September 19, 1864 - Third Winchester
September 19, 1864
Third Winchester (AKA the Battle of Opequon)
Winchester, VA (Frederick County)
US- Sheridan: (Wright's VI Corps and Brig. Gen. William Emory's XIX Corps; VIII Corps under Brig. Gen. George Crook and a cavalry division under Brig. Gen. Alfred T. A. Torbert)
vs.
CSA- Jubal Early: Breckinridge, F. Lee
* Significant but costly Union victory after Early left behind limited defenses while raiding Maryland
* THE bloodiest battle of the Shenandoah Valley: more died at this battle then in the entire 1862 campaign
* Confederate generals Robert Rodes and Archibald Goodwin were killed, and generals Fitzhugh Lee, William Terry and William Wharton were wounded. Union Brig. Gen. David Russell was killed, and generals John McIntosh, Emory Upton, and George Chapman were wounded. Yikes.
* Visiting this well-preserved battlefield entails...a lot. On my first pass through I just saw that one marker at the cemetery and called it a day. The second time [Summer 2025], when I was actually heading towards First Kernstown and Winchester (because: chronology), I ran into the Third Winchester battlefield park and spent half a day wandering its five-plus miles of trails. A third visit is in order soon to complete the last corner of the battlefield. Many of the historical markers indicate the time of the referenced action, so I supposed I'll attempt to assemble them in order after the (great deal of) introductory signs <sigh>. Here we go...
* Update: Sept. 2025 I went back for the final third of the battlefield - and the cemeteries. And I achieved the pleasant coincidence of reading about this battle in Shelby Foote's Narrative right after visiting. Not mentioned on the markers here: Grant ordered a 100-gun salute around Richmond to celebrate this (costly) victory. Also: kinda BS that the rebel name stuck for this battle (nobody calls Antietam, Sharpsburg).
The Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (APCWS)
1987 - 1999
During its brief existence, the APCWS acquired a large portion of two major battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley, Fisher's Hill in 1991 and Third Winchester in 1995. This fledgling entity, devoted to protecting Civil War ground, was founded in the summer of 1987 by a small group of historians and other preservationists concerned about the pressure to commercially develop privately-owned battle sites. APCWS began as an all-volunteer group and quickly built a large grassroots membership before merging with the Civil War Trust in 1999.
By that time, it had saved thousands of acres of battlefield properties, including Cedar Mountain, Malvern Hill and Five Forks in Virginia; Brices Crossroads in Mississippi; Bentonville, North Carolina; Rich Mountain, West Virginia; and Byram's Ford in Kansas City. Today's Civil War preservation movement grew from this early pioneering work.
Founding Members
John P. Ackerly III • Dennis E. Frye • Gary W. Gallagher • Brian C. Pohanka • A. Wilson Greene • Robert K. Krick • Donald C. Pfanz
Other Early Board Members
Dr. Daniel J. Beattie • Merlin E. Sumner • C. Bud Hall • Alan T. Nolan • Dewey L. Stinson • Edward T. Wenzel • Christopher M. Calkins • Thomas A. Low • Michael Anne Lynn • Howard Coffin • Thomas W. Richards • Carrington Williams • David M. West • John R. Bass
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=155523 |
Three Battlefields
"We Could Hear Heavy Cannonading"
The ground you stand on was part of three different Civil War battlefields, a testament to the frequency of combat around Winchester.
On June 15, 1863, during the Second Battle of Winchester, Louisiana troops cut off Union Col. Andrew T. McReynolds's troops trying to break out just north of here. A Louisiana Tiger wrote that "[we] jumped over a fence, fired into the enemy and charged." "Away we started in all directions," wrote one Federal. The 6th Maryland Infantry escaped "by making a circuitous route" through this area.
During the Battle of Rutherford's Farm on July 20, 1864, Confederate Col. William L. "Mudwall" Jackson's cavalrymen attacked across the ground in front of you to bolster their army's crumbling right flank. The North Carolinians there were falling back, some throwing down their guns. As Jackson's men charged, they shouted to them, "Boys, gather up your gouns [sic]!" The attack temporarily drove back the Federals, saving many Tarheels from capture.
On the morning the Third Battle of Winchester began, September 19, 1864, Confederate troops hurrying south to the battlefield passed here. "We had to march through open fields, woods, etc." recalled Pvt. George W. Nichols, 61st Georgia Infantry, and "we could hear heavy cannonading on our left front." Later, Confederate Col. William H.F. Payne's cavalry crossed this ground to join in an attack on Federal horsemen threatening the Confederate flank. A Federal counterattack routed them, putting "an entire division...in wild flight, all efforts to rally them proving unavailing," Confederate Pvt. Joseph C. Donohue wrote.
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The Third Battle of Winchester
September 19, 1864
—Sheridan's 1864 Shenandoah Campaign—
"You haven't begun to fight yet! I've got Crook here with 10,000 men, and I am going to throw them in and whip these fellows." - —Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan
Telling Union Gen. William Emory—who exclaimed "My dead are everywhere!"—that he was throwing Gen. George Crook's Army of West Virginia into the fight
Third Winchester was the largest and costliest battle fought in the Valley, and one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War, a ferocious back-and-forth struggle that saw the Confederates gradually forced into an L-shaped line north and east of Winchester — until a final decisive attack by Federal infantry and cavalry struck the Confederate left flank, breaching the defenders' lines and sending the Confederates "whirling through Winchester."
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=155070 |
Third Battle of Winchester
September 19, 1864 • Sheridan's Shenandoah Campaign
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District
Shenandoah At War
In 1996, Congress designated eight counties as the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District, with a mission to preserve and interpret the region's Civil War battlefields and related historic sites. The effort is led by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. Third Winchester is one of more than 20 battlefields that are part of the Foundation's work.
To learn more about the battle, the Valley's Civil War story, or to support our efforts, go to www.ShenandoahAtWar.org. To contact the Foundation, call 540-740-4545 or email info@svbf.net.
Third Winchester Battlefield Park
The Third Winchester Battlefield Park is a 600-acre park that includes 5 miles of trails, interpretive markers, restored battlefield landscapes, and the James R. Wilkins Winchester Battlefields Visitor Center. There are three trailheads for the park, located at the Redbud Road, West Woods, and Millbrook High School entrances. (Please note that parking is not permitted in the high school parking lot during school hours.)
The Third Winchester
Battlefield was preserved by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District and the Civil War Trust; now owned and managed by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District.
Early on the morning of September 19, Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's cavalry divisions crossed the Opequon Creek at three different points—the vanguard of some 39,000 Union soldiers moving on Winchester. Behind the cavalry marched three infantry corps. Sheridan's plan was to surprise and overwhelm Early's scattered forces - but on September 18, Early had realized Sheridan's intentions and hurriedly moved to consolidate his army. In addition, Sheridan's advance through the narrow Berryville Canyon was confused and tangled with men and supply wagons, which gave the Confederates time to prepare.
When the Federals launched their first main attack around 11:40 am, Union Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps and Gen. William Emory's XIX Corps were severely mauled attacking across the Berryville Pike, from the First Woods across the Middle Field - and on to the Second Woods and West Woods. Confederate artillery and counter-attacks from Gen. John Gordon's and Gen. Robert Rodes' divisions and stopped the assaults. By mid-afternoon, Sheridan called upon his reserve, Gen. George Crook's Army of West Virginia (VIII Corps), which fell upon Early's weakened left line from the north, forcing it to fold back into Winchester. Simultaneously, two Union cavalry divisions—6,000 mounted soldiers—attacked along the Valley Pike, engulfing all resistance in their path. The Confederate left flank collapsed, and Early ordered a retreat which turned into a rout through the streets of Winchester.
Sheridan's 1864 Shenandoah Campaign
During the summer of 1864, Confederate forces under Gen. Jubal A. Early ran roughshod in and around the Shenandoah Valley, defeating Federal armies, burning Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and threatening Washington, D.C. — and also threatening President Abraham Lincoln's chances for reelection. In August 1864, frustrated Union leaders sent Gen. Philip Sheridan to the Valley with orders to bring an end to Confederate control.
Uncertain of the size of Early's army, Sheridan moved carefully at first. For weeks, the two opposing armies probed, marched, and clashed in smaller battles such as Guard Hill (August 6) and Berryville (September 3-4), but avoided major engagements. Early mistakenly believed that Sheridan's caution reflected a lack of aggressiveness, and felt safe in dividing his forces. Learning of this, and that one of Early's divisions had left for Richmond, Sheridan moved to attack.
The third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864) became the largest battle ever fought in the Valley, a ferocious see-saw struggle that saw the Confederates gradually forced back into an L-shaped line north and east of Winchester — until a final attack by Federal infantry and cavalry broke the defender's line and sent them "whirling through Winchester."
Third Winchester was one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War. Additional northern victories at Fisher's Hill (September 22), Tom's Brook (October 9), and Cedar Creek (October 19), coupled with the devastation of the region's agriculture in "The Burning," gave the Union permanent control of the Valley, aided in Abraham Lincoln's reelection, and helped speed the surrender of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox
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The Northern Flank
Third Winchester Battlefield Park
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District
Third Winchester Trailhead
This is the main entrance to the Third Winchester Battlefield Park. From here, you can follow the trail to where it branches off to the key Confederate artillery position on the Huntsberry Farm, or you can continue south, following the route of the Union attack across Red Bud Run—and then cross the bridge to the trails on the other side and other key battlefield features, including the West Woods, Middle Field, and First Woods.
The ground in front of you was the furiously-contested northern flank of the battlefield during Third Winchester. It witnessed the key Confederate artillery position on the Huntsberry Farm, the abortive Federal attempts to drive that artillery away, the Union flanking movement across the ridgeline, and the Federal attack across Redbud Road that broke the stalemate in and around the Middle Field.
In addition, just north and west of here Union cavalry gradually pushed back the Confederate cavalry along the Valley Turnpike (modern-day US-11), setting the stage for the thunderous Federal cavalry charge that broke the southern line.
Fury on the Flanks
"Bullets, shot, shell and shrapnel rained on us like hail” -Union Capt. Russell Hastings, 23nd Ohio, Duval's Division, VIII Corps
As Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's Union forces moved towards Winchester on the morning of September 19, many Confederate troops were still racing south (some passing across the ground around you) to join Gen. Jubal Early's hurriedly formed defensive line east of the city, south of Red Bud Run. Meanwhile, Confederate horse artillery under the immediate command of Maj. James Breathed moved into position on the Huntsberry Farm on the heights north of Red Bud Run. When the Federals launched their assaults across the Middle Field, Breathed's gunners poured fire into their flank. "The shells came screaming through the trees,” one Federal soldier remembered, "lopping off branches, crippling the line and destroying organization.
As the battle became a costly stalemate, Sheridan ordered Gen. George Crook's VIII Corps (Army of West Virginia) forward. Crook led one of his divisions across to the north side of Red Bud Run, then moved west (left to right from where you're standing) across the Huntsberry Farm. About 3:30 pm, Crook attacked south across the waterway while his other division attacked simultaneously across the Middle Field. Despite difficulties crossing the "muddy slough” of Red Bud Run—and stiff resistance by the Confederates—Crook's two-pronged attack forced the southerners back, and the Confederates withdrew to join Early's final defensive line north and east of Winchester.
Meanwhile, throughout the day, Union Cavalry had been advancing from north of here, pushing Confederate horsemen back along the Valley Turnpike. Sheridan now ordered an all-out attack, and as the Federal infantry pressured the Confederates from all sides, the Union cavalry launched a massive charge that shattered the Confederate left flank. The Confederate line collapsed, sending the southerners spilling through the streets of Winchester in a scene of chaos and confusion.
"A vivid sheet of fire...ran along the front, and a deadly storm of grape and bullets tore through our ranks. It seemed as if half of the regiment went down." -Col. William S. Lincoln, 34th Massachusetts Infantry
Mai. James Breathed commanded the Confederate guns on the Huntsberry Farm. Breathed's guns had been captured from the Federals in August 1862 — and would be lost back to them during the Confederate defeat at Tom's Brook on October 9, 1864.
Union Gen. George Crook's flanking movements were key to Union victory at both Third Winchester and Fisher's Hill (September 22, 1864). Crook was captured by Confederate raiders in February 1865 and held prisoner for a month before being paroled.
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Thomas Laws and Third Winchester
"I thought I was between Heaven and Earth"
—The Long Road To Freedom—
Thomas Laws is one of the unsung heroes of the Civil War, a then-enslaved black man who risked his life to carry messages through Confederate lines, messages that helped Union troops earn victory at the Third Battle Winchester.
In mid-September 1864, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan needed information about Confederate forces in and around Winchester. He was told that pro-Union resident Rebecca Wright might help, but to communicate with Wright he needed someone who could pass through Confederate lines. A scout recommended Laws, a "loyal and shrewd" enslaved black man who had a Confederate-issued pass that allowed him to sell vegetables in Winchester. Sheridan met with Laws and asked him to carry a letter to Wright. Despite the danger, Laws readily agreed. Sheridan's message was written on tissue paper, compressed into a small pellet, and wrapped in foil. Laws carried it in his mouth so he could swallow it if stopped and questioned.
But when Laws knocked on Wright's door at midday on September 16 and asked if she was "a Union lady," Wright hesitated, worried about her own safety. At that tense moment, Laws recalled that "I thought I was between Heaven and Earth." But Laws gave Wright the note, and when he returned that afternoon, she had written a response telling Sheridan that some Confederate troops had left the area, and that the remaining force was "much smaller than is represented." Laws traveled back through the lines and gave the message to Union scouts.
The information that Wright provided and Laws smuggled at mortal risk proved crucial to Sheridan's pivotal victory at Third Winchester on September 19, a battle that turned the tide of the war in the Valley and ultimately helped ensure Abraham Lincoln's reelection that November.
Laws died in 1896 and is buried in Milton Valley Cemetery in the Josephine City Historic District in Berryville.
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EARLY MORNING
Early Moves to Battle
"The fire of battle veritably flashing in his eyes."
-The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)-
On September 18, 1864, Confederate Gen. Jubal Early, commander of Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley, was in Martinsburg, West Virginia, 23 miles north of here, with half of his army. While there, he learned that Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had traveled to Charlestown, West Virginia, to meet with Ge. Philip H. Sheridan, commander of Union forces in the Valley.
For Early, the news was disastrous. Grant's visit promised aggressive action, and Sheridan's much-larger army was only 10 miles east of Winchester — in prime position to move on the city, destroy the remaining Confederate force there, and cut off Early's retreat. Fortunately for Early, Union delays on the morning of September 19 gave him just enough time to hurry the rest of his army back to Winchester.
Confederate soldiers swarmed through the fields around you as they raced to block the Federal advance. Although Sheridan had taken him by surprise, Early worked fervently to prevent a complete disaster.
Reaching the battlefield, he galloped up to some Confederate batteries and shouted, "Pour it into 'em- give 'em hell — God damn their blue-bellied souls..." With shells exploding around them and Union infantry approaching, Early remained "cool as a cucumber" with "the fire of battle veritable flashing in his eyes."
Early succeeded in stopping Sheridan's initial attack, helping to stave off disaster. And what could have been a quick and easy Union victory turned into a day-long struggle — the largest battle ever fought in the Valley.
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LATE MORNING
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Bloody Repulse
"Close enough to feel the flame of the powder"
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
The field behind you was a wooded lot known as the Second Woods. When Sheridan attacked at 11:40 am, his front line drove the opposing Confederates through those woods.
On the high ground immediately west of the interstate, about 1,000 yards behind you, sat eleven cannon from Maj. Carter Braxton's battalion of Confederate artillery.
The Union battle line descended into the hollow in front of you and then charged up the open hill beyond where they were greeted by a lethal blast of canister from Braxton's guns.
Col. Thomas H. Carter, chief of the Confederate artillery, recalled the scene: "Carter Braxton suggested that the be double shotted with canister to which I assented, and each of us rode down the line giving the order. The situation was critical and stirring as could be conceived. General Early considered our capture certain, and properly enough galloped off to save himself. With a steadiness and courage which knew no faltering, the men stood to their posts. The lieutenants sat on their horses like equestrian statues, save that they drew their pistols for close quarter combat.... The guns fired at last as one when the front line of the enemy was almost close enough to feel the flame of the powder. For a moment, the smoke hid all from view; when it cleared away we had the joy to see 'their banners rent, their columns riven' and a field of flying disorganized men scudding to the woods."
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Ricketts’s Attack
“Then it came our turn to shoot”
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
After critical delays getting his troops on the field, Union commander Gen. Philip H. Sheridan was finally able to launch his first attack at 11:40 am. Gen. James B. Ricketts's division of the 6th Corps led the attack here, advancing westward along the course of the Berryville Turnpike (modern-day Route 7) under heavy fire from Confederate artillery. After a shaky start, Rickett's men drove back the Confederate skirmishers and charged across the ground behind you.
On the opposite side of the ravine in front of you, North Carolinians and Virginians from Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur's division put up a tenacious defense from behind rail breastworks constructed on the Dinkle Farm. Eventually, Col. J. Warren Keifer's brigade struck the northern flank of Ramseur's line and it quickly crumbled under the pressure. Ramseur withdrew toward Winchester.
A soldier of the 126th Ohio described the scene, "Then it came our turn to shoot. We poured a volley into their rear, and then with a yell started after them on the double quick and they retreated in great confusion."
Ricketts drove Ramseur well beyond the ground currently occupied by I-81. Ramseur rode into the midst of the jumbled mass of retreating Southerners and "knocked every man over the head who refused to halt." A counterattack led by Gen. Robert E. Rodes struck Ricketts's right flank just before they were about to capture the Confederate artillery and forced him to withdraw to this area. Ramseur joined in the attack with rallied elements of his division and the pace of combat slowed in this area until late in the afternoon.
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A Murderous Fire
Confederate Horse Artillery on Huntsberry Farm
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
Six Confederate cannon were positioned here during the battle, erupting with flame and smoke as they sent a rain of deadly shells across Red Bud Run. The noise would have been deafening. This was one of the key positions during the fighting, critical to the Confederates' ability to hold off the larger Federal army throughout much of the day.
When Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan launched his main attack at 11:40 a.m., Confederate Gen. Fitzhugh Lee had two brigades of cavalry (under Col. Thomas Munford and Col. William Payne) and his six-gun horse artillery battalion under the command of Maj. James Breathed here at the Huntsberry Farm. Although the Federal attack drove Gen. John B. Gordon's division back from its position on the south side of Red Bud Run, Breathed's gunners punished the Union attackers as they moved across the Middle Field. While the woods on the edge of the field obscured their view of the Federal troops, one Union officer said that "they sighted their guns by the sound."
The "death-dealing" messengers took a terrible toll. "A more murderous fire I never witnessed," Col. Munford remembered. "The field was strewn with their dead and wounded."
Breathed and Payne continued to assist the Confederate infantry to the south as they counterattacked and drove back the Federals. In the early afternoon, Lee detached Munford's cavalry brigade and two pieces of artillery to the southern end of the battle line to confront the Union cavalry threatening to sever the Confederate line of retreat. Breathed and Payne remained [here] at Huntsberry Farm, harassing the Union forces on the south bank of Red Bud Run, until Union Gen. George Crook moved across the ground later in the afternoon.
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The Huntsberry Farm
War in the Front Yard
—Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
75 Yards in front of you stands the remnants of the Huntsberry Farm. At the time of the battle, the farm covered 400 acres north and south of Red Bud Run.
After emigrating from Germany in the early 1700's, the Huntsberry family first settled in Pennsylvania before relocating to the Shenandoah Valley—part of a wave of Germans and Scots-Irish immigrant families that moved to the Valley in search of opportunity in the mid-late 18th Century.
By 1860, the Huntsberry Farm (co-owned at the time by Jacob and Augustine Huntsberry) covered 400 acres. 17 people lived on the farm—9 family members and 8 enslaved African-Americans. The farm raised 1,500 bushels of oats, 250 bushels of wheat, 150 bushels of Irish potatoes, 120 bushels of rye, 100 pounds of wool, 624 pounds of butter, and 35 tons of hay. The farm produced 2 pounds of hops, 10 pounds of beeswax, and 100 pounds of honey. Livestock included 10 horses, 18 head of cattle, 37 sheep, and 30 swine.
In addition to the main house, the Huntsberry farmstead included orchards, a small domestic complex, agricultural outbuildings, and slave quarters. Several structures were located to the south of the main house, including the Hoffman tenant house.
During the Third Battle of Winchester, fighting raged across the farm. Unfortunately, no accounts of the family's experiences have been found.
The farm remained in the family until 2009 when it was purchased by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields.
Confederate Private Jacob A. Huntsberry
Jacob Augustine Huntsberry, the third son of Augustine Huntsberry, was born here in 1844. He enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861, at the age of 17, and served in the 12th Virginia Cavalry, which served as General Robert E. Lee's personal cavalry command.
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| Remains of the farm, other side of the left fence |
A Life In Bondage
Slavery on the Huntsberry Farm
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
You're standing in the middle of what was the Huntsberry Farm. The 400-acre farm included 300 highly productive "improved” acres. Much of that productivity came from the labor of the enslaved who were owned by the Huntsberrys.
Unfortunately, there is little recorded information about the enslaved persons who worked these fields. The best records come from the "slave schedules” that were part of the 1850 and 1860 United States censuses. Both the 1850 and 1860 censuses included two "schedules" — Schedule 1 for "Free Inhabitants” and Schedule 2 for "Slave Inhabitants."
In 1850, the slave schedule reported 10 slaves on the Huntsberry Farm:
And the 1860 schedule showed 8 slaves on the farm:
Comparing the two lists, it's clear that most of the persons on the list in 1850 were gone by 1860, and other slaves had been brought to the farm — a testament to the uncertainty and instability of life in bondage.
Sadly, nothing more is yet known about them. No names. No clue to their fate. What became of them during and after the Civil War? Did any leave the farm during the conflict when they saw their chance for freedom, especially after the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863? Did they leave after the war and the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery? Or did some stay and become paid workers on the farm? If so, no records have yet been found. Their story — and the story of untold others who were enslaved — may never be known.
In 1860, there were 24,779 slaves in the Shenandoah Valley — over 20% of the Valley's population.
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Southern Sharpshooters
Tormenting the Attackers
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
As Confederate Maj. James Breathed's cannon, positioned on the high ground some 200 yards your right, opened fire with "telling effect" on the Federal advancing in the Middle Field on the opposite side of Red Bud Rum, dismounted southern cavalry under Col. William Payne advanced into the area to your right and opened fire on the Federals as well. At the same time, Confederate sharpshooters moved to the ground in front of you to protect the guns and fire into the flank of the Federals.
In the afternoon, the sharpshooters aided Confederate Gen. John Gordon in his fight against Union Gen. William Dwight's division on the south side of Red Bad Run. Battery D, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery anchored Dwight's right flank. Sharpshooters from either Gordon's division or Payne's brigade crept toward the guns under cover of the steep bank and opened fire at the gunners. The artillery responded with canister until they exhausted their supply, and then solid shot, but the Confederates did not pull back.
Eventually, Confederate Gen. Fitzhugh Lee withdrew Payne's brigade and the horse artillery to resist Union cavalry advancing up the Valley Pike, leaving only a small force of dismounted troopers behind to screen the Confederate left at Huntsberry Farm. When Union Gen. George Crook led Gen. Isaac Duval's division across this ground in mid-afternoon, the remaining southerners were easily pushed aside. As Fitz Lee later noted, "The withdrawal of troops [Payne's brigade] from the front of Crook's right allowed him to advance."
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The Middle Field
“This is a slaughterhouse“
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
You're standing where the First Woods ended and the Middle Field began during the Third Battle of Winchester. The Middle Field then was much larger than it appears today. At the time of the battle, it stretched for 1,300 yards from the wooded fringe along Red Bud Run to your right well off to the left toward the Berryville Pike. At its longest point, the field extended 800 yards from this point to the Second Woods.
Considerable and costly action occurred across the field in front of you. During Union Gen. Phillip H. Sheridan's first attack at 11:40 am, Federal skirmishers advanced across this meadow to cover the northern flank of the Union battle line and came under heavy fire from Confederate cavalry and artillery north of Red Bud Run. The attack was initially successful, but then foundered before a determined Confederate counterattack. The Federals retreated back across the field toward the safety of the First Woods.
Near this spot, 19th Corps commander Gen. William Emory dashed up to Gen. William Dwight, who was leading his division through the woods toward the Middle field. With fugitives fleeing around them, Emory bellowed, "Have this thing stopped at once!" Dwight promptly deployed his men in the fields in front of you as they reached the wood line. After more than an hour of bloody combat, they restored the shattered Union right and held Gen. John B. Gordon's Confederates at bay.
At 3:00 pm, Col. Joseph Thoburn's division of Gen. George Crook's Army of West Virginia relieved Dwight's command. The division charged across the field, drove Gordon's men from their position, and set the stage for Sheridan's eventual victory.
"This is a slaughterhouse. But it must be held. It is the key to the whole position." - Gen. William Emory
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| Photographed by Bradley Owen, October 17, 2020 |
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Sheridan Moves To Battle
"Stupendous Oversight": Chaos is the Canyon
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
Learning that Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early had taken half of his army north to Martinsburg, West Virginia, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan planned to move quickly on September 19, 1864, to destroy the remaining Confederate force in Winchester and cut off Early.
The day began with promise. Sheridan's cavalry quickly secured Spout Spring, where the Berryville Pike crosses Opequon Creek some 2.5 miles east of here, then pushed the Confederates back through the narrow Berryville Canyon. Emerging on the west end of the 2-mile-long ravine, the Federals secured the open ground on both sides of the pike — including the area where Millbrook High School stands a short distance behind you today.
But problems arose when Union Gen. Gen. Horatio Wright, commander of the 6th Corps, allowed his supply wagons to follow his troops (against Sheridan's instructions) and enter the canyon before Gen. William Emory's 19th Corps — a "stupendous oversight," as Union Capt. John DeForest described it, that meant "the infantry column was cut in two parts by miles of wagons."
Worse, Wright's wagon train became jumbled in the narrow confines of the ravine, leading to a chaotic snarl of wagons, wounded, horses, and men. Wright ordered the wagons back but the attempt to turn them around only increased the disorder.
Sheridan fumed, but the damage was done. "[My] troops did not join me on the field until nearly 11:00 a.m.,” Emory said. The fiasco cost Sheridan nearly three hours, time that Jubal Early used to assemble his widely dispersed army on the battlefield. Sheridan's hopes for a quick and easy victory were gone.
And at this point, I am lost in the woods. The trail map I was given at the visitor center is worse than useless: none of its many brightly colored trails are referenced anywhere in reality. In fact, not only are the trails completely unmarked, there are remnants of an old system out there still. Thanks a lot, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District. Maybe get out there and fix your trails before someone gets lost or hurt. I emerged at a trailhead by the aforementioned high school and then plunged back into the woods. There's about a third left in the bottom southwest corner of the battlefield for another visit.
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The Union Attacks
Third Winchester Battlefield Park
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District
Union Attacks Trailhead
This trail that begins here will take you through the First Woods to the Middle Field, and then onto trails that connect to other areas of the battlefield — the West Woods, Second Woods, and the parts of the battlefield north of Red Bud Run.* All of these features have different shapes than they did during the battle. For instance, this spot was wooded; the Middle Field was much larger, stretching unbroken south past the Berryville Pike (modern-day Va. 7); and what once was the Second Woods is long gone.
The area where you're standing was flooded by Union troops during the battle. The Federals advanced through here to attack across the Middle Field, one of the most bitterly contested sites of the Civil War. You are near the northern part of the Federal line. The Confederates waited in the Second Woods — as well as to the north, across Red Bud Run, where Southern cannon were poised to rain shot and shell on the Union attackers.
*A note about names: the landscape features — First Woods, Second Woods, Middle Field, and West Woods (or South Woods) — were not known by those names at the time of the battle. The names were given to them later.
"The very air was made to groan with its weight of lead and iron." - Union Pvt. Michael W. Cook, 28th Iowa
When the Union army launched its first main attack at 11:40 am, troops of the XIX Corps marched through these woods across the Middle Field toward the Second Woods, where Confederates under Gen. John B. Gordon waited. After sharp fighting, the Confederate line was flanked and forced to retreat, but a counterattack drove the Federals back in turn. Two more Union brigades attacked, and the two sides traded intense fire from just sixty yards apart. Gordon again counterattacked and the Union line collapsed. The Federals fled across Middle Field for the safety of the First Woods. The Union losses were staggering—nearly 1,500 men killed or wounded, including every regimental commander. One soldier remembered the area as "that basin of Hell."
Another Federal brigade came forward, but Gordon's men laid down a murderous fire, and the Union troops were pinned down, then forced to retreat after exhausting their ammunition. With the battle in the balance, Union commander Gen. Philip H. Sheridan directed General George Crook's VIII Corps to relieve the XIX Corps. One of Crook's divisions crossed to the north of Red Bud Run, then moved west before turning south to re-cross the waterway and attack Gordon. At the same time, his other division charged across the Middle Field and rushed at Gordon's line. The two-pronged assault forced Gordon to abandon the Second Woods and withdraw to the rear, where he joined Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early's final defensive line north and east of Winchester.
"The entire brigade brought down their guns, and a flame of fire flashed along its entire length." - Confederate Private Isaac G. Bradwell, 31st Georgia
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204217 |
Third Battle of Winchester
September 19, 1864
Sheridan's Shenandoah Champaign
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District Early on the morning of September 19, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry divisions crossed the Opequon Creek at three different points—the vanguard of some 39,000 Union soldiers moving on Winchester. Behind the cavalry marched three infantry corps. Sheridan's plan was to surprise and overwhelm Early's scattered forces — but on September 18, Early had realized Sheridan's intentions and hurriedly moved to consolidate his army. In addition, Sheridan's advance through the narrow Berryville Canyon was confused and tangled with men and supply wagons, which gave the Confederates time to prepare.
When the Federals launched their first main attack around 11:40 am, Union Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps and Gen. William Emory's XIX Corps were severely mauled attacking across the plain near the Berryville Pike, from the First Woods across the Middle Field — and on to the Second Woods and West Woods. Confederate artillery and counter-attacks from Gen. John Gordon's and Gen. Robert Rodes' divisions stopped the assaults. By mid-afternoon, Sheridan called upon his reserve, Gen. George Crook's Army of West Virginia (VIII Corps), which fell upon Early's weakened left line from the north, forcing it to fold back into Winchester. Simultaneously, two Union cavalry divisions—6,000 mounted soldiers—attacked along the Valley Pike, engulfing all resistance in their path. The Confederate left flank collapsed, and Early ordered a retreat which turned into a rout through the streets of Winchester.
September 19, 1864
Union Commander-
Gen. Philip H. Sheridan
Confederate Commander-
Gen. Jubal A. Early
Forces Engaged-
39,240 Union
15,200 Confederate
Estimated Casualties-
5,020 Union
3,610 Confederate
Result: Union Victory
Sheridan's 1864 Shenandoah Campaign
During the summer of 1864, Confederate forces under Gen. Jubal A. Early ran roughshod in and around the Shenandoah Valley, defeating Federal armies, burning Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and threatening Washington, D.C. — and also threatening President Abraham Lincoln's chances for reelection. In August 1864, frustrated Union leaders sent Gen. Philip H. Sheridan to the Valley with orders to bring an end to Confederate control.
The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864) became the largest battle ever fought in the Valley, a ferocious see-saw struggle that saw the Confederates gradually forced back into an L-shaped line north and east of Winchester — until a final attack by Federal infantry and cavalry broke the defenders' lines and sent them "whirling through Winchester."
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204208 |
Ash Hollow
"The regiment went to pieces"
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
Beyond these trees lies the Regency Lakes housing development. During the battle, that area — at the time a mixture of woodlots, plowed fields, fences, and broken country — saw some of the deadliest fighting of the day.
""To see the men lie wounded and dying all around you and thus still falling is indeed terrible." - Capt. Peter Eltinge, 156th New York, Sharpe's Brigade
At the time of the battle, a stream named Ash Hollow ran through that land. Confederate infantry under Gen. Zebulon York and artillery under Maj. Carter M. Braxton manned the high ground overlooking the hollow and ravine. When the Federals launched their main attack at 11:40 am, Union Col. Jacob Sharpe's brigade marched through the area in front of you — through the center of the modern-day housing development — and descended into the ravine. As they entered open ground, they came under punishing fire from the southerners.
The battlefield grew wider as the Federals advanced, and gapas developed in their line — including a 400 yard opening between Sharpe's brigade and the one to his right, a gap that left the 38th Massachusetts regiment, on Sharpe's flank, dangerously exposed. Hit by heavy fire from multiple directions, the Bay Staters were overwhelmed. "We came to close quarters with [the Confederates]," Col. James P. Richardson of the 38th Massachusetts remembered, "But under the tremendous fire of ten times of our number, the line melted away and the Regiment went to pieces.” Sharpe's entire line collapsed and raced back towards the First Woods — as the Confederates fired into their backs, "making the ground black" with their bodies.
Sharpe tried to rally his men, but suffered a horrific wound to his groin. Col. Richardson assumed command of the brigade, but was badly wounded himself. The remnants of the brigade, now leaderless, streamed back to the trees, pursued by the Confederates. Only the arrival of the cannon of the 1st Maine Battery at the edge of the woods slowed the southern pursuit.
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EARLY AFTERNOON
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204220 |
Trying To Silence The Guns
"Home I went, not slowly either"
—The Third Battle of Winchester
(September 19, 1864)—
During the early parts of the battle, Union troops in the Middle Field (on the high ground to your left) suffered heavily from the cannon fire of Confederate artillery under Maj. James Breathed, positioned on the high ground of the Huntsberry Farm some 500 yards to your right.
Union Col. George Beal's brigade, on the right end of the Union line in the Middle Field, suffered especially heavily. Col. Alexander Strain, who commanded skirmishers of the 153rd New York on Beal's right flank, asked division commander Gen. William Dwight for permission to capture the guns, but Dwight said no.
Eventually, a frustrated Gen. Beal dispatched the 30th Massachusetts and elements of the 29th Maine to reinforce Col. Strain and his skirmishers with orders to neutralize the guns. The Federals crossed Red Bud Run near here, but as they struggled through the swampy waterway they were spotted by Breathed's gunners and supporting troops, who opened fire, killing several men. Finding the battery "strongly supported,” the Union troops gave up the attempt and withdrew back across Red Bud Run.
"Not Slowly Either"
Earlier, Lt. John Mead Gould of the 29th Maine was sent to check on reports that Confederates were on this side of Red Bud Run. Riding across the water near this spot, he found that, "Some of the 30th Massachusetts skirmishers were crossing by wading in the water and mud at their waists. Beyond the brook 1 found some cavalry skirmishers with drawn sabers but so dirty and uncouthly dressed that I could not make out...whether they were advancing rebels or retreating unionists. I rode out to see more of them and assured myself that they were rebels and home I went, not slowly either."
Members of the 153rd New York Infantry. Skirmishers from the 153rd were part of the failed effort to capture the Confederate canon.
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| Red Bud Run, green in Summertime *    |
Russell Restores the Line
"Order your brigade to charge!"
—The Third Battle of Winchester
(September 19, 1864)—
Along the Berryville Turnpike some 1,000 feet to your right, Union commander Gen. Phillip Sheridan had placed Gen. David Russell's division in reserve, explaining to Russell - who had been one of Sheridan's instructors at West Point - that it was "Because I know what I shall have there in a commanding officer if that line should break."
When the Federal front line fell back, Russell's division rolled into action. Russell positioned two small regiments to stem the tide of retreating Federals and then galloped over to Col. Oliver Edwards' brigade advancing toward the area. As he did, a Confederate bullet thudded into his chest, but the tough general shoved a handkerchief in the wound. When Edwards expressed concern, Russell chided him, "It makes no difference at a time such as this. Order your brigade to charge!" Shortly after he gave the order, a shell exploded overhead, and a fragment struck Russell in the head, killing him instantly. (Russell was killed near the modern-day skating rink that you can see in front of you, just past the hotel.)
Despite his death, Russell's troops pushed ahead and drove back the Confederates, securing the Union battle line.
Edwards described Russell as "the purest, truest ablest soldier I ever knew. Had he risen to command an army he would have proved himself second to no commander in the Union army.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=267659 |
Tigers from the Woods
York's Brigade Holds the Confederate Center
—The Third Battle of Winchester
(September 19, 1864)—
When Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's division arrived on the battlefield just before the Federals launched their main attack, Gen. Zebulon York's small brigade of 650 Louisiana veterans—aka the Louisiana Tigers—was on the right of Gordon's line, along the eastern edge of the West Woods, in the area where you're standing today.
When Confederate commander Gen. Jubal A. Early saw Union Gen Cuvier Grover's large 19th Corps division advancing into the Middle Field, Early personally directed the Pelican State soldiers to advance into the field and "meet them half way." York's men eagerly complied. Supported by Confederate artillery on a height west of modern I-81 (about 1,200 yards behind you), they engaged Col. Jacob Sharpe's U.S. brigade. Capt. William J. Seymour of Louisiana described the ensuing clash: "The beautiful and rare sight was presented of two opposing lines charging at the same time." The two sides traded volleys at short range, but Gen. William Terry's Virginians joined the fight on York's left and delivered a devastating fire into the attacking Federals while the Confederate artillery pounded the blue lines.
Sharpe's brigade broke from right to left and began streaming back to the First Woods for shelter after suffering heavy losses. Most of the brigade had been shattered, but Lt. Col. Alfred Neafie's 156th New York rallied in the woods and rejoined the fight with the 6th Corps. The New Yorkers moved forward with its bald eagle mascot soaring overhead and assisted in forcing Gordon's division back. They engaged the Confederates and held their position until Rodes's counterattack forced the entire Union line back to the First Woods. By then, 111 of the New Yorkers had been killed or wounded in the Middle Field.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=244288 Counterattack! “Rodes Stops the Federal Breakthrough” —The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)— You're standing at the point of the pivotal Confederate counterattack that dramatically changed the course of the battle. By 12:30 pm, the tide of the battle had turned in favor of the Union. The Confederate troops of Gen. John B. Gordon and Stephen D. Ramseur were falling back, pursued by jubilant Federals. Just in time for the Confederates, Gen. Robert E. Rodes arrived on the field with his division and launched a counterattack into the center of the Union line — right where a large gap had developed between the 6th and 19th Corps. "Charge them, boys!" Rodes shouted. The counterattack plunged into the gap, struck the exposed flank of both Union corps, and checked the breakthrough. Gen. Phillip Cook's Georgia Brigade spearheaded the assault in this area, capturing many prisoners and three Union battle flags. Gordon and Ramseur rallied their men and joined the attack, which drove the Union forces back hundreds of yards before U.S. reserves blunted the Confederate counter strike. Unfortunately for the southern cause, Rodes fell mortally wounded when a shell fragment struck him in the head. "He leaned for an instant," recalled Confederate Pvt. Marcus D. Herring, "then fell headlong from his horse." Rodes was taken to a home in Winchester and died shortly thereafter. His troops did not learn of his death until much later and continued their attack. Famed mapmaker Jedidiah Hotchkis wrote, "We have never suffered a greater loss save in the great [Stonewall] Jackson. Rodes was the best division commander in the Army." |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=244287 |
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They out here with EXTRA WIDE markers now
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204205 |
Molineux's Stand
"Catch the colors!"
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
You're standing where Col. Edward Molineux's brigade was positioned early on the afternoon of the battle — with a wave of Confederates advancing towards them across the ground in front of you.
"I plainly saw the Rebel masses pressed forward until they seemed to outnumber the 19th Corps three to one." - Union Col. J. Warren Keifer, describing the appearance of the Confederate counter attack
Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's 11:40 am assault achieved temporary success, but eventually the front line troops came under heavy artillery fire and a fierce counterattack by Gen. Robert Rodes's Confederate infantry that threatened to break through the Union lines. In this sector of the battlefield, Union Gen. Cuvier Grover's division of four brigades numbering 8,000 men led the way. After initial success, three of Grover's brigades had been driven back in great confusion. But the brigade commanded by Col. Edward Molineux held firm in the storm. Molineux's battle line occupied the Middle Field and extended from this area into a ravine that is now a small lake about 500 yards to your left in the subdivision immediately south of the preserved battlefield property. They came under attack from Gen. Phil Cook's Georgia Brigade of Rodes's division and elements of Gen. John B. Gordon's division. The Georgians struck Molineux's left flank which occupied the ravine and captured two battle flags and 95 prisoners. Despite the setback, Molineux maintained the integrity of his command.
He pulled back a short distance behind you to a portion of the First Woods with the 131st New York occupying the right in a section of woods that projected westward into the Middle Field. The New Yorkers faced southward while the balance of the brigade on their left faced west toward the field. (See map.) Cook's Georgians charged the woodline, and Molineux's men opened fire. The 131st New York fired into the flank and rear of the Southerners forcing them of abandon the attack. Although his ammunition was running low, Molineux held the line until relieved by reinforcements.
Three members of the 11th Indiana earned the Medal of Honor for their actions during this fighting, including flagbearer Sgt. Charles H. Seston. As combat raged around him, Seston waved the flag to help his commander reform his men. Hit by enemy fire, Seston tossed the flag in the air, shouted "Catch the colors!", and fell dead without speaking another word.
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Dedicated to the
gallant men from the
State of Maine
who served in
Major General Philip Sheridan's
Army of the Shenandoah
at the
Third Battle of Winchester
September 19, 1864.
Sixth Army Corps
Brig Gen George W.
Getty's Division
Brig Gen. Daniel D.
Bidwell's Brigade
7th Maine Infantry
Artillery Brigade
Maine Light Artillery
5th Battery (E)
"We are glad that we
could suffer for our
Country's good: We glory
in our strength
and in all that is
creditable to a soldier
but war we hate:
It shall never exist again
if we can prevent it."
John Mead Gould
29th Maine Infantry
Nineteenth Army Corps
Brig Gen. William
Dwight's Division
Bvt. Brig. Gen. George L.
Beal's Brigade
29th Maine Infantry
Brig. Gen. Cuvier
Grover's Division
Brig. Gen. Henry
Birge's Brigade
12th Maine Infantry
14th Maine Infantry
Artillery Brigade
Maine Light Artillery,
1st Battery (A)
(Erected 2021)
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204203 |
A Perfect Sheet Of Lead
"The Charge of the 114th New York"
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
You're standing where much of the 114th New York sacrificed itself to save the Union line from complete collapse.
When the initial Union attack collapsed and Gen. Cuvier Grover's division fell back in chaos and confusion, Union Gen. William Emory ordered Union Gen. William Dwight to "Have this thing stopped at once!" But Dwight's troops were marching through the woods in column, and it would take time for them to get into position - time that Emory did not have.
With fugitives from Grover's division retreating in a panic before the bold attack of Confederate Gen. Cullen Battle's Albums brigade, streaming back across the ground in front of you, Dwight ordered Gen. George Beal to "Throw one of your regiments straight to the front beyond that point, we must i hold it at all hands.” Beal advanced the 114th New York through the Middle Field to this area, with the Alabamans blazing away at the Federals all the while. Although the Alabamans killed and wounded 185 of the 350 New Yorkers who went into the fight, the 114th New York held their ground and fired back, stemming the gray tide and buying enough time for the rest of Dwight's division to arrive and stabilize the Union right.
"The veterans of Stonewall Jackson fired amazingly low. - Union Surgeon Harris H. Beecher
Union Surgeon Harris H. Beecher the regimental historian of the 114d New York, recalled the grim reality of the scene: "The veterans of Stonewall Jackson fired amazingly low, so that the grass and earth in front of the regiment was cut and torn up by a perfect sheet of lead. Their bullets sought the hiding places of the men with fatal accuracy, and by ones and twos and threes they went crawling to the rear, with their blues clothes defaced with streaks and lots of crimson gore. Blood was on everything—was everywhere... was spattered upon bushes—was gathered in ghastly puddles upon the ground."
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204201 |
The Cost of Battle
This Hallowed Ground
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
While the photography on this panel shows soldiers who were killed during the Battle of Antietam, similar scenes covered the landscape around you after the Third Battle of Winchester.
The human toll was staggering. Third Winchester was the costliest battle fought in the Valley. The Union army lost 5,018 men, including 697 killed, 3,983 wounded and 338 missing or captured. The Confederates lost 3,611 men, including 226 killed, 1,567 wounded, and 1,818 missing or captured.
And some of the fallen are still here — bodies that were never found, or post-battle burial that could not be located when the dead were later reinterred.
This is hallowed ground — hallowed by the blood of Americans, north and south, who fought and died on September 19, 1864. This park is a memorial to them. As you walk this ground, remember their sacrifice.
"Look into the faces of a hundred men killed in battle, and you will find...a look of surprise and fear." - Northern sketch artist James Taylor, describing the dead on the battlefield after Third Winchester
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=155706 |
Alabama
Battle's Brigade
— Third Battle of Winchester —
During the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864, it was near this spot that Brig. Gen. Battle's Alabama Brigade reached their farthest advance.
Erected by the family of CDR. Craig A. Morin USNR (Ret.) 2019
(rear)
Maj. Gen. Robert Rodes' Division
Brig. Gen. Battle's Alabama Brigade
3rd Alabama Inf. Reg.
5th Alabama Inf. Reg.
6th Alabama Inf. Reg.
12th Alabama Inf. Reg.
61st Alabama Inf. Reg.
Brigade strength 1,028
Brigade casualties 276
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MID AFTERNOON
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=204197 |
Stuck In The Mud
"To stop was death"
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
At 3 pm, Union Gen. George Crook launched a two-pronged attack on the Confederate left flank in an attempt to break the stalemate on the battlefield. One of his divisions, under Col. Isaac Duval, moved to attack here, but when the troops charged through a dense thicket and emerged on the bank, the swampy stretch of Red Bud Run in front of you caught them by surprise and brought them to a halt.
An Ohio officer described the obstacle as, "A deep slough, twenty or thirty yards wide, and nearly waist deep, with deep soft mud at the bottom, and the surface overgrown with a thick bed of moss...” Troops in the front line stopped along the bank and the rear rank quickly stacked behind them. Lt. Col. William Enoch of the 5th West Virginia recalled, "Things were in a turmoil and confusion, nobody seemed to be directing our brigade or division..."
At that moment, Col. Rutherford B. Hayes, later the 19th President of the United States, plunged his horse into the morass and quickly became mired down in the soft, muddy swamp bottom. The horse struggled "frantically" so Hayes "jumped off, and down on all fours, succeeded in reaching the rebel side-but alone.” The soldiers of 23rd Ohio struggled across after him but most of the troops marched upstream with Col. Duval and crossed in front of the Hackwood House where they launched their attack.
"The Rebel fire now broke out furiously. Of course, the line stopped. To stop was death. To go on was probably the same; but on we started again." - Union Col. Rutherford B. Hayes
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Ohio
To Her Noble Sons
Winchester • Opequon
23rd 0.V.I. • 25th 0.V.I. • 36th 0.V.I. • 91st 0.V.I. • 110th 0.V.I. • 116th 0.V.I. • 123rd 0.V.I. • 126th 0.V.I. • 34th Ohio Inf. Batt. • 2nd Ohio Cav. • 8th Ohio Cav. • 1st Ohio Lt. Art. Btry. L
September 19, 1864
(Rear):
Ohio at Winchester
September 19, 1864
On this field, Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's Army of the Shenandoah clashed with Jubal Early's Confederate Army of the Valley in the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought in the Shenandoah Valley-known in the South as The Third Battle of Winchester and in the North as the Battle of Opequon. This decisive and pivotal Federal victory severely diminished the Confederate military presence in the Valley and, when coupled with the recent Union victory at Atlanta, helped to assure Abraham Lincoln's reelection in November 1864.
Prominent Ohioans Engaged:
Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan
Army of the Shenandoah
Bvt. Maj. Gen. George Crook
Army of West Virginia
Brig. Gen. George Custer
1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
Col. Rutherford B. Hayes
1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Army of West Virginia
19th President of the United States
Col. Joseph Warren Kiefer
3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 6th Corps
Speaker, US House of Representatives, 1881-1883
Col. Joseph Thoburn
1st Brigade, 1st Division, Army of West Virginia
Killed in Action at Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864
Capt. William McKinley
Staff Officer, Army of West Virginia
25th President of the United States
Total Ohio Casualties:
Killed - 66
Wounded - 435
Missing - 7
"Our loss was heavy, but our success was rapid and complete." - Col. R.B. Hayes
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Duval's Attack
"Hurry up boys, they need help up there"
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
By mid-afternoon, this area was swarming with Union troops preparing to attack across Red Bud Run, which less less than 200 yards down the slope in front of you.
By that time, the battle had reached a stalemate, and Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan ordered Gen. George Crook's Army of West Virginia into the fight.
"I dispaired of the sucess of the attack."
- Union Capt. John W. DeForest
As Crook's Mountaineers moved to the front, Lt. Elmer Husted of the 23rd Ohio described the scene: "Men wounded in almost every possible shape being carried off in every possible way, some on stretchers, some in blankets, some leaning on the arm of a comrade, covered with blood, minus an arm or hand.” Many of the wounded encouraged Crook's men. "Hurry up boys, they need help up there, they are giving our boys hell."
Arriving at the front, Crook left Col. Joseph Thoburn's division south of Red Bud Run, then personally took Col. Isaac Duval's division to this side (the north side).
They moved across the Huntsberry Farm to your left, chased away the last Confederates there, and reached the area around you about 3 pm.
As Thoburn joined the attack south of the stream, Duval's men elicited "a mighty battle yell” and attacked the Confederate left. On the south bank, Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon responded quickly, shifting troops to meet the attack and opening fire. Union Capt. John W. DeForest described the Confederate resistance:
"...there arose...the most terrific, continuous wail of musketry I ever heard...an uninterrupted explosion without a single break or tremor...I despaired of the success of the attack, for it did not seem to me possible that any troops could endure such a fire."
Despite Gordon's efforts, Crook's attack broke the Confederate left and proved to be the beginning of the end for Confederate fortunes at the Third Battle of Winchester.
Capt. William McKinley, 23rd Ohio, one of two future presidents (along with Col. Rutherford B. Hayes) who served in Duval's division. Gen. Crook sent McKinley to Col. Joseph Thoburn with orders to attack in conjunction with Duval.
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| Looking up the slope, towards the Huntsberry farm, Red Bun Run to my back *   |
Hackwood And Patton
"Cost its brave commander his life"
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
350 yards in front of you is the Hackwood House, constructed in 1777 by John Smith, a Winchester area politician and militia leader. Hessian prisoners of war from the Battle of Saratoga hewed stone from a nearby rock outcropping and built the home.
During Union Gen. George Crook's mid-afternoon attack, combat swirled around the Hackwood House and adjoining fields. When Crook's soldiers crossed Red Bud Run, Confederate Col. George S. Patton's Brigade, posted behind a stone wall lining the lane that ran west from the house to the Valley Pike, fired heavy volleys at the Federals as they charged past the house.
The Virginians put up an obstinate fight, but reinforcements from Union Col. Joseph Thoburn's division poured into the battle from behind you while Union cavalry operating in the distance beyond the interstate joined the attack.
Hit on three sides, Patton attempted to fight his way back 1,000 yards toward another stone wall where Gen. John B. Gordon was rallying his men, but Patton's troops were overwhelmed by "converging columns of infantry and cavalry,” the cavalry hacking with their sabers. Patton's brigade was effectively destroyed, and Patton himself was mortally wounded by a shell fragment; he died 6 days later.
Patton's grandson was the famed World War II general, George S. Patton.
Meanwhile, Crook quickly consolidated his command, advanced, and engaged the Confederates behind the second wall, located today about 1,000 yards to your left on the west side of the interstate.
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LATE AFTERNOON
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=267993 |
Breaking the Deadlock
Converging Lines of Battle
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
The fields in front of you are part of the Hackwood Farm Late on the afternoon of September 19, Gen. George Crook's little Army of West Virginia swept Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's division and Col. George Patton's brigade across these fields in a southwesterly direction toward Winchester. The Southerners halted their retreat and rallied behind an extensive stone wall on the opposite side of the interstate to your left and rear. Reinforced by two fresh brigades under Gen. Gabriel Wharton, the Confederates checked Crook's further advance.
"Mackenzie (rode) ahead, holding his hat aloft on the point of his saber." - Union Gen. George Cook
Other Union troops came forward to the area behind you, including two New England regiments under Col. Stephen Thomas that had charged through the Second Woods, driving out the last vestiges of Confederate resistance to your right and rear. However, 19th Corps commander Maj. Gen. William Emory ordered them to halt there, although they were ideally positioned to attack the right flank of the Confederates behind the wall. Soon after, George Crook rode to these troops and requested their assistance without success.
He encountered Gen. Emory Upton of the 6th Corps who had likewise failed in his effort to induce Thomas to advance. "Upton was nearly crying, he was so mad," recalled Crook. At length, Upton deployed Col. Ranald Mackenzie's 2nd Connecticut in front of Thomas's command and opened fire at the exposed Confederate flank, breaking the deadlock and allowing Crook's advance to resume.
Ulysses S. Grant considered Union Col. Ranald "Bad Hand" Mackenzie, "the most promising young officer in the army." - Col. Ranald Mackenzie
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"Like A Thousand Bricks"
The Union Cavalry Charge
—The Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864)—
Time: Late Afternoon
Standing on this spot on the afternoon of September 19, 1864, you would have witnessed — about a mile to your front — one of the most spectacular scenes of the Civil War... and one of the largest cavalry charges in the history of the Western Hemisphere.
The Union Cavalry, some 6,000 strong had been pushing the Confederates south along the Valley Turnpike (modern-day US-11) throughout the day. Now, with the southern defenses in danger of crumbling, Union commander Gen. Philip Sheridan ordered his cavalry to finish the job.
The Federal horsemen thundered down on the Confederate flank. Union Lt. John Mead Gould described what you would have seen from this spot, as the Federal horsemen advance from your right to the left. "We could see, almost under the setting sun, a great long, whirling cloud... There seemed to be great masses of thick dust rolling within each other like a boiling pot."
The cavalry overran Fort Collier, forcing the Confederates back to their final redoubt outside of Winchester. As the southerners tried to stabilize their lines, the Federal horsemen kept up the pressure. Gen. Wesley Merritt regrouped a force of 1,000 men, spearheaded by Gen. George A. Custer's brigade. At the command, "Draw sabers, forward," they advanced again, accelerating to a gallop before smashing into the Confederates.
"Down they come where the rebels have partly reformed their line, fairly riding them into the ground," described one Union officer. "...The sabres glisten in the sun as they cut right and left."
"The enemy's line broke into a thousand fragments under the shock," remembered Merritt. The sound of Union cavalry behind them panicked other defenders and the entire Confederate line collapsed, with southern troops racing into Winchester in confusion.
Confederate Sgt. Sam Collier was among those overwhelmed. "They came pouring down upon us like a thousand bricks which of course we could not stand," he remembered. "We fell back... The whole face of the earth was literally alive with rebels running for their lives."
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=155040 |
* * *
My third visit to the battlefield starts here, at the south end and in the west woods, but the relevant markers are placed throughout the day depending on when the action occurred.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=159423 |
Third Battle Of Winchester [again]
September 19, 1864 • Sheridan’s Shenandoah Campaign
—Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District—
Early on the morning of September 19, Union Gen. Philip H. Sheridan's cavalry divisions crossed the Opequon Creek at three different points—the vanguard of some 39,000 Union soldiers moving on Winchester. Behind the cavalry marched three infantry corps. Sheridan's plan was to surprise and overwhelm Early's scattered forces—but on September 18, Early had realized Sheridan's intentions and hurriedly moved to consolidate his army. In addition, Sheridan's advance through the narrow Berryville Canyon was confused and tangled with men and supply wagons, which gave the Confederates time to prepare.
When the Federals launched their first main attack around 11:40 am, Union Gen. Horatio Wright's VI Corps and Gen. Wllliam Emory's XIX Corps were severely mauled attacking across the plain near the Berryville Pike, from the First Woods across the Middle Field—and on to the Second Woods and West Woods. Confederate artillery and counter-attacks from Gen. John Gordon's and Gen. Robert Rodes' divisions stopped the assaults. By mid-afternoon, Sheridan called upon his reserve, Gen. George Crook's Army of West Virginia (VIII Corps), which fell upon Early's weakened left line from the north, forcing it to fold back into Winchester. Simultaneously, two Union cavalry divisions—6,000 mounted soldiers—attacked along the Valley Pike, engulfing all resistance in their path. The Confederate left flank collapsed, and Early ordered a retreat which turned into a rout through the streets of Winchester.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=167489 |
The West Woods
Third Winchester Battlefield Park
—Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District—
West Woods Trailhead
This trail will take you through the West Woods — one of the pivotal sites of Third Winchester — and connect you to the trails that lead to the other areas of the battlefield.
The spot where you're standing is only the edge of the West Woods today; it was also the southern edge of the woods during the battle. The woodline of the eastern half of the West Woods — the position to the east of the Interstate — is very similar to the woodline during the battle. (The western section of the woods, everything from the Interstate and beyond no longer exists.)
During Third Winchester, the West Woods was the center of a vortex of battle that drew in and spun off troops of both armies throughout the day. Situated as it was near the center of the the battlefield, the woodlot was in the midst or on the periphery of most of the major action during the day. It witnessed battle-changing counterattacks by both Union and Confederate forces, the death of generals on both sides, and some of the most colorful personalities of the Civil War.
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| Into the [west] woods! |
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| See "Late Morning" |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=158717 |
North Carolina At Third Winchester
North Carolina remembers with honor her gallant sons who fought in defense of home and country in the Army of the Valley District, commanded by Lt. Gen. Jubal Early at the Battle of Third Winchester, September 19, 1864. Twenty-one regiments of North Carolina troops served in five different brigades on the field. It was in these woods, and in a battle line extending south to the Berryville Pike, that North Carolina soldiers in the brigades of Brig. Generals William R. Cox, Bryan Grimes, Archibald Godwin and Robert Johnston, under the overall command of Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur of Lincolnton, N.C., were engaged mid-day in the heaviest fighting of the battle from the opening shots near the Opequon Creek at dawn, to the final volleys near Kernstown at dusk. North Carolinians were engaged from beginning to end in the greatest battle fought in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War.
Erected 2017 by the Society of the Order of the Southern Cross, the Stonewall Jackson Chapter #220, UDC, RE Lee Confederate Heritage Assoc, 13th NCTR, 30th NCTR, 43 NCTR, Latham's NCBR, Egbert A Ross Camp SCV, James Miller Camp 2116 SCV.
You traitors fought against your only home and country, but keep telling yourselves that, losers.
Anyway, thus ends exploration of the main battlefield. But we still have the cemetery to visit.
******************************************************
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=130166 |
Winchester National cemetery was established in 1866 on the site of the Third Battle of Winchester. Soon after the federal government created the 5-acre cemetery, remains were moved here from the battlefields at Winchester, New Market, Front Royal, Snickers Gap, Harpers Ferry, Martinsburg, Romney, and other nearby places.
Though approximately half of the 4,440 remains buried here were known, when possible they were placed in sections designated for particular states.
By law, the secretary of war appointed a “meritorious and trustworthy” superintendent to manage the cemetery. To qualify for the position, an individual must have been an army enlisted man disabled in service. Former private Philetus Sedgwick, 125th New York Infantry, was appointed the first superintendent on October 1, 1867. He served until his death in 1874.
Monuments
The cemetery contains fourteen monuments that honor men and regiments that fought in battles in and near Winchester.
The first monument was erected in 1866 to officers and soldiers of the 14th New Hampshire who died at the Third Battle of Winchester. Many more monuments were erected in the 1880s and 1890s, some on the anniversary of this battle, September 19.
A final wave of dedications occurred in the early 1900s. In addition to New Hampshire, regiments from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont, and troops of the 6th Army Corps are memorialized.
A monument dedicated to the 8th Vermont Volunteer Infantry, led by Col. Stephen Thomas during the Third Battle of Winchester, was moved from the battlefield to the cemetery in 1896 at the request of the Vermont quartermaster General’s Office. It sits among the graves of Vermont’s volunteer soldiers.
Six Battles
Control of the Shenandoah Valley was essential for the Confederacy. Six major battles were fought in Winchester and nearby locations.
At the First Battle of Kernstown on March 23, 1862, Union Col. Nathan Kimball defeated Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. On May 25, 1862, Jackson won a decisive victory over Union Gen. Nathaniel Banks at the First Battle of Winchester. The Second battle of Winchester, June 1863, was another Confederate victory.
Three more battles occurred here in 1864. On July 24, Confederate Gen. Jubal Early defeated Gen. George Crook at the Second Battle of Kernstown, and kept Crook from reinforcing Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Petersburg, Virginia. At the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, Union Gen. Phillip Sheridan defeated General Early. They met again on October 19 at the Battle of Cedar Creek. Sheridan rallied his troops and drove the Confederates from the valley. It was the last major engagement in the area.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26566 |
To the
valor
of the
sons of Massachusetts
who gave their lives for the
Union
in the
Shenandoah Valley
1861-1865
(Right Side Plaque):
2d Mass. Vol. Infantry
26th Mass. Vol. Infantry
30th Mass. Vol. Infantry
34th Mass. Vol. Infantry
37th Mass. Vol. Infantry
38th Mass. Vol. Infantry
2d Mass. Vol. Cavalry
3d Mass. Vol. Cavalry
1st Battery Artillery
Erected 1907 by State of Massachusetts.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26565 |
Brig. Gen. David A. Russell
U.S. Vols.
1st Div. 6th Army Corps
Major 8th U.S. Infty.
Bvt. Maj. Genl. U.S.A.
Born, Salem, N.Y. Dec. 10, 1820
Killed in Action Opequon, Va.
Sept. 19, 1864.
Erected By The Survivors Of The Sixth Army Corps
And Their Friends
Dedicated Sept. 19, 1891.
Erected 1891 by the Survivors of the Sixth Army Corps and Friends.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26516 |
12th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment
Connecticut's tribute
to her fallen heroes
erected Oct. 19, 1896.
(Right Side):
12th Regiment C.V.
organized
Sept. 16. 1861.
Mustered out
Aug. 12. 1865.
(Left Side):
Engagements
Georgia Landing, La. Oct. 27. 1862.
Capture Gun Boat "Cotton," La.
Jan. 14.1863.
Pattersonville. La. Mar. 27. 1863.
Bisland La. Apr. 13. 1863.
Siege of Port Hudson La.
May 25. to July 9. 1863.
Brashear City. La. June 23. 1863.
Winchester & Opequan. Va.
Sept. 19. 1864.
Fishers Hill. Va. Sept. 22. 1864.
Cedar Creek, Va. Oct. 19. 1864.
Erected 1896 by State of Connecticut.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=81314 |
18th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment
18th. Conn.
Vol. Regt.
(Left Side):
Winchester
New Market
Piedmont
(Right Side):
Kernstown
Cedar Creek
Berryville
(Back):
Lynchburg
Snicker's Ford
Winchester
Erected by State of Connecticut.
FYI - that's a five-sided star, official symbol of the Federal 8th Corps, not a celebration of Judaism.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26519 |
13th Connecticut Volunteer Regiment
13th. Regt. Conn. Vols.
(Back):
Georgia Landing La. Oct. 27, 1862.
Irish Bend La. Apr. 14, 1863.
Vermillion Bayou La. Apr. 17, 1863.
Siege of Port Hudson May 24, to July 9, 1863.
Cane River La. Apr. 22, 1864.
Mansura La. May 16, 1864.
Winchester Va. Sep. 19, 1864.
Fisher's Hill Va. Sep. 22, 1864.
Cedar Creek Va. Oct. 19, 1864.
Erected by State of Connecticut.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26381 |
3rd Mass. Cavalry
Sheridan's Valley Campaign 1864
Casualties
Killed
and
Wounded
207
Erected Sept. 19, 1888
(Back):
3rd Mass. Cavalry
19th Corps
Erected 1888 by State of Massachusetts.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26183 |
Thirty Fourth
Massachusetts
Infantry
1862 - 65
Erected by Comrades
To those who fell in the Valley
(Under Bust):
Col. George D. Wells
Brevet Brigadier General
Killed Oct. 13. 1864
Wells
Erected by State of Massachusetts.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26078 |
Massachusetts
To the
valor
of the
sons of Massachusetts
who gave their lives for the
Union
in the
Shenandoah Valley
1861-1865
(Right Side Plaque):
2d Mass. Vol. Infantry
26th Mass. Vol. Infantry
30th Mass. Vol. Infantry
34th Mass. Vol. Infantry
37th Mass. Vol. Infantry
38th Mass. Vol. Infantry
2d Mass. Vol. Cavalry
3d Mass. Vol. Cavalry
1st Battery Artillery
Erected 1907 by State of Massachusetts.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26027 |
114th New York Volunteer Infantry
Sept. 3. 1862 - June 8. 1865.
— 1st Brigade - First Division - 19th Army Corps —
Erected by the State of New York
In honor of her sons
of the 114th Regiment New York
Volunteer Infantry,
A tribute to their devotion to duty, their unfaltering courage and glorious sacrifices. Tested on many fields, their valor was most conspicuous at Winchester Virginia Sept, 19th 1864, in holding advanced defensive lines at a loss, killed and wounded, of 188 of the 315 engaged, and at Cedar Creek Virginia Oct 19th 1864, in resisting flank attacks and joining in the final victorious charge at a like loss of 127 of the 250 engaged.
Time crowns their memories
with undying honor
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2656 |
Near here Early, facing east, took his last position on September 19, 1864. About sundown he was attacked and driven from it, retreating south. Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley served in this engagement on the Union side.
*
Then, MORE in Downtown Winchester...
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=96107 |
Third Battle of Winchester
“Whirling through Winchester:” The Confederate Retreat
— 1864 Valley Campaign —
About 5 P.M. on September 19, 1864, the final, chaotic stages of the Third Battle of Winchester engulfed this area. After a day of combat east and north of the city, Confederate Gen. Jubal Early’s outnumbered men were flanked, broken, and forced to retreat through these streets with Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's army in hot pursuit. Sketch artist James Taylor described the “dramatic spectacle” of the “whirling mass of Gray madly pouring through the streets of Winchester amid shells shrieking and moaning their death cry.”
Confederate officers attempted to hold back the Federals—and their own fleeing troops. Gen. Stephen Ramseur established defensive positions in Mount Hebron Cemetery. Resident Mary Greenhow Lee recalled that Confederate Gen. John Gordon "seized a flag & called to the running soldiers to rally & follow him. We shouted & cheered & implored the men to follow their leader, but to little purpose." Even Gordon's wife, Fanny tried to stem the tide. “[She} rallied a party of near two hundred and sent them back to the field [but] the Yankee cavalry made a charge on this mob [and] went right through them,” wrote Louisiana Capt. George Ring.
“I never ran so fast in all my life [and] I had good company,” admitted Sgt. Sam Collier of the 2nd North Carolina. Pvt. Richard Waldrop of the 21st Virginia wrote that, “The road was filled with fugitives.” As the day ended combatant George Peyton said that he “could see Yanks by the thousands marching towards town, while cheer upon cheer rent the air.” That night, Sheridan's chief of staff Col. James Forsyth reported that “we just sent them a whirling through Winchester.” Control of the city had passed permanently into Union hands.
*
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=254428 |
Dangerous Liaison
Risky Hometown Espionage Leads to Union Victory
You are standing at the site of 24-year-old Quaker schoolteacher Rebecca Wright's home, the location of Civil War intrigue. On September 16, 1864, Thomas Laws, an enslaved man from neighboring Clarke County, arrived at the Wright house carrying a message on tissue paper wrapped in tin foil and carefully tucked in his mouth. Union Gen. Phil Sheridan, told by a fellow officer that Wright was loyal to the United States, had sent the message asking if she could give him information on the Confederate Army. She informed Sheridan that a Confederate division and an artillery battalion were leaving the Shenandoah Valley. Both Wright and Laws faced harsh punishment if caught, perhaps even death, but there days later their espionage helped lead to Union victory at the Third Battle of Winchester.
Sheridan visited Wright after the battle to thank her and ask how he could repay her. She requested he keep her role as spy a secret. Sheridan kept his promise but Wright's anonymity eroded in February 1867 when Rebecca's sister, Hannah, leaked information to a Baltimore Sun journalist, who boarded at the Wright home, that Sheridan had given Rebecca a note of thanks and gifts as token of gratitude for "the great service" she "rendered the Union cause."
Valley residents harbored anger about the conflict, and the revelation forced Wright to leave Winchester. Sheridan and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant secured Wright an appointment as an U.S. Treasure Department clerk. She lived in Washington D.C., and held that post until her May 1914 death.
Thomas Laws largely maintained secrecy about his intelligence gathering for Sheridan. He died on April 16, 1896, and is buried at Milton Valley Cemetery in Berryville, about 12 miles east of Winchester.
*
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2652 |
1861 hdqts. for Gen. R. H. Milroy. 1862 hdqts. for Gen. N.P. Banks who took the town for the first time. Was again used by Gen. Milroy in 1863. In the fall of 1864–1865 Gen. Sheridan used it as hdqts. Sheridan left here to rally his troops at the Battle of Ceder Creek on Oct. 19, 1864. After the war it became the Episcopal Female Institute.
*
Did somebody say "Mount Hebron Cemetery"? That's not the one we already visited in Winchester. OK, here's some more....
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=238968 |
Mount Hebron Cemetery
Established in 1844
And Gatehouse
Built in 1902
Is registered as a
Virginia Historic Landmark
Pursuant to the authority vested in the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and placed on the
National Register of
Historic Places
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26842 |
In memory of the 149
Confederate dead of
South Carolina
(Back):
Tho lost it be to men
It lives with God again.
(Left Side):
Lord God of hosts be with us yet.
Lest we forget - lest we forget.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2660 |
(The Battle of the Opequon)
September 19, 1864
The decisive assault in the campaign set in motion by General Grant to free the Shenandoah Valley from the control of the Confederacy took place here. This high ground was part of Winchester’s defensive rampart against attack from the east.
At daybreak the first gunfire was heard as General Ramseur’s North Carolinians fired on Capt. Hull’s NY Cavalry as it emerged from the Berryville Canyon (VA 7 near the I-81 overpass) 1.5 miles northeast of here.
General Philip Sheridan’s 39,000 Federal troops converged throughout the day on Winchester from the east and north to compel the withdrawal of General Jubal A. Early’s 15,000 Southerners. The relentless advance of Federal troops was contested by men in mortal combat in every segment of the Confederate’s shrinking front. Overpowered, the Confederates finally withdrew southward at sundown through town, Ramseur their rear guard. General Archibald C. Godwin was killed here as his men rallied to him and is buried in this cemetery.
As the sun set, this cemetery ridge was the southern anchor of the Confederate battle line, which stretched in an arch east and north of town to the vicinity of Fort Collier and Star Fort.
Many of those buried here lie near where they fell in battle. The remains of many that died in local fields, homes, or hospitals between 1861 and 1865 are also interred in the hallowed rows or in family plots.
Union dead lie in the National Cemetery just across Woodstock Lane.
These Honored Remains: Destiny’s Debris When Diplomacy Fails.
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| Ashby's Grave |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=117486 |
In Honor
Of
The Women of Winchester
The Ladies Confederate Memorial Association
Organized in 1865
And
Turner Ashby Chapter #184
United Daughters of the Confederacy
For Five Generations They Have
Cherished the Memory of The
Soldiers Who Lie In The
Stonewall Cemetery
“Love Makes Memory Eternal”
Dedicated June 6th, 1999
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26643 |
In memory of
the 398 Virginia soldiers.
Lying in this cemetery.
Who fell in defence of
constitutional liberty and
the sovereignty of their state.
From 1861 to 1865. A.D.
(Back):
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
(Right Side):
Erected by
The ladies of the Virginia
Shaft Association of Winchester
June 6th, 1879.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26849 |
To
the memory of
Her Sons
who fell on
Virginia's Soil
(Left Side):
Unheralded
Unorganizaed
Unarmed
They came for
conscience sake
and died for right
(Back):
Alike in blood.
Alike in faith.
They sleep alike
the last sleep
of the
brave.
(Right Side):
Manassas
1861.
Appomattox
1865.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=117484 |
In memory of
Her sons of the 3rd Arkansas Infantry
CSA
Joseph R. Bartlett, Co. D
Unknown
William C. Arnold, Co. H
Christopher Columbus McClure, Co. C
…. Watson
Mathhew Chavis, Co. A
James W. More, Co. I
John Young, Co. E
Jesse W. Reeves, Co. B
Edward Spears, Co. B
John W. Middleton, Co. C
William A. Collie, Co. F
King David Porter, Co. A
William Burks, Co. F
Washington Cicero Doss, Co. E
John J. Purnell, Co. I
Leonard M. Chandler, Co. B
James A. Erwin, Co. C
William D. Milender, Co. B
James M. Hartsfield, Co. A
Deo Vindice
Dedicated June 6, 2011 by
Turner Ashby Camp No. 1567 SCV
Arkansas Division United
Daughters of the Confederacy and their Supporters
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26851 |
Tennessee
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=117490 |
In Honor And Memory
Of The Men From Texas
Who Gave The Greatest Sacrifice
1st Texas Infantry
Sgt. Joseph C. Hollingsworth, Co H
Died Of Wounds, 18 Oct 1862
Pvt. M. Harvey Newman, Co M
Died Of Disease, 14 Oct 1862
Pvt. Jesse Skinner, Co M
Died Of Disease, 20 Oct 1862
Pvt. Joseph Smith, Co H
Died Of Disease, 22 Oct 1862
(Service Record, Burial Site Unknown)
5th Texas Infantry
2nd Lieut. C. A. Graham, Co I
Died Of Wounds, 15 Jul 1863
Pvt. W. T. Riley, Co A
Died Of Illness, 18 Oct 1862
Pvt John Smith, Co M
Died (Cause Unknown) 22 Oct 1862
(Existing Marker: Unable To Prove)
And To All Others Buried Here, Known But To God
Dedicated By
The Texas Division Children Of The Confederacy
July 22, 2012
Miss K------ W-------, President (2011-2012)
In Observance Of The
"150 Years Of Remembrance" Of The War Between The States
Sponsored By
The Texas Division
United Daughters Of The Confederacy
Sons Of Confederate Veterans
Children Of The Confederacy
Great Granddaughters Club
Dallas Chapter 6 UDC
Mary West Chapter 26 UDC
Oran M Roberts Chapter 440
Dallas Chapter 2 COFC
Jamie Crump Davis
Robert And Sherry Davis
Betty Jean Brown Mann
Dan And Shirley Woodlock
Jack And Pamela Wright
Hood's Texas Brigade Association, Re-Activated
EVS Metal – Texas
Stewart Stainless Fab. Co., Waco, Texas
Rinker and Frye Memorials, Inc., Mt. Jackson, Va.
And Many More Numerous Friends and Supporters
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26852 |
To the
Unknown and Unrecorded
Dead.
Erected. A.D. 1879. By the people of the South.
To the 829 unknown Confederate dead
who lie beneath this mound.
In grateful remembrance of their heroic virtues.
And that their example of unstinted devotion
to duty and country may never be forgotten.
"On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread;
While glory guards with solemn round
This bivouac of the dead."
Who they were none know
What they were all know
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26848 |
Florida
1861 - 1865
Their names shall never
forgotten be while honor
calls the roll
Florida's daughters
to her brave sons.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26847 |
Louisiana
C.S.A.
To the
Soldiers of Louisiana
who died for the South
in the Valley Campaign.
This monument has been erected
in memory of their noble,
daring and heroic endurance
in their country's cause.
Sleep in peace with kindred ashes
of the noble and the true;
Hand that never failed their country
hearts that never baseness knew.
They died
for the principles
upon which
all true republics
are founded.
Remember their valor.
Keep holy the sod.
For honor to heroes
Is glory to God.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=81315 |
Mississippi
In a tangle of willows without light
The singular screech-owl's tight
Invisible lyric seeds the mind
With the furious murmur of their chivalry
Ode to the Confederate Dead
By Allen Tate
Jos. Richards - Sergt. J.F. Forbes - C. Griffin - ___ Cooper
F Howell - Unknown - W.C. Fife - J. Holcomb
Peyton G. Wales - S. C. Cone - H.L. Talbert - Jas. Gilley
Sergt. W. L. Beaucamp - E.P. Spinks - ___ Rosenbaum - M Melton
___ Henis - Unknown - W. H. Ashford - W.C. Henderson
B.J.S. Loter - J.H. Blabark - Annson Rieves - W.H. Chipman
Sergt. W.H. Edwards - B.F. Cox - Wm. Bird - T.J. Goode
John C. Collins - Thos. Watson - J.C. Peacock - Frank M. Pullen
K.C. Bryant - D.M. Mayfield - Saml. Burnside - Wm. Knox
T.B. Sellman - J.A. Waller - John W. Ruse - C.A. Garret
Sergt. ___ Lamb - J.W. Wilkison - J. Henderson - Corpl. G.S. Dana
W.M.C. - J.B. Canrell - James Burns - Jos. R. Boles
J.S. Sisboff - J.Y. Lyles - John Quick - Elbert Crouch
Sergt. S.M. Finley - C. Earton - Saml. C. Ott - Jos. S. Buckman
___ Slater - W. Bumpas - Capt. ___ Middleton - Wm. P. Swinson
Lt. Col. ___ Sims
Close Up of Plaque image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Craig Swain, October 5, 2008
2. Close Up of Plaque
- J. Huller - Lieut. J. Evans - W. Rennon
J.B. ___ - W.J. Henry - J. A. Burndine
Dedicated June 6, 1998
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=26843 |
Alabama
Roster of Her Fallen Heroes
Sgt. Virgil May Jr. - Alfred C Bond
D C Rankin - Wm D Galloway
Theo J Lester - Sgt W H Thomas
Capt Wm B Hunt - G W Hanna
J Thomas - Wm Wyeth
Cpl Robt W Yeldell - I Culver
Henry S Smith - J Furguson
J H Trawick - P S McLory
F M Yancy - F Holtz
Ben F Trotter - J W Dunnan
A W Thompson - Wm M McCall
A D Moore - T J Wilson
Marcus Mann - E A Mabry
H S Murel - Sgt Wm T Harper
J J Thompson - O H Campbell
S Glaze - Robt Williams
Wm W Trent - W J Hendrix
Sam Cartwright - M S Moore
Confederacy
(Back):
W G Higgingbotham - B L Holladay
David M Smith - James Messer
Lt Leander Kidd - Lewis Markham
J M Buchanan - C E Taunton
Robt Swann - Wm E Young
V M
Back of Memorial image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Craig Swain, October 5, 2008
2. Back of Memorial
Elmore - Capt Geo W Reid
Wm J Veasey - 1Sgt John M Pugh
Sgt C W Hafner - J D Porter
C H Burgin - Cpl David Wood
E G Arant - R C Ellington
Jasper West - Geo P Purnell
Wm J Boland - D H Friday
Wm C Cole - S N Glibert
Wm J Ballard - R E Newman
Wm T Blanchard - C Goodson
J Sims - Wm R Copland
Wm D Lyon - J J Gill
Unknown Soldier
In Memory of
Alabamas Confederate Sons
Deo Vindice
Daughters
[Almost seems silly to ask after the completion, but] Please don't ask why I managed [that first time] to visit First Winchester (or at least the gate to it) and Third Winchester, but not Second Winchester. I had a lot going on - and not a lot of time. I'll be back in the Valley soon!
And on the way to Romney, WV [in 2024], I passed by Hackwood Park - and the adjacent Rutherford's Farm, site of additional, fairly significant Winchester-adjacent action in July of 1864.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=168409 |
******************************
This endless battle just keeps going. At least the chronology is mostly maintained: this is late afternoon action. Here are some aforementioned forts...
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2275 |
The fort on the hilltop to the southwest, known as Star Fort, was taken by Colonel Schoonmaker of Sheridan’s Army in the Battle of September 19, 1864.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=159482 |
[From the Archives, the sign said:] Fort Collier is a Confederate earthwork fortification constructed in 1861, the site of the great Federal cavalry charge on September 19, 1864 that ended the Third Battle of Winchester. The Fort Collier Civil War Center, Inc., purchased this ten acre site on April 1, 2002 with the help of a Federal grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, administered by the National Park Service, The Civil War Preservation Trust, the County of Frederick, and private donations.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2492 |
Fort Collier
“I never saw such a sight”
Confederate troops constructed Fort Collier in 1861 after the evacuation of Harpers Ferry. The earthworks, which surrounded the Benjamin Stine house here, commanded the approach to Winchester on the Martinsburg and Winchester Turnpike. The fort saw little action until late in the afternoon on September 19, 1864, when, during the Third Battle of Winchester, it became a focal point of the engagement. Here a great Union cavalry charge led by Gen. Wesley Merritt turned the battle against Gen. Jubal A. Early’s outnumbered Confederates. The charge was earthshaking and memorable. A Confederate infantryman who survived the attack later wrote, “I never saw such a sight in my life as that of the tremendous force, the flying banners, sparkling bayonets and flashing sabers moving from the north and east upon the left flank and rear of our army.”
The Stine house was destroyed in the battle. The present day dwelling, still largely surrounded by the Confederate earthworks, was built in 1867.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=254536 |
Lt. Collier’s Earthworks
From the time of Virginia’s secession from the Union on May 23, 1861, until just before the Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861, the Confederate government in Richmond recognized the importance of defending the Lower Shenandoah Valley. When Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston occupied Winchester in June, 1861, he began to fortify the town with earthworks. Fort Collier was probably built under the supervision of General W.H.C. Whiting, Johnston’s chief engineer.
In the first months of the Civil War, soldiers were reluctant to engage in the backbreaking work essential to build prepared artillery and infantry entrenchments. That soon changed. By the spring of 1862, Virginia was the most heavily fortified state in the Confederacy. Earthworks protected the Confederate positions at Manassas and also along the Virginia Peninsula. After General Robert E. Lee replaced Johnston in command of Confederate forces in Virginia, on June 1, he began the construction of earthworks around Richmond. By that time, Fort Collier had been completed as an earthwork fortification, commanding the approach to Winchester along the Martinsburg Pike. Collier had sited the fort to bring converging fields of artillery and rife fire on any Federal advance, maximizing Confederate firepower while protecting the garrison behind the parapet.
Fort Collier did not figure in either the First (1862) or the Second (1863) Battles of Winchester. In 1864, however, Fort Collier’s importance became clear. After the Second Battle of Kernstown (1864), Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early used Winchester as a base against larger Federal forces throughout his daring war of maneuver in August and early September. On September 19, his opponent, Major General Philip Sheridan, suddenly advanced on Winchester from the east, along the lightly fortified Berryville Pike, beginning the Third Battle of Winchester. By late that afternoon, with the outnumbered Confederates pressed back almost into Winchester, Fort Collier had become the anchor of Early’s left and the key to the battle. Exactly how many infantrymen and artillery pieces were in the fort at the time is unclear. Certainly the small force would be no match for the great cavalry charge—the largest in American history—that swept up the Martinsburg Pike, overcame Fort Collier, and ended the Third Battle of Winchester.
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| Confederate Earthworks |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2509 |
The Cavalry Charge at Fort Collier
September 19, 1864
The shocking impact of the great charge and capture of Fort Collier unhinged Early’s entire line of battle. Confederate troops streamed south through the streets of Winchester, Confederate artillery continued firing from Star Fort, slowing the Federal pursuit; a few regiments made a brief stand at Mt. Hebron Cemetery, enabling Early to withdraw his tired and battered forces to Fishers Hill, above Strasburg. Except for a few brief hours at the Battle of Ceder Creek, one month later, the Confederates had lost both the initiative and the ability to defend the Shenandoah Valley.
The Confederates in the fort were in a hopeless position. There were too many horsemen, coming in too many waves for any defender to have a chance. But the gunners and infantrymen stayed at their positions, fighting until the end. When Union infantry reached the fort, they found no living defenders, but only “their abandoned artillery [2 guns] which had done so much damage...hissing hot with action, with their miserable rac-a-bone horses attached.”
Dudley L. Vaill
The County Regiment
2nd Connecticut Vol. Heavy Artillery
Just before reaching Fort Collier, Federal cavalry shattered three small infantry regiments under command of Colonel George S. Patton, grandfather of the famous General Patton of the Second World War.
“Custer led it, boot to boot...the enemy’s line broke into a thousand fragments under the shock.”
General Wesley Merrit
Commander, 1st Cavalry Div.
Army of the Shenandoah
Colonel Patton’s regiments were beyond the fort, with the cavalry bearing down on them. “For the first time I saw a division of infantry, or what was left of one, form a hollow square to resist cavalry.”
Henry Kyd Douglas
Confederate Staff Officer
“I never saw such a sight in my life as that of the tremendous force, the flying banners, sparkling bayonets, and flashing sabres moving from the north and east upon the left flank and rear of our army.”
An Unknown Confederate Soldier
“Boys, look at that! We did look and saw a sight to be remembered a lifetime. In solid columns, with drawn sabres flashing in the sun, and without firing a shot came a brigade of troopers like a thunder clap out of a clear sky.”
G.A. Carpenter
8th Regiment Vermont Volunteers.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2508 |
Fort Collier
1861 - 1864
General Joseph E. Johnston commanded all Confederate forces in Virginia from 1861 until late in May of 1862. His initial post had been at Harpers Ferry, thought to be the key to the defense of the Shenandoah Valley. Johnston, however, believed that Harpers Ferry was indefensible, and that, in fact, Winchester was the key to the Valley. In June 1861, he evacuated Harpers Ferry and fell back to Winchester, which he began to fortify. Winchester’s proximity to Manassas proved the wisdom of Johnston’s move; the transfer of his command to Manassas was instrumental in the great Confederate victory of July 21, 1861.
Meanwhile, Johnston’s engineers continued the fortification of Winchester. Among their first projects was the construction of Fort Collier, commanding the approach to Winchester from the north on Martinsburg Pike. Lieutenant Collier directed the work. Some federal prisoners may have worked here alongside Confederate soldiers. Collier and William Henry Chase Whiting chose the high ground occupied by the Stine Farm for the field fortification that was to bear Collier’s name. The Stine House, built in the 18th Century, did not survive the Third Battle of Winchester. The present house dates from 1865-1867.
Only one eyewitness account of the fort’s construction has come down to us. Harriet H. Griffin, a young Winchester girl, visited the fort on August 21, 1861. In her diary entry for that day, she describes what she saw:
“I have this day visited the breastworks or fortifications on the Martinsburg Pike with Father and Johnie. Was exceedingly interested. First work of the kind I’d ever seen. The first time I was ever so near a cannon. I looked into them. The cannon balls weigh 42 pounds each. There were four cannons planted and much ammunition there. A great many men were working [and I] saw the magazines. They have several rifle ports which seem so secure. I have read of them, but have never seen them. They had several masked batteries. It seams real strong and well built. There is a high embankment of sand bags, barrels, and brush covered with dirt, part sodded over. They intend to sod it with a big ditch on the lower side. They have completely surrounded Stine’s House which is now occupied by soldiers, some of whom were working there, some cooking, some washing, some on guard, and some lounging and some sleeping... Surely it is something to be remembered but I hope it will never be used.”
Three months after Harriet Griffith’s visit, the Confederate government in Richmond transferred General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to Winchester, Jackson, hero of the First Battle of Manassas, was as convinced as Johnston of the importance of Winchester, and of the Valley. “If the Valley is lost,” he said, “Virginia is lost.”
Jackson’s force was too small to prevent General Nathaniel P. Banks’ force from occupying Winchester on March 12, 1862. There was no fighting at Fort Collier in Jackson’s Valley Campaign victory of the First Battle of Winchester on May 25, 1862, or in the Confederate victory in the Second Battle of Winchester on June 14-15, 1863. Until the fall of 1864, the fort saw the passing of troops up and down the Valley Pike, but no combat. The Stine Farm, within the earthworks, remained untouched by war, until the Third Battle of Winchester, on September 19, 1864.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=2481 |
Just to the east, a redoubt known as Fort Collier was built by Joseph E. Johnston in 1861. Early’s left rested here during the Third Battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864.
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We have covered a great deal about Winchester, but there are still additional sites/markers downtown, some relevant for this third battle.
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| We got it, by this point. |
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=150619 |
In lasting honor
of
every Confederate soldier
from
Winchester and Frederick County
who faithfully served the South
[😠]
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=92380 |
Taylor Hotel
“Packed with Confederate wounded”
The Taylor Hotel was a major stopping point for travelers because of its location on the Valley Turnpike and also was the center of town life. During the war, it was the headquarters for several commanders, including Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, who came here in November 1861. His stay was short-lived, however. Disturbed by throngs eager to meet the celebrated “Stonewall,” he moved days later to the privacy of the Lewis T. Moore house (now the Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters Museum).
Cavalry commander Turner Ashby, “the Black Knight of the Confederacy,” received his promotion to brigadier general here on May 27, 1862—just 10 days before he was killed near Harrisonburg. He is buried at Stonewall Cemetery a few blocks east.
The hotel also served as a soldiers' hospital for both sides. In May 1863, Union Gen. Robert Milroy ordered repairs “to fix the damage done to the ‘Taylor Hotel’ … by the troops of this Division, resulting from its use as a hospital.” Winchester diarist Mary Greenhow Lee wrote on July 25, 1863, “The sick & wounded Yankees, left at Taylor's Hotel, are without guard.” After the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, 1864, Northern illustrator James E. Taylor wrote, “A yellow [General Hospital] flag fastened to one of the pillars and railing of the hotel porch proclaimed [its] present use. … I found every available space packed with Confederate wounded conveyed from the battlefield, fortunate indeed, to find such excellent quarters.”
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=155165 https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=159481 |
3rd Battle of Winchester
September 19, 1864
In the late summer of 1864 General Philip H. Sheridan with 41,000 Federals was ordered to take the vital Shenandoah Valley. Opposing this force was a Confederate army of 18,000 under General Jubal A. Early stationed north and east of Winchester. On September 19, Sheridan moved on Winchester from the east employing Generals H.G.Wright's and W.H. Emery's Corps. The Confederates under Generals R.E. Rodes and J.B. Gordon counterattacked but were driven back by overwhelming numbers. Sheridan then sent General G.Crook's Corps to turn the Confederate left. At the same time Crook was attacking the flank, two Federal cavalry divisions of Generals W.W.Averell and W.Merritt drove General Fitz Lee's cavalrymen down Martinsburg Turnpike (U.S.11). Early ordered Winchester evacuated and retreated south towards Strasburg.
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=285648 |
On April 3, 1864, as part of a recruiting effort in the lower Shenandoah Valley, the 19th United Sates Colored Troops (USCT) marched into Winchester and stopped here on the old Market House site. A block behind you, at her house near the present-day George Washington Hotel, staunch Confederate sympathizer Mary Greenhow Lee was aghast. She wrote in her diary that she felt "inexpressible horror" at the thought of "being where negro troops were garrisoned." Although the regiment only remain in Winchester until day's end and gained no new recruits during its brief visit, nearly 170 African Americans from Winchester did serve in USCT regiments during the war. The 19th USCT, which had been organized in Maryland, continued on its march south to join the Army of the Potomac in the Overland Campaign to Richmond and Petersburg, VA. Edward Hall, an enslaved man, fled Winchester late in 1863 and ventured into Maryland, where he enlisted in the 30th USCT. Hall rose to the rank of sergeant and fought in some of the Civil War's fiercest engagements, including Petersburg's notorious Battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864, and assaults against Fort Fisher, N.C. After the war, Hall returned to Winchester, reunited with his family, and worked as a gardener and laborer until his death in 1915. He is buried in Winchester's Orrick Cemetery, along with another African American Union veteran, Richard Festus (alias Dickson) who served in the 11th United States Colored Heavy Artillery.
Freedom Fighters
Proud USCT soldiers pose while recuperating from illness and wounds at L'Overture Hospital, Alexandria, VA. From left to right: Tobias Trout, 31st USCT, wounded at the Crater; William DeGraff, 22nd USCT; John Johnson, 27th USCT; Jerry Lisile, 28th USCT, wounded at the Crater; Leander Brown, 30th USCT, wounded at the Crater; Samuel Bond, 19th USCT[;] Robert Deyo, 26th USCT. - Charles T. Joyce Collection
When the war began, Black men were forbidden to serves as United States soldiers, but by 1863 they had become an important part of the war effort. Recruiting poster such as this one encouraged them to enlist and fights. - Courtesy NMAAHC
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| https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=285654 |
Winchester was on the front lines during the Civil War. Valuable to possess, but difficult to hold, it attracted armies, combat, and misery throughout the four long years of conflict. A key reason for Winchester's importance was the number of major roads that connected here--from north, south, east, and west--roads that drew trade and travel before the war, and opposing armies during it. "Excellent turnpike roads converged upon [Winchester]...like the fingers of an open hand," recalled writer John Esten Cooke. One of those roads was the Valley Turnpike--the interstate highway of its age--which ran right behind you, where the downtown walking mall is today. 250 feet to your left stands the historic Taylor hotel, a famed stopping point for travelers on the Turnpike, and which was used as a headquarters and hospital during the war. And directly in front of your is the 1840 Frederick County Courthouse, the most prominent building in the city, which was used as a barracks, prison, and hospital. Life was unsettled and uncertain for those who live here. The city changed hands over 70 times, and such sudden changes of fortune could be dangerous.
Both pro-Confederate and pro-Union citizens were jailed or expelled from Winchester - depending upon who was in control. Fighting and fear were constant. six major battles and over 50 recorded actions were fought in and around Winchester, and sometimes the city itself became part of the battlefield. During the chaotic closing stages of the Third Battle of Winchester (September 19, 1864), the fighting swept right over the spot where you are standing. By the end of the war, many residents of the city were long gone, scores of buildings had been destroyed, infrastructure was crippled, and the economy was in shambles.
Not enough?! Read more:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/battle-third-winchester
https://shenandoahcivilwarhistory.blog/2021/11/29/the-long-journey-to-freedom/
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