The New Market Crossroads

The New Market Crossroads. Historic Intersection. , You're standing at the historic crossroads in the center of downtown New Market. During the Civil War, this was a vital transportation link and strategic intersection. Thousands of Union and Confederate troops marched through this intersection over the four years of war., John Sevier, who was born nearby in 1745, founded the town here in 1765 when he established a tavern and store at this junction. The settlement was originally called Cross Roads, named after this intersection. The settlers built a racetrack, and when the town was incorporated in 1796 it was renamed Newmarket (later New Market), after a famous horse-racing town in England. The community was largely settled by Germans and Scots from Pennsylvania, who migrated south on what was then the Great Wagon Road. At the time of the battle of New Market, about 700-800 people lived here., Beginning in 1834, the Valley Turnpike Company, founded by New Market resident Dr. John W. Rice, built a new macadamized road (consisting of crushed, compacted stone), the Valley Turnpike, on the old Wagon Road route. At this spot, the Valley Pike (modern-day US-11) intersected the New Market-Sperryville Turnpike (modern-day US-211), which ran east over the New Market Gap, the only easily crossable gap over Massanutten Mountain ridgeline - making that gap, and this crossroads, strategically important during the Civil War., Two days before the Battle of New Market, a Union cavalry force was destroyed after it came through the gap. (Part of the Confederate force that routed them galloped through this intersection.) And Gen. Franz Sigel, who commanded the Union army at the battle itself, later reported, "It always appeared to me of importance to occupy New Market, not only because it affords a good position, but because it places... an important road on the East in our hands which leads to [the New Market Gap].", (Captions): , John Sevier in 1792. Sevier lived a storied life, including serving as one of the Patriot commanders at the 1780 Battle of King's Mountain - a critical battle during the Revolutionary War - and as the first governor of Tennessee. , Painting by Charles Wilson Peale., The New Market Sperryville Turnpike, east of New Market, with the New Market Gap in the distance. , Circa 1924 image from Stonewall Jackson's Way by John Wayland, This marker was made possible through the generosity of Walter "Junior" McDaniel.