The Civilian's War

The Civilian's War. "Impossible that we could come of that chaos alive.". 1 Story / 1 Thousand Voices, While Union artillery from Star Fort dueled with Confederate gunners in West Fort on June 14, 1863, Winchester's civilians fretted for their safety., Some wondered if Union Gen. Robert H. Milroy would destroy Winchester by either burning or bombing it. The threat seemed credible. The Federal gunners who manned the fortifications, including this one, had previously used the town for target practice, firing wooden and live rounds with no regard for civilian safety. Mary Greenhow Lee, whose house shook "from the concussion" of the Union artillery fire from Star Fort, wondered if Milroy would make good on this threat "to burn us up.", Although concerned for their safety, Lee and other civilians could not resist climbing onto rooftops to view the exchange of fire between Star Fort and West Fort. "It was a magnificent sight," Lee remembered. Another resident, Cornelia McDonald, recalled, "the booming of the cannon, the screaming of shells...and the balls of light go shooting over our heads, followed by that fretful explosion." As her children gathered around her, she felt it was "impossible that we could come out of that chaos alive.", Fortunately for the civilians, the town survived the battle. By the next morning the Federals had fled, and southern troops marched into town to a rapturous welcome from Winchester's largely pro-Confederate residents. "The people were perfectly wild with delight and excitement," Laura Lee wrote. But Union supporters such as Julia Chase were downcast. "We are now in Dixie," she wrote. "Oh what a sad, sad day this has been to us.", (caption) Cornelia Peake McDonald (seated center right) and seven of her children in an 1870 photo taken in Lexington, Virginia, where she lived for 10 years after leaving Winchester. - Courtesy of the Handley Regional Library, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives