Third Winchester: 209 More Acres Preserved

[Dignann]

Shenandoah Valley battlefield to be preserved

By STEVE SZKOTAK

Associated Press
Novermber 12, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. - A 209-acre field in the Shenandoah Valley where one of the fiercest battles of the Civil War was waged will be preserved under a $3.35 million public-private purchase agreement.

The deal will create a 575-acre preserve that remains much as it was nearly 150 years ago when the Third Battle of Winchester was fought by tens of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers.

The purchase agreement announced Wednesday will be funded through a partnership among the Shenandoah Battlefields Foundation, The Civil War Preservation Trust, the state of Virginia and private partners. The sale depends on raising $690,000 in private funds to reach the purchase price.

The property, called Middle Field, was part of the Third Winchester battlefield. On Sept. 19, 1864, the Union's 19th Corps lost 40 percent of its men and all of its regimental commanders were either killed or wounded.

In a National Park Service study, historian David W. Lowe described the Third Winchester as "the largest and most desperately contested battle of the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley."

He wrote that the property east of Winchester ranked among the bloodiest fields of the Civil War, with more than 3,000 casualties.

James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust, said the 209 acres remain virtually untouched today.

"This is a stage where a great event occurred," he said in an interview. "It's a place where people will come and imagine what happened here. They're actually walking where these people walked."

The preservation deal was struck with the heirs of C.E. Huntsberry, who trace their ancestry back centuries in northern Virginia. Bob Huntsberry, great-grandson of the late C.E. Huntsberry, said the family recognized the Frederick County property's historic importance.

"We felt pretty strongly that it needed to be preserved so we are very happy that it will end up in good hands and that people will someday be able to come and learn about what happened here," he said.

A fundraising campaign to complete the purchase is expected to be completed in May.

Despite the purchase, only a fraction of the core area at Third Winchester has been protected. In the Shenandoah Valley, more than 17,000 acres of core battlefield land remain vulnerable to development, preservationists said.

Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, said development is the biggest threat to the 50,000 acres of unprotected battlefields throughout the state.

"We have to be very conscious that the hour is getting short and we have little time to preserve," she said.

More than 54,000 Americans fought at the Third Winchester battlefield in the opening volley of Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's Shenandoah Campaign. The campaign left a trail of burning and destruction nearly 100 miles to the south, in Staunton.

Once the purchase is completed, the preservation groups will create interpretive trails.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--civilwarbattlefie1112nov12,0,645328.story

Eric

[dusty27]

Re: Third Winchester: 209 More Acres Preserved

Eric,

Do you know if this land is connected to the land I'm familiar with?

[Dignann]

Re: Third Winchester: 209 More Acres Preserved

CWPT's very informative website with regard to Third Winchester, complete with maps.

http://www.civilwar.org/winchester08/

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Third Winchester: 209 More Acres Preserved

Eric,

Do you know if this land is connected to the land I'm familiar with?

Yes. It appears to be adjacent to what we walked.

Eric

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Third Winchester: 209 More Acres Preserved

All
Just as a brief note. If you use the CWPT's donations button on the 3rd Winchester page linked above, it will give you a reply for Glendale attributed to the 3rd Winchester donations form. I called it in and they are working on it now. If anyone donates please make sure you give a followup call to clarify that your money is being matched appropriately.
Drew Gruber

[Dignann]

Re: Third Winchester: 209 More Acres Preserved

Saving a Civil War Legacy In Va.'s Shenandoah Valley

Deal Protects Land On Which a Decisive Battle Was Fought

By Nick Miroff

The Washington Post [Washington, D.C.]
November 14, 2008

In 1762, the Huntsberry family settled the land along Redbud Run, outside Winchester, with a deed from Lord Fairfax. Eight generations later, Bob Huntsberry spent his summers there as a child, finding rusted Minie balls that had been fired from the muskets of Civil War soldiers. He grew up steeped in elders' stories of the day, late in the summer of 1864, when Union Gen. Philip Sheridan and 39,000 troops came marching in.

Now, Huntsberry, 80, has reached a $3.35 million deal with Civil War preservation groups to protect the land and with it, the little-known legacy of a decisive event in the war.

The sale will preserve 209 acres of woods and hayfields on one of Northern Virginia's most significant battle sites, where Yankee and Rebel forces waged brutal hand-to-hand combat for control of the Shenandoah Valley. Preservation groups will add the land to their holdings to create a 575-acre park with trails, interpretive signs and free public access.

"The historic significance of this site is huge in every way," said Elizabeth Paradis Stern, assistant director of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, describing the site as possibly the second-most important in Northern Virginia after Manassas National Battlefield Park. Her organization arranged the deal as part of a public-private partnership with the state and the Civil War Preservation Trust. A $1 million grant from the state will contribute to acquiring the land, and by May the two preservation groups will need to raise the remaining $2.35 million through grants and private donations.

"There is a lot of meaning in those farm fields," Stern said.

The National Park Service calls the clash, known as the Battle of Third Winchester or the Battle of Opequon, "a turning point in the war" and had deemed the battlefield a top preservation priority, writing, "Because of its size, intensity, and result, many historians consider this the most important conflict of the Shenandoah Valley."

The Huntsberry family was living there and tending its fields when Sheridan launched his scorched-earth Shenandoah Campaign in late summer 1864. Sheridan's forces met Lt. Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate troops Sept. 19, and the battle became the largest of the war in the Shenandoah Valley, with almost 9,000 casualties, according to the Park Service.

Park Service historians have described the close-quarters fighting that took place as extremely fierce and "sanguinary." One soldier called a wooded area along Redbud Run where 1,500 men died or were wounded a "basin of Hell."

Two future presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley, saw their first combat in the battle, according to the Civil War Preservation Trust.

Union forces sustained heavier losses but won the battle, the first step in wresting strategic control of the Shenandoah Valley from the Confederacy. "It ended the valley as a source of food for the Confederacy and an avenue of invasion to the North," said Jim Campi, spokesman for the Civil War Preservation Trust.

His foundation owns 222 acres on the site that are contiguous with 144 acres owned by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, and interpretive trails on those portions opened to the public last year. But Campi said the purchase of the Huntsberry family's 209 acres will make the site into a bona fide tourist destination.

"Prior to this, folks would visit for a half-hour or less," he said. "Now people will be able to go out and get lost for hours in the history and beauty of the property. It has essentially been kept as pastureland for 150 years, so it is very much like it was at the time of the battle."

Campi said the preservation groups would conduct extensive archeological and resources studies on the property before hosting any large-scale events, such as battle reenactments. The fields will continue to produce hay for the sake of historical accuracy and to help offset maintenance costs.

Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, called the deal "a hugely important milestone for Virginia and the nation" and described the "spiritual benefits" of historic preservation. "It is the history in our communities that we can see and touch and experience that really, truly connects us to our story and to one another by telling us that we are part of something larger than ourselves," she said. About 50,000 acres of Civil War battlefield land in Virginia remain unprotected, she said. "Once that land is gone, it's gone forever."

Huntsberry, of Winchester, said he had mixed emotions about selling land that has been in his family for so long. "It'll be preserved, so that's a good thing," he said.

CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE
· A Nov. 14 Metro article incorrectly identified Kathleen S. Kilpatrick as the director of the Virginia Land Conservation Fund. She is the director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The article also described rusted Civil War-era Minié balls. The balls are made of lead, which does not rust.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/13/AR2008111303993.html

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Third Winchester: 209 More Acres Preserved

Valley’s ‘bloodiest’ battlefield preserved for $3.35 million

By Monty Tayloe

The Winchester Star [Winchester, Va.]
November 13, 2008

Clear Brook — On an overcast, chilly afternoon, historian Garry Adelman waved toward acres of brown grass and the overgrown remains of a small house and tried to provide some context.

“Imagine the summer of 1864. This land was here, this house was here ... maybe it’s not so much of a stretch,” said Adelman, conducting a walking tour Wednesday of the newly preserved portions of the Third Battle of Winchester site.

The combat of Sept. 19, 1864, is considered the bloodiest Civil War battle that occurred in the Shenandoah Valley.

“I have no doubt there are still some bodies out here,” Adelman said.

Those bodies may now be found by archaeologists instead of bulldozers, thanks to the purchase of 209 acres of core battlefield property on Redbud Road off U.S. 11.

The nonprofit preservation organizations — the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and the Civil War Preservation Trust — helped to make the purchase.

The land is being bought for $3.35 million from the Huntsberry family, whose ancestors’ home was in the middle of the fighting and may have been used as a hospital for some of the 5,000 wounded soldiers on the day of the battle.

The newly acquired land lies adjacent to 620 acres of the historic battlefield already preserved by the SVBF and CWPT.

The Third Battle of Winchester is believed to have ranged up and down almost 5,000 acres around Redbud Run.

“It was a moving battle; everything was in motion,” said Irvin Hess, president of the SVBF.

“This the last major piece of core battlefield that can be saved,” Adelman said.

Much of the former battlefield is now privately owned, and one portion has become the site of the Regency Lakes housing development.

To preserve this latest piece, the state government in 2005 awarded the project a $1 million grant through the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation.

The CWPT matched the state money with $1.61 million, and Wednesday night, the Frederick County Board of Supervisors contributed another $112,000 that had been set aside for land preservation.

The SVBF will chip in $628,000 — $578,000 of which it must raise.

According to Adelman, the Third Battle of Winchester deserves more attention than it has received.

“There are no movies about it, no Pulitzer prize-winning books have been written about it,” Adelman said. “People say, ‘Winchester? The Civil War was fought at Petersburg, at Vicksburg. What about Winchester?’ This was the largest fight in the Shenandoah Valley; this was the beginning of the end of the Confederacy.”

According to Adelman, Third Winchester occurred when Union forces under Gen. Phil Sheridan, based near Berryville, attacked a small isolated contingent of Confederate soldiers under the command of Gen. Jubal Early.

The Confederate forces were able to delay until Early could reinforce them, and the battle ballooned into a confrontation between 39,000 Union soldiers and 14,00 Confederate troops, resulting in more than 9,000 dead and wounded.

The Union won the battle despite suffering heavy losses. Early’s army was nearly destroyed a month later at the Battle of Cedar Creek.

One portion of the Third Winchester battleground, called Middle Field, accounted for about 5,000 of the day’s casualties, partly due to the site’s proximity to Confederate artillery.

“It’s the bloodiest patch of ground in this region,” Adelman said.

About half of Middle Field is part of the recently preserved land, and most of the rest is held by the CWPT.

“The soldiers who fought here never forgot it,” Adelman said.

Those soldiers include a fair number whose names pepper history books to this day. Sheridan and Early are Civil War icons, and two future presidents fought in the battle for the Union — Rutherford B. Hayes and a young William McKinley.

World War II Gen. George S. Patton’s grandfather was killed at Third Winchester, and Robert E. Lee’s nephew Fitzhugh Lee was wounded there.

Before long, researches may learn a great deal more about what happened at Third Winchester.

Once the site’s purchase is completed in the spring, the SVBF will begin conducting archaeological studies.

According to SVBF spokeswoman Elizabeth Stern, the site may one day be open to the public for historical tours.

“The eventual idea is to have tours and trails and historical signage, but that has to be determined,” she said.

For information about making tax-deductible donations to the project, call Tom Robinson at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation at 540-740-4545, ext. 204.

http://www.winchesterstar.com/showarticle_new.php?sID=6&foldername=20081113&file=Valley_article.html

Eric