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The other, the Valley Turnpike
(modern-day U.S. 11), provided a north-south corridor for the movement
of
Confederate troops to threaten the Potomac River line.
Rockingham County would be the scene of the last
two battles of Confederate
Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's famous 1862 Valley Campaign,
the
operation that would give him a permanent place in the chronicles
of
military history.
And in 1864, when Gen. Ulysses S. Grant changed
the direction of the war,
the Shenandoah Valley was recognized as one of the keys to
a Union victory.
With the Union Army of the Potomac entrenched outside of
Petersburg in the
late summer, U.S. victories in the Valley under Gen. Philip
H. Sheridan in
the fall brought renewed commitment by the North to the war
effort and
contributed to the reelection of Abraham Lincoln.
When Sheridan
ordered barns, mills, crops, factories, warehouses, and
furnaces destroyed in a thirteen-day campaign to neutralize
the bounty of
the Valley, Rockingham County took a devastating blow. Here
hundreds of
structures were burned. Farm animals and tons of grain by
the thousands were
seized or destroyed. Sheridan's efforts reduced to a trickle
the flow of
crucial supplies to Southern armies. What became known as
The Burning did
not distinguish between friend or foe. Unionists--including
a large
community of pacifist Mennonites and Brethren--suffered
along with
Confederate sympathizers.
Today you can experience this story
at sites all over the Harrisonburg-Rockingham area. You may
want to start your
visit at the
visitor center below. There you can receive up-to-date
information about
visiting the sites in the area and learn a bit more about
the central
Shenandoah Valley's Civil War story.
Harrisonburg Area Visitor Center:
212 South Main Street, Harrisonburg
(540) 434-2319
http://www.harrisonburgtourism.com
Civil War visitor and group tour information, battlefield driving tours, lodging and restaurant information.
Historic sites and attractions:
Virginia Quilt Museum
301 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg
540-433-3818
www.vaquiltmuseum.org
Open Thursday through Monday
Free
Heritage Center
Home of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society
On the corner of Bowman and High Streets, Dayton
540-879-2681
www.heritagecenter.com
Open Monday through Saturday
Admission Fee
Elk Run Cemetery
Rockingham Avenue, Elkton
Open daily
Free
Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center
711 Garbers Church Road, Harrisonburg
540-438-1275
www.vbmhc.org
Open Wednesday-SatuRoaday, April-October.
Donations accepted.
Hardesty-Higgins House and Rt. 11 Transportation Museum
212 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg
540-434-2319
www.harrisonburgtourism.com
Open daily.
Free
Catherine Furnace
West of U.S. 340 on Rt. 613 north of the town of Shenandoah in Page County
Interpretive signage.
Free
Shenandoah Iron Works
West side of U.S. 340 in the town of Shenandoah in Page County
Interpretive signage.
Free
Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign
(Battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic)
In his effort to draw Union troops from McClellan’s drive towaRoad Richmond, Stonewall Jackson tied up elements of three separate armies in a bold campaign of swift marching and countermarching that ended on the farm fields around the villages of Cross Keys and Port Republic.
North River Interpretive Site
Rt. 42 – north bank of the North River, Bridgewater
Interpretive signage.
Free
Red Bridge & Somerville Heights
Rt. 650 east of U.S. 340, north of the town of Shenandoah in Page County
Interpretive signage.
Free
Miller-Kite House (Jackson’s pre-battle headquarters)
310 E. Rockingham Street, Elkton
540-298-1717
history@webtv.net
Open Sunday afternoons or by appointment.
Donations accepted.
Turner Ashby Monument
Turner Ashby Lane off Port Republic Road, Harrisonburg
Interpretive signage.
Free
Carrington Williams Interpretive Site & Kiosk
(Battlefield driving tour available here.)
Port Republic Road, Cross Keys
Orientation Kiosk and Interpretive signage.
Free
Goods Mill
Goods Mill Road east of Port Republic Road, Cross Keys
Interpretive signage.
Free
Union Church
Cross Keys Road and Battlefield Road
Interpretive signage.
Free
Port Republic Museum in the Frank Kemper House
Port Republic Road and Water Street, Port Republic
540-249-3156
www.heritagecenter.com/SPRP/index.htm
Open Sundays and by appointment.
Donations requested.
Town of Port Republic, site of Jackson’s battle headquarters
(Walking tour brochure available at the Port Republic Museum above.)
Interpretive signage at six Civil War sites.
Free
"The Coaling"
U.S. 340 and Rt. 708, Port Republic
Walking trail and interpretive signage.
Free
“Shields’ Advance & Retreat”
U.S. 340, south of Town of Shenandoah
Interpretive signage.
Free
The Burning: The Civil War all but ends in the Valley
During 1864, Federal troops targeted the region’s civilian economy. In the fall, as the Union solidified its control of the Valley, it passed from village to village, setting farms and mills ablaze and destroying this “breadbasket of the Confederacy”—an operation that would foreshadow Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s infamous “March to the Sea” in Georgia later in the year.
Silver Lake Mill
2328 Silver Lake Road, Dayton
Interpretive signage and self-guided tour.
Mill Creek Church
Port Republic & Cross Keys Roads, Cross Keys
Interpretive signage.
Free
Downtown Dayton
S. Main Street, Dayton
Interpretive signage.
Free
Lacey Spring
Lacey Spring Elementary School
8621 N. Valley Pike, Lacey Spring
Interpretive signage.
Free.
Thank you for visiting
the Rockingham Cluster of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National
Historic District! |
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