s. When the Civil War began in 1861, Christian Shirley, though a physician, joined the 136th Virginia Militia and eventually rose to the rank of major. The Shirley property was traversed by both Union and Confederate forces during the . . . — Map (db m7346) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), New Market — This Rustic Pile |
| |
This rustic pile
The simple tale will tell:
It marks the spot
Where Woodson’s Heroes fell.
— Map (db m544) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — A-24 — Banks’ Fort |
| | The earthworks on the hilltop to the southwest were constructed by General Banks in the campaign of 1862. — Map (db m662) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — A 21 — Battle of Cedar Creek |
| | The breaking of this bridge in the evening of October 19, 1864 permitted Sheridan to retake most of the material captured in the morning by Early. — Map (db m3461) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Cedar Creek — Strategic Crossing — 1864 Valley Campaign |
| | When Gen. U.S. Grant came East to assume command of all Union forces in 1864, he ordered Gen. Franz Sigel to seize control of the Valley. As Sigel moved south along the Valley Turnpike, Confederates on May 9, 1864, burned the bridge here delaying his advance. Sigel was defeated at New Market a few days later.
Following Sigel’s defeat, and after months of on-and-off fighting, Grant placed Gen. Philip Sheridan in command of the Union army in the Valley. In the pre-dawn darkness of Oct. 19, . . . — Map (db m636) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Cedar Creek — Strategic Crossing — 1862 Valley Campaign |
| | Just west of modern route 11 is the Daniel Stickley Farm. The ruins of the Stickley Mills are located beside the creek just below the house. During the war, the Valley Turnpike ran past the brick Stickley house and turned right onto a covered bridge over Cedar Creek. The bridge no longer stands but the original abutments are still visible.
In early March 1862, the Federal army advanced south “up” the Shenandoah Valley in pursuit of Stonewall Jackson’s Confederates. Jackson . . . — Map (db m644) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Civil War Strasburg — Strategic Intersection |
| | The railroad tracks before you follow the route of the Manassas Gap Railroad, which reached Strasburg from Washington, D.C., in 1854. The line was a vital link between the Shenandoah Valley and eastern markets. Strasburg became strategically important because of the intersection of the railroad with the Valley Turnpike (now U.S. Route 11).
In the summer of 1861, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s forces captured large quantities of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . . . — Map (db m2323) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Field Fortifications |
| | Those earthworks were built in October 1864 by the 2nd Division, VIth U.S. Corps under the supervision of its adjutant general, Capt. Hazard Stevens. The crescent shaped positions, called "lunettes" because of their resemblance to a new moon, were built to protect an artillery piece and its crew. The three guns placed here composed half a battery and were designated a "section." An infantry trench line extended eastward. The devastating effect of Civil War weapons made the use of field . . . — Map (db m3445) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — A-55 — Fort Bowman |
| | The stone house to the south is Fort Bowman, or Harmony Hall, built about 1753 for George Bowman who emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1731-1732. The house is an important example of the Pennsylvania German influence on Shenandoah Valley architecture. There was born Maj. Joseph Bowman, second in command in Gen. George Rogers Clark’s expedition for the conquest of the Northwest in 1778-1779 during the Revolutionary War. Among those buried in the Bowman family cemetery nearby are Joseph Bowman’s . . . — Map (db m594) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Frontier Fort — The Old Hupp Homestead |
| | This Frontier Fort stands in mute evidence of that early American history that has gone before us. It was built around the year 1755, and it was home of one of the first settlers to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Built at a time when the early pioneers were striving for their very existence, wresting homes from the raw wilderness, raising their families and clearing the land for cultivation. There was also the need for constant vigilance against the small bands of roving Indians who at . . . — Map (db m660) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — A-20 — Frontier Fort |
| | This house, built about 1755, is the old Hupp Homestead. It was used as a fort in Indian attacks. — Map (db m661) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Historic Strasburg — Stop #4 |
| | The Town Run is to your right. One source of the stream comes from a spring several blocks north at Hupp's Homestead. Bruce Hupp had his commercial watercress beds there. Often he boarded the train at Strasburg Depot in the morning, delivered his fresh greens to Alexandria markets, and returned via train by early afternoon. At one time, Town Run was divided: one branch ran through Jeremiah Keister's garden (the present carwash), continued under a house at King Street and under the street . . . — Map (db m3458) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Hupp’s Hill |
| | Part of a 1,000 acre estate begun by George F. Hupp in the 1750s. Hupp's Hill and buildings further south were used as a headquarters by federal generals Nathaniel Banks and James Shields during Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign. The site was first fortified by confederate forces in 1863. The federal VIIIth Corps used the hill to conceal its movement on the night of 21-22 September 1864 preliminary to the federal victory at Fisher's Hill. Also in 1864, elements of Kershaw's . . . — Map (db m3434) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Hupp's Hill — The Battle of Hupp's Hill or Stickley's Farm — 1864 Valley Campaign |
| | During mid-October 1864, Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's army was camped along the north bank of Cedar Creek, confident his Valley campaign had successfully ended following smashing victories at Winchester, Fishers Hill and Toms Brook. But the Confederates weren't finished yet. Gen. Jubal A. Early and his entire Confederate army had followed. On October 13, 1864, at about 10 a.m., Early and his staff reached the crest of Hupp's Hill where they could plainly see the camps of Col. Joseph Thoburn's . . . — Map (db m3045) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church |
| | Historic valley congregation, strasburg's oldest, organized by German settlers (c.1747) who first worshiped in log building just west of this site. Parish records date from 1769. Strasburg's first school conducted by the congregation and its schoolmaster, Simon Harr, from 1776 to 1815. During the war between the states the brick building erected on this site in 1844 was used by Federal troops as a hospital, arsenal, and stable, the bell tower and facade were completed in 1893. presented by . . . — Map (db m3468) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Z 247 — Shenandoah County / Warren County |
| | (East Facing Side): Shenandoah County Area 510 Square Miles Formed in 1772 from Frederick, and first named Dunmore for Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, 1771-1775. In 1778 the county was renamed for the Shenandoah River. (West Facing Side): Warren County Area 216 Square Miles Formed in 1836 from Frederick and Shenandoah, and named for General Joseph Warren, killed at Bunker Hill, 1775. — Map (db m4297) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Signal Knob — Key Observation Post |
| | Signal Knob, the northernmost point of Three Top Mountain, overlooks Strasburg and is 2110 ft. above sea level. During the Civil War, both sides used it as a signal station, but the Confederate signal corps occupied it almost continuously from 1862 to 1864. On October 19, 1864, Confederates there observed Union positions and directed the opening attack of the Battle of Cedar Creek. Other signal stations were established at Ashby Gap (east of Winchester), Burnt Springs (south in Fort Valley), . . . — Map (db m15176) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — Stonewall’s Surprise — Banks’s Fort |
| | In the spring of 1862, U.S. Army Capt. Edward Hunt, an engineer, constructed a fortification on the hill where the Strasburg water tower now stands. Hunt selected the hill "because it had an effective command over the roads, the railroad, and the town." From there, the Federal army could guard the junction of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the Valley Turnpike here at Strasburg. Union soldiers leveled the hilltop and erected earthworks and artillery emplacements surrounded by trenches. By May 15, . . . — Map (db m9546) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — The Great Train Raid of 1861 |
| | Jackson captured engines from Martinsburg, W.VA. and had them pulled by horse teams across the roads to Strasburg, near here, they were set on rails and sent south for the Confederate cause. — Map (db m15542) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Strasburg — A-19 — Trenches On Hupp’s Hill |
| | These trenches were constructed by Sheridan in the autumn of 1864 while campaigning against Early. — Map (db m645) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Toms Brook — A-25 — Action of Toms Brook |
| | Here Early's Cavalry under Rosser and Lomax was driven back by Sheridan's cavalry under Torbert, October 9, 1864. — Map (db m2934) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Toms Brook — Toms Brook |
| | Sunday, October 9th During the evening of October 8, 1864, Gen. Lunsford L. Lomax reached this position with two brigades of Confederate cavalry commanded by Gen. Bradley T. Johnson and Col. William L. "Mudwall" Jackson. Gen. Wesley Merritt, in command of the Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's 1st Cavalry Division (three brigades) lay in camp some three miles north near the base of Round Hill. Merritt's troopers had, for the past week, been engaged in burning barns, mills, haystacks and driving . . . — Map (db m2933) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Woodstock — This Building of — Of Native Limestone Erected in 1796 |
| | Is the oldest courthouse now in use west of the blue ridge. A few rods southeast from here stood the church in which Peter Muhlenburg preached his martial sermon and made his famous call to arms in 1776. Thomas Marshall Sr. and Thomas Marshall Jr., father and brother of Chief Justice John Marshall, were the first clerks of this county, 1772-1784 This tablet was placed here by patriotic citizens of Shenandoah County in 1930. — Map (db m4279) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Woodstock — Woodstock — 1752 |
| | County seat of Shenandoah Scene of Peter Muhlenburg's Famous call to arms 1776 Oldest Court House west of the Blue Ridge 1795 First Clerk was Thomas Marshall, Father of Chief Justice John Marshall ——— Turn at Court House square and visit Massanutten Tower, a superb view of the Valley showing famous horse shoe bends of the Shenandoah River. — Map (db m4277) |
| Virginia (Shenandoah County), Woodstock — Woodstock — Execution and “the Burning” |
| | 1864 Valley Campaign In the midst of the 1864 Valley Campaign, Woodstock bore witness to the horrors of war. Plagued by raiding parties of Confederate partisan rangers, guerrillas and bushwhackers, Union General Philip H. Sheridan issued orders by mid-August to execute anyone captured wearing civilian clothes and carrying a weapon. While pursuing Jubal Early's retreating Confederate army from the Battle of Fisher's Hill, elements of Brigadier Gen. George A. Custer's Michigan Cavalry . . . — Map (db m5277) |
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