| Virginia, Harrisonburg — Chestnut Ridge — Death of Ashby — 1862 Valley Campaign | | | On June 6, 1862, the vanguard of Union Gen. John C. Frémont’s force, pursuing Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s army south up the Shenandoah Valley, reached this point near Harrisonburg. Jackson’s rear guard, led by Gen. Turner Ashby, engaged Federal cavalry here and captured Col. Sir Percy Wyndham, the English commander of the 1st New Jersey Cavalry who had earlier boasted that he would “bag Ashby.” The 1st Maryland Inf. And 58th Virginia Inf. set an . . . — Map (db m15752) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — Confederate Monument | | | (North face):This Monument is erected by the Ladies Memorial Association in grateful remembrance of the gallant Confederate Soldiers, who lie here. They died in defense of the rights of the South, in the war between the States, from 1861 to 1865. (West face):1876. In memory of men who with their lives vindicated the principles of 1776. (South face): Battles of the Valley of the Shenandoah. McDowell, Piedmont, Cross Keys, Port Republic, New Market, Cedar Creek, Kernstown, . . . — Map (db m16487) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — Court Square & Springhouse — Temporary Prison Camp | | | During the Civil War, a road (Market Street) ran east and west through the courthouse square, dividing it roughly in half. The courthouse occupied the northern portion while the jail, clerk’s office, and springhouse were in the southern section. Plank fences surrounded both yards. These enclosures occasionally were used as holding pens for prisoners during the conflict. After the First Battle of Winchester on May 25, 1862, Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson confined about 2,000 . . . — Map (db m16482) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — A-35 — End of the Campaign | | | Here Stonewall Jackson, retreating up the Valley before the converging columns of Fremont and Shields, turned at bay, June 1862. A mile southeast Jackson’s cavalry commander, Ashby, was killed, June 6. At Cross Keys, six miles southeast, Ewell of Jackson’s army defeated Freemont, June 8. Near Port Republic, ten miles southeast, Jackson defeated Shields, June 9. This was the end of Jackson’s Valley Campaign. — Map (db m2869) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — Gen. Turner Ashby — C. S. A. | | | was killed on this spot, June 6, 1862, gallantly leading a charge. — Map (db m58591) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — General Turner Ashby of Fauquier | | | A mile and a half southeast of this spot General Turner Ashby of Fauquier, “Knight of the Valley”, was killed in battle June 6, 1862. To honor him and all of Rockingham’s enlisted men, 1861-1865 this tablet is erected, 1926. — Map (db m14281) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — Hardesty-Higgins House — Banks's Headquarters | | | This was the home of Harrisonburg’s first mayor, Isaac Hardesty, an apothecary. Elected in 1849, Hardesty served until 1860. His Unionist sympathies compelled him to leave for Maryland after the Civil War began. Early in the first week of May 1862, Union Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks established his headquarters here while attempting to locate Confederate forces under Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and Gen. Richard S. Ewell. Banks telegraphed Washington several times during his stay . . . — Map (db m41496) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — A-33 — Harrisonburg | | | Here Thomas Harrison and wife deeded land for the Rockingham County public buildings, August 5, 1779. The same act established both Louisville, Ky., and Harrisonburg, May, 1780. Named for its founder, the town was also known as Rocktown. It was incorporated in 1849. In its vicinity battles were fought in 1862 and 1864. The present courthouse was built in 1897. Harrisonburg became a city in 1916. — Map (db m16484) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — A 103 — James Madison University | | | The university was founded in 1908, through the efforts of state senator George B. Keezell, of Rockingham County, as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg. In 1924 it became the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg, before it was renamed Madison College in 1938 to honor James Madison, the Father of the Constitution and fourth president of the United States. The school admitted men to regular school sessions in 1946 and became fully coeducational in 1966. In 1977 the . . . — Map (db m39327) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — A 104 — James Madison University | | | The university was founded in 1908, through the efforts of state senator George B. Keezell, of Rockingham County, as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg. In 1924 it became the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg, before it was renamed Madison College in 1938 to honor James Madison, the Father of the Constitution and fourth president of the United States. The school admitted men to regular school sessions in 1946 and became fully coeducational in 1966. In 1977 the . . . — Map (db m39328) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — Rockingham County World War I Memorial | | | They Tasted Death In Youth That Liberty Might Grow Old — Map (db m35751) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — The Battle of Harrisonburg | | | On wooded Chestnut Ridge the evening of Friday, June 6, 1862, Pennsylvania Bucktails under Col. Kane were defeated in a hard fight with the 58th Va. under Col. Letcher and Gen. Turner Ashby and the 1st Md. under Col. Bradley Johnson. Gen. Ashby killed; Col. Kane captured. Stonewall Jackson said of Gen. Ashby: “I never knew his superior, his daring was proverbial.” — Map (db m40317) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — The Big Spring — Our Anchor in Time | | | “For generations this great spring was the main source of water supply for the town. Before the white man settled around it the Indians and the buffaloes knew it well. It was at the crossing of two old trails—one up and down the Valley, since widened into the Valley Turnpike, the other crossing the Valley from east to west. During the Civil war thousands of soldiers, Blue and Gray, quenched their thirst at this generous place of refreshment. But some time after 1896,when the new . . . — Map (db m11720) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — The Woodbine Cemetery | | | The Woodbine Cemetery Company, Incorporated March 19, 1850 1877 These gates are erected in memory of the officers and members of the Woodbine Society, who gave generously of their time and means to beautify this cemetery, where they now rest from their labors. 1915 — Map (db m16486) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — Warren-Sipe House — Home and Hospital | | | This was the home of Edward T.H. Warren, a Harrisonburg attorney. As a lieutenant in the Valley Guards, a Rockingham County militia company, Warren attended the trial and execution of John Brown in Charles Town (in present-day West Virginia) in 1859. Warren was elected a town councilman in 1860, but soon left for the war. His former militia unit became Co. G in the 10th Virginia Infantry, which he helped form. He was commissioned lieutenant colonel on July 1, 1861, and commanded the regiment . . . — Map (db m41497) HM | | Virginia, Harrisonburg — 30A — Where Ashby Fell | | | A mile and a half east of this point, Turner Ashby, Stonewall Jackson’s cavalry commander, was killed, June 6, 1862, while opposing Fremont’s advance. — Map (db m16488) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — A-18 — Abraham Lincoln’s Father | | | Four miles west, Thomas Lincoln, father of the President, was born about 1778. He was taken to Kentucky by his father about 1781. Beside the road here was Lincoln Inn, long kept by a member of the family. — Map (db m656) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — D-6 — Battle of Cross Keys | | | Three miles south, on Mill Creek, Jackson’s rearguard, under Ewell, was attacked by Freemont, June 8, 1862. Trimble, of Ewell’s command, counterattacked, driving the Unionists back. Jackson, with the rest of his army, was near Port Republic awaiting the advance of shields up the east bank of the Shenandoah River. — Map (db m3474) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — Breneman-Turner Mill — Survivor of The Burning — 1864 Valley Campaign | | | On October 6, 1864, Union soldiers approached this mill on their march from Harrisonburg to Broadway during “The Burning.” This was U.S. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan’s two-week campaign to end the Valley’s role as the “Breadbasket of the Confederacy.” His men burned vast numbers of mills, barns, and farm buildings.
George Shaver, the 70-year-old miller, lived in the house to your left. He was seriously ill, so his 77-year old Wife, Hannah, pleaded with the soldiers not . . . — Map (db m39329) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — A-29 — Cavalry Engagement | | | Here, at Lacey’s Springs, Rosser’s Confederate cavalry attacked Custer's camp, December 20, 1864. Rosser and Custer (of Indian Fame) had been roommates at West Point. — Map (db m649) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — Confederate General Hospital — Harrisonburg Female Academy | | | Harrisonburg was Rockingham County’s seat of government and largest town, and it was an ideal site for a hospital. When the Civil War began in 1861, although the railroad had not yet extended to Harrisonburg, the town sat at the intersection of four turnpikes, including the macadamized Valley Turnpike, the main avenue for travel through Virginia’s Great Valley.
Various buildings in Harrisonburg were used as temporary hospitals from the outset of the war. The most important of these was the . . . — Map (db m39330) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — D 1-a — Long's Chapel and Zenda | | | Long's Chapel was built in 1870, a year after William and Hannah Carpenter and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ deeded land here "to colored people… for … a church, burial ground, and a school house." Henry Carter, Milton Grant, William Timbers, and Richard Fortune, all formerly enslaved, owned two-acre "home plots" where the community of Zenda grew to 17 households of 80 people by 1900. The school, where notable Harrisonburg educator Lucy Simms began her career, closed in 1925. In . . . — Map (db m37436) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — McNeill’s Rangers — “Hurah for McNeal” | | | Harrisonburg is associated with the exploits of McNeill’s Rangers, a famous Confederate partisan unit. In 1862, John Hanson McNeill, a native of Hardy County in present-day West Virginia, recruited men for Co. E, 18th Virginia Cavalry. With McNeill as captain, the unit entered Confederate service on September 5, 1862, as partisan rangers under Gen. John Imboden’s nominal command.
McNeilI’s Rangers attacked Federal camps, raided railroads, and seized Union supplies. Early in March 1863, . . . — Map (db m39331) HM | | Virginia (Rockingham County), Harrisonburg — Woodbine Cemetery — The Soldiers’ Section | | | During the Civil War, Woodbine Cemetery was Harrisonburg’s principal burial ground. Chartered in March 1850, it opened later that year after the city’s first mayor, Isaac Hardesty, sold 2.5 acres of his property to the cemetery company. The need for additional grave sites for fallen soldiers became clear early in the conflict. Nearby engagements, such as the action in which Confederate Gen. Turner Ashby was killed on June 6, 1862, as well as the Battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic, created . . . — Map (db m39333) HM |
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