Virginia. Photos of ......... Lexington, New Market, Winchester, Harpers Ferry, Fisher`s Hill, Chancellorsville, Kernstown, Richmond, Yellow Tavern, Front Royal.

Lexington, Virginia.

Lexington 1.  Washington and Lee University. From its inception in 1749 as Augusta Academy, the early classical school was renamed several times. Firstly as Liberty Hall in 1776, then Washington Academy, Washington Colledge and finally as Washington & Lee in 1871. General Lee was President from 1865 to his death in 1870.

 Lexington  2.  General Lee argued that a chapel be built as a place where students could attend daily worship. The Chapel was cpmpleted in 1868. "I have a self-imposed task which I must accomplish. I have led the young men of the South in battle; I have seen many of them die in the field; I shall devote my remaining energies to training young men to do their duty in life". Robert E. Lee.

Lexington  3.  The Chapel is the final resting place of General Robert E. Lee and many of his family are buried.

Lexington  4.  Robert E. Lee died on 12th. October 1870. Soon after Edward Valentine of Richmond, Virginia was commissioned to create a statue of the late General.

Lexington  5. Cadets from The Virginia Military Institute, Lexington wear the tradidtional dress uniform. The VMI Cadets wore their dress uniform at the Battle of New Market. (see New Market below)

 Lexington  6.  Thomas J. Jackson lectured at the VMI prior to his commission in the Confederate Army. "The Virginia Military Institute will be heard from today".

Lexington  7.  Restored canon which saw action with The Cadets at The Battle of Newmarket stand in front of the main VMI building. Note the base of the Jackson monument to the left. The canons are named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and are numbered 86,87,88 & 89.

Lexington  8.  Historical canon made in Boston by Cyrus & Alger Co.

Lexington  9.  Roll of Honour.

Lexington  10.  Jackson`s House in Lexington. Note the unusual two front doors, the house was orginally the local doctors house/surgery. One door led into the house the other was the surgery door.

Lexington  11.  The Jackson family resting place, Lexington. "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees".

Lexington  12.   An interesting gravestone in the Lexington Cemetery.

New Market, Virginia.

The Battle of New Market was fought on 15th. May 1864. Federal Major General Franz Sigel`s 10,000 army moved to secure the Shenandoah Valley. Confederate General John C. Breckinridge pulled together all available forces to meet the threat. The Virginia Military Institute Cadet Corps, 257 strong, marched from their classrooms in Lexington to join Breckinridge and his 4,500 veterans at New Market.

The VMI Cadets were engaged in the centre of the Confederate line, 10 were killed and many were wounded as the Confederates charged the strong Federal position to win the day.    

 New Market 1.  The Bushong Home. This house was built in 1825. During the battle the family took refuge in the stone cellar. A hospital was set up here for two weeks following the battle.

New Market 2. The Field of Lost Shoes. The Federals were positioned on the high ground the Confederates, including the VMI Cadets charged across the wheat field reduced to a muddy bog by three days of rain. Many of the 15 year old Cadets lost their dress shoes attacking across this field.

  New Market 3. A view from the Federal position with the Bushong Farm below. The Union line extended from this prominence to the Valley Turnpike, a distance of half a mile.

New Market 4.  This canon represents the approximate position of Von Kleiser`s Federal battery. The VMI Cadets caputred this battery.

 New Market 5.  The Battle Marker at New Market.

Winchester was a strategic town in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War. The town changed hands many times during the conflict and major battles were fought here on 25th. May 1862, 13th. to 15th. June 1863, 19th. September 1864.

There are too many places of interest in Wichester cover in this page, but here are a few.

Winchester  1. Above 1. The excellent Mort Kunstler painting of Stonewall Jackson and the Stonewall Brigade entering Winchester on 25th. May 1862. Above 2. This photo was taken from the direction that Jackson is riding. The buildings remain, but the Hotel has lost it`s distinctive frontage.

Winchester  2.  There is an excellent museum in the former Headquarters of  Maj. Gen. Jackson.

Winchester  3.  The museum contains many interesting items, including relics from the Trent Affair, Jacksons personal effects and original battle flags. Note the 12 Pounder Napoleon in the foreground.

Winchester  4.  Maj. Gen. Thomas Jonathan Jackson, the The Legendary Stonewall Jackson.

Winchester  5.  Army of Northern Virginia Battle Flag.

Winchester  6.  Confederate Soldier monument at the Old Court House, Winchester.

  Winchester  7.  The Confederate graveyard. This high ground was part of Winchester`s defensive rampart against attack from the East. General Sheridan`s 39,000 Federal troops converged throught the day on Winchester from the East and North to compel the withdrawal of Gen. Jubal A. Early`s 15,000 Southerners.

Winchester 8.  The Louisiana State monument at Winchester. The tribute reads "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".  

Winchester  9.  The grave of The Brothers Ashby. Richard Ashby died in a skirmish at Harpers Ferry in 1861. Turner Ashby died on 6th. June 1862 at Good`s Farm near Harrisonburg.

Harpers Ferry, Virginia. 12th. - 15th. September 1862.

Harpers Ferry (now in West Virginia) is a small stategic town which is situated at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Shenandoah River. The town changed hands many times during the war, but when Confederate General Robert E. Lee`s Army of Northern Virginia invaded Maryland he divided his force and sent Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson to take the Union garrison here. Jackson  surrounded and bombarded the town capturing its 12,500 soldiers. Jackson`s men then rushed to support Lee at the Battle of Sharpsburg.

Harpers Ferry 1. A veiw of the town which is preserved as a place of historical interest.

Harpers Ferry 2. The Federal Armoury. Prior to the start of the Civil War the Federal Armoury was attacked by the abolitionist John Brown and his supporters. Interestingly the uprising was quashed by Government troops under the command of Robert E. Lee. (See photo below).

Harpers Ferry 3. An interesting wall plaque at the Armoury, which gives historical information.

Fisher`s Hill, Virginia. 21st.- 22nd. September 1864.

Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early`s Army, bloodied by its defeat at the Battle of Third Winchester on 19th. September 1864 took up a strong position at Fishers Hill about one mile from the town of Strasburg, Virginia. On 21st. September the Union Army advanced and the Confederate defense collapsed from west to east. Early retreated to Waynesboro, opening the Shenandoah Valley to Sheridan`s scorched earth invasion.

Fisher`s Hill 1. Confederate defensive earthworks at Fisher`s Hill.

Chancellorsville, Virginia.  27th. April to 6th. May 1863.  

On the morning of 3rd. May 1863 more than 17,500 men fell killed or wounded in the woods and fields here - one man shot every second for five hours. Entrenched Union lines collapsed and Confederates surged forward to size the Chancellorsville Intersection. Some 25 Union canons in the clearing made a valliant effort to cover the retreat, but they were soon smothered in a Confederate crossfire.

Chancellorsville  1.  The battle scene at Chancellorsville.

Chancellorsville  2.  Original canon on the battle field.

Chancellorsville  3.  When I visited Chancellorsville, I expected a small village or town which gave the Battle its name. However the foundations and front steps are all that remains of the main building here. The original building was a large house which let rooms to travellers. It was burned to the ground during the battle.

Chancellorsville  4. The famous painting of the victorious Confederate troops with Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Chancellorsville  5.  The front steps the the main building.

Chancellorsville  6.  Here at this spot Jackson was badly wounded in the left arm by fire from Confederate pickets who mistook his scouting party as Union cavalry.

Chancellorsville  7.  The Jackson memorial at Chancellorsville.

Chancellorsville  8.  Ellwood. 

Chancellorsville  9.  Here, in the Jones Family Cemetry, lie the remains of Jackson`s left arm. Surgeons removed the mangled limb at The Wilderness Tavern field hospital on 3rd. May 1863. Jackson`s Chaplain, The Rev. B. Tucker Lacy carried the limb here to Ellwood and buried it here in the cemetery.

"He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm".    Robert E. Lee on Stonewall Jackson.

Kernstown, Virginia.

To Civil War Battles were fought here at Kernstown, near Winchester, Virginia.

In a feat of marching, deception, counter marching and sheer boldness, Stonewall Jackson`s army of less than 18,000 frustrated Federal war efforts. His brash maneuvours confounded Federal leadership in Washington and tied up more than 60,000 Union troops, keeping them from reinforcing Gen George B. McClellan`s Peninsula campaign to capture Richmond.

Opequon Presbyterian Church. This historic Church was established by Scots, Irish and German settlers who migrated from eastern Pennsylvania in the early 1730`s. Named Opequon afer the original name "Opekon Settlement". During the Civil War years the battles were fought near and around the Church and the building and cemeteries were badly damaged.

First Kernstown 23rd. March 1862. Relying on faulty intelligence, Jackson attacked Col. Nathan Kimball`s larger Federal force and suffered the only defeat during his Shenandoah Valley Campaign. 

Second Kernstown 24th. July 1864. Convinced that Jubal Early was no longer a threat, Wright left the Vally with much of his army to join Grant at Richmond. However, Early marched north from Strasburg and attacked the remaining Federal forces just south of Winchester at Kernstown. In this last major Confederate victory in the Valley, Union Gen. George Crook miscalculated Confederate resistance in a poorly coordinated and executed battle.

Richmond, Virginia.

The White House of The Confederacy and The Museum of The Confederacy are a must visit.

The White House stands surrounded by high modern buildings, but within its walls remain the most important collection of original room furnishings.

Your support is needed to maintain this building in its present historical position.  

The Museum of The Confederacy.

Photo 1. Headquarters Flag. Gereral Robert E. Lee`s Headquarters flag was made by Lee`s wife, Mary Custiss and his daughters.

The Headquarters flag of General Robert E. Lee is a Confederate First National pattern bearing a distinctive "Bread of Life" star patern. This flag was used as Lee`s Headquarters flag from June 1862 to July 1863. 

Photo 2.  A career U.S. military officer before the war, Robert E. Lee had spent 30 years enduring the elements. As a Confederate General, Lee was acutely conscious of inconveniencing civilians, or living better than his men. During those rare occasions when Lee`s Chief of Staff, Walter Taylor, secured accommodations as Headquarters, Taylor observed of the General, "It was entirely too pleasant for him for he is never so uncomfortable as when comfortable".

All of the items in this photo were Lee`s.

Photo 3.   Uniform Frock Coat of General Robert E. Lee.

According to Custis Lee, who donated it to the museum, this coat was the one that Lee wore to his meeting with Grant. All wartime photos of Lee, however, including the ones taken by Mathhew Brady in Richmond days after Appomattox, show Lee wearing the insignia (three stars without wreath) of a Confederate Colonel.

Photo  4.  John Hunt Morgan  1825 - 1864.

The soft spoken son of a prominent Lexington, Kentucky, family, Morgan was a Mexican War veteran and Commander of the Lexington Rifles Militia Company before the war. He made his mark in the Confederacy as Colonel of the 2nd. Kentucky Cavalry and as a Brigadier General commanding a cavalry division in the Army of Tennessee.

Throughout 1862, Morgan`s Cavalry raided Federal occupied territory in Kentucky and Tennessee. In 1863 Morgan crossed the Ohio River into Indiana and Ohio. The Kentuckians were caught on 26th. July 1863 and imprisioned in the Ohio State Penitentiary. Morgan and 6 others escaped in November 1863. Visiting Richmond in January 1864, Morgan received a hero`s welcome.

Morgan was killed by Federal Cavalry in Greenville, Tennessee on 4th. September 1864.

Photos 4 & 5. James Ewel Brown Stuart 1833 - 1864.

A native Virginian, Stuart attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was a favourite of Superintendent Robert E. Lee. Upon graduating in 1854 Stuart was assigned to duty in Texas and later in Kansas Territory.

Begining the war as a Colonel in the 1st. Virginia Cavalry, this contemplative cavalier soon rose to Brigadier General. Stuart won fame and promotion to Major General in command of the Army of Northern Virginia`s Cavalry Corps in June 1862, when he led a raid completely around the Federal Army. Gen. Robert E. Lee noted of Stuart, "He never brought me a piece of false information."

Stuart was mortally wounded on 11th. May 1864 at the Battle of Yellow Tavern while successfully thwarting a Federal raid on Richmond. Upon hearing the news of Stuart`s death, Gen. Lee admitted, " I can scarcely think of him without weeping".

   J.E.B. Stuart`s saddle, note his name stenciled on the seat.

Photo 6. The Museum contains many valuable Confederate flags and has an excellent preservation Department which relies totally on donations.

Flag of the 47th. Virginia Infantry.

This flag was captured at the battle of Falling Waters, West Virginia, on 14th. July 1863 by the 1st. Michigan Cavalry.

Note the battle honours on the flag - Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Cold Harbour, Frazier`s Farm, Cedar Run, Manassas, Ox Hill, Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg, Shepherdstown, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville.  

Yellow Tavern, Virginia.     11th. May 1864.

While Grant and Lee fought at Spotsylvania, Gen. Philip H. Sheridan took 12,000 Federal Cavalry on a raid toward Richmond. After destroying a large Confederate supply depot at Beaver Dam Station, Sheridan`s troopers met 4,000 Southern Cavalrymen under Gen. J.E.B. Stuart near Yellow Tavern on 11th. May 1864.

Union cavalry attacked from West and in heavy hand to hand fighting drove Gen. Lunford Lomax`s Brigade from Telegraph Road before pushing north.

Late in the day, while the Richmond Local Defense Troops gathered to guard the Capital, Sheridan attacked Stuart on the high ground. The Confederate line was shattered. Stuart fell fatally wounded here while rallying his men. Although the road to Richmond seemed open, Sheridan chose to skirt the city and rejoin Grant.

 Photo 1. The magnificent memorial to Stuart at Yellow Tavern. (note the canon forming part of the fence structure).

Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.

Photo 1. There are over 18,000 Confederate Soldiers buried at Hollywood. This ninety foot granite pyramid was the first memorial erected in Richmond to the soldiers of the "lost cause". It was completed in 1869 at a cost of $26,000 only four years after the war while the South was still occupied and in severe financial straights.

Photo 2.   General George E. Pickett, C.S.A. (1825 - 1875)

Beyond the pyramid are the graves of the Confederate dead from Gettysburg. Confederate soldiers had remained unburied after this battle and were later placed in a mass grave. Finally, in 1872, arrangements were made to bring their remains to Richmond. Approximately 3,000 men were joined in 1875 by their commander General George Pickett who wished to be buried with those who fell in that famous charge that bears his name.  

Gen. George Pickett was a member of Dove Lodge No. 51, Richmond, Virginia and during the war was a member of a military Lodge in his Division known as Old Guard Lodge No. 221.

Photo 3.   The Stuart family grave. This memorial stone was laid when J.E.B. Stuart`s wife Flora Cooke Stuart was buried beside him in 1923.

Photo 4.   J.E.B. Stuart (1833 - 1864) Aptly named "The Last Cavalier" James Ewell Brown Stuart was undoubtedly the most flmboyant and romantic of Confederate heroes.

Photo 5.   A magnificent bronze plaque with the State Crest of Virginia in the centre, crossed Confederate flags and the inscription,

"FATE DENIED THEM VICTORY BUT GAVE THEM A GLORIOUS IMMORTALITY".  

Front Royal, Virginia.

Photo 1.   Prospect Hill Cemetery. In a circle at the top of the cemetery lay the remains of 276 Confederate Soldiers. Only 90 have been identified.

Photo 2.   Colonel John Singleton Mosby, The Grey Ghost of the Confederacy.

The Mosby Monument was erected in 1899 in memory of seven of Mosby`s Rangers. Mosby`s Rangers added much to the fame of the surrounding area, for it was here that the Mosby-Sheridan fued originated and reached its boiling point. Some of Mosby`s Rangers attacked what they thought was a Federal foraging party near Front Royal. It turned out to be the whole of Sheridan`s cavalry, and in cutting their way out of the desperate situation, some of the Rangers fired at a Federal Officer who had fallen from his horse. His death so incensed Sheridan that he ordered Mosby and his Rangers exterminated. General George Custer, under the cruelest circumstances, executed the Rangers captured in battle.  

Battle of Front Royal, 23rd. May 1862.

Photo 1.   The Battle of Front Royal, 23rd. May 1862 is distinguished in history as the opening battle of General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson`s famous Valley Campaign. As a part of McClellan`s plan to capture Richmond in 1862, General Banks and around 10,000 men distributed in this section of the valley. Federal troops of the 1st. Maryland, U.S. under Kenly were stationed in Front Royal. Suddenly from the forests emerged long lines of men in grey. Leading these Southern troops was Col. Bradley T. Johnson and the 1st. Maryland, C.S.A. This was the start of the Battle of Front Royal or as history will record: The Battle of "Brother against Brother."     

United Daughters of The Confederacy - Warren Rifles Confederate Museum

Front Royal.

This a remarkable museum administered by the United Daughters of The Confederacy. It is packed with interesting and rare local Confederate items from the war years. It is difficult to decide what to feature in this tight space, but here are a few of my favourites.

Returning from Gettysburg Gen. R.E. Lees` Army passed through Front Royal on 22nd July 1863. Lee stopped at Bel Air , the Buck home. Lucy and Nellie Buck played and sang Southern songs for him while he rested. After the war, Lucy asked Gen. Lee for a souvenir of his visit, this is his letter of reply. 

Photo 1.  Copy of Lees letter.

"It gives me great pleasure to be able to comply with your request of 18th. I here with enclose a button, a Virginia button, which I have cut from my coat that accompanied me during the whole war."

With sincere thanks for your kind wishes. I am most truly obedient,  R.E.Lee.

Lexington, Va.  22nd. Nov. 1867.

Photo2.  Left.  Flag of Pegram`s Battalion of Artillery, A.P.Hill`s Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.

             Right. closeup of Battle Honours attached to bottom right of flag.

Photo 3  Confederate Officers belt buckle.

Photo 4. An extremely rare Confederate Marine tunic button.

Photo 5.  Pegram`s Artillery Battalion uniform. 

The Battlefields of Manassas.

Two major Battles took place in this field, First Manassas 21st. July 1861 and second Manassas 28th. August 1862 both won by Confederate forces.  

Photo 1.  Original artillery in battle position with the Manassas Visitors Centre in the background.

Photo 2.  Interesting Federal uniform in the Visitors Centre - 79th. New York Highlanders.

Photo 3.  Markers indicate the exact position of Federal guns captured by 7th. Georgia Regiment 21st. July 1861.

Photo 4.   The famous spot where Gen. Bernard Bee exclaimed "there stands Jackson like a stone wall"