An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
Earlier this month, I finally had the opportunity to visit Hoke’s Run Battlefield Park in Berkeley County, West Virginia. The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and other local historic preservation groups developed this 10-acre park near the site of the July 2, 1861 Battle of Hoke’s Run, also known as Falling Waters, and erected interpretive signs…
Continue reading ➞ Exploring the New Hoke’s Run Battlefield Park
Long before the Third Battle of Winchester, Fort Collier began as a desperate Confederate effort to defend the Lower Shenandoah Valley during the opening months of the Civil War. Discover how Joseph E. Johnston, engineer William H.C. Whiting, and local Virginia militia transformed Isaac Stine’s farm into a strategic stronghold that still survives today as…
Continue reading ➞ Building Fort Collier: Confederate Engineers and the Defense of Winchester
In the early days of the Civil War, as Virginia seceded and Confederate forces rushed to secure key positions across the state, Jamestown Island—better known as the birthplace of English America—was drawn into the conflict. Between April and July 1861, the Confederacy quickly turned Jamestown Island’s strategic position on the James River into a forward…
Continue reading ➞ Fort Pocahontas: Jamestown Island’s Forgotten Confederate Stronghold
Hidden in plain sight on George Mason University’s campus, a Civil War-era redoubt built by the 5th Alabama Infantry has been preserved as part of a public history trail. This overlooked site offers a rare glimpse into the early days of the war and the soldiers who once defended a quiet crossroads in Virginia. Colonel…
Once an obscure Civil War outpost, the importance of Cloud’s Mill has resurfaced through original research, offering a rare glimpse into Northern Virginia’s lost wartime landscape. Earlier this year, we completely revised our entry on the Skirmish at Arlington Mills after original research revealed the action actually took place three miles south, at Cloud's Mill.…
Spirit of '61 