An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
By Jeffrey A. Felton At the outbreak of the American Civil War, many college students enlisted in volunteer companies. Examples of these companies range from the University Greys from the University of Mississippi who became Company A, 11th Mississippi Infantry, to the students from Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia who raised a militia company, fought at…
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
Last July, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields (SVBF) produced an excellent short video on the Battle of Hoke's Run, specifically the actions on the Confederate left flank where J.E.B. Stuart almost single-handedly captured a Union company. The presenter does a good job of breaking it down, but I wish they would have shown more footage of the…
Continue reading ➞ SVBF: The Wrong Uniform Color – Battle of Hoke’s Run
Like many ex-Confederates, Thomas W. Colley wrote a memoir years after the war. And, like John Singleton Mosby, Colley enlisted in the Washington Mounted Rifles, a storied unit initially led by Capt. William E. “Grumble” Jones. He served with the company for the duration of the war and was wounded several times, ultimately losing a…
Continue reading ➞ Thomas W. Colley Recollects the Skirmish at Bunker Hill
During the American Civil War, John Singleton Mosby became a famous (or infamous) partisan leader in northern Virginia. The "Gray Ghost" vexed Union commanders and wreaked havoc behind the lines. But in the spring and summer of 1861, he was a private in the Washington Mounted Rifles, a cavalry company in J.E.B. Stuart's 1st Virginia…
Continue reading ➞ Mosby Sheds Light on What Happened Outside of Martinsburg on July 11, 1861
Through June and July 1861, the armies of Union Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson and Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston shadowboxed across the lower Shenandoah Valley. They fought a few incidental skirmishes, but no major battles. The stakes were high: the Shenandoah was a fertile valley rich in grain and foodstuffs, and it served as…
Continue reading ➞ Map of the Lower Shenandoah Campaign, Summer 1861
One of the fun aspects of studying history is imagining how events might have unfolded differently. The consequences of those changes can range from trivial to altering the course of an entire war. A major “what if” of the early Civil War is how the First Battle of Bull Run might have unfolded if Joseph…
Continue reading ➞ What if There had Been a Battle at Winchester in July 1861?
In July 1861, a series of sharp skirmishes between 90-day Union volunteers and J. E. B. Stuart’s cavalry outside the village of Bunker Hill convinced Federal commanders that Joseph E. Johnston still stood between them and Winchester. That misjudgment helped shape the movements that allowed Confederate reinforcements to reach Manassas in time. At the beginning…
Continue reading ➞ Ninety Days to Nowhere: Bunker Hill and the Lost Opportunity at Winchester
In early July 1861, Union Major General Robert Patterson’s army (largely three-month Pennsylvania volunteers, about 18–25,000 strong) occupied Martinsburg in the Shenandoah Valley. After a minor clash at Falling Waters (Hoke’s Run) on July 2, Patterson remained inactive for nearly two weeks. Opposite him, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had moved his forces (approximately 10–12,000)…
On a hot July morning in 1861, a forage run five miles from Martinsburg turned into a brief, deadly clash that left one Union soldier dead and two in Confederate hands. Acting under pressure from the War Department in Washington, DC, after one false start and with 90-day enlistments about to expire, scant artillery, and…
Spirit of '61 