Help Acquire These Priceless Collections

Imagine a visitor, perhaps a young student or a family from afar, standing on the hallowed ground at Fisher's Hill or Cross Keys Battlefield.

Now imagine them stepping into our museum to see up close items that belonged to a soldier who was there or uniforms and equipment used during the fighting.

We have an amazing opportunity to preserve priceless artifacts that help tell the story of our preserved battlefields and get them on exhibit to educate and inspire visitors from around the world.

If we can come together to raise $169,500, you and I can purchase three separate collections, each of which are directly tied to the Civil War battlefields of the Shenandoah Valley and are world class in their significance.  The value of these artifacts is estimated to be twice what we need to raise, but in all reality, these items are priceless as direct tangible links to some of the most significant battle sites that we’ve preserved here in the Shenandoah Valley.   

Preserving battlefields is hard work; preserving a meaningful connection to those battlefields takes just as much effort and is every bit as important.  They are two sides of the same coin.

Even as we fight to save every battlefield acre, we’re doing all that we can to engage the public and foster a passion for history in a new generation; to make relevant connections between our past and our present so that the lessons of our battlefield landscapes are never forgotten.    

To that end, we’ve been enhancing the way we share the history of those battlefields through our museum exhibits at the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum, the New Market Battlefield Visitor Center and Museum, the Port Republic Museum, and our visitor centers throughout the National Historic District. 

The artifacts we exhibit—personal items like soldiers' letters, uniforms, weapons, and everyday items from the era—bring the human side of these battles to life. They connect the dots between the preserved landscapes you love and the people who fought and sacrificed there.  

These artifacts don't just educate; they inspire empathy and understanding, making the preservation work we've done together even more impactful. But acquiring these rare pieces isn't easy or inexpensive. Museums and private collectors often outbid us, and without your help, we risk missing out on these items that could transform our exhibits – and more importantly, transform the experience of our visitors.

So what items am I talking about?  Well, I’m talking about three separate collections, each containing multiple items, and any one of them would be worth traveling to see.

The Wharton Collection

This grouping is one of the most significant collections of Confederate General Officer items known to exist.  Belonging to General Gabriel Wharton and believed to have been used while on campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, these items include his frock coat and duster, his slouch hat, sash and rain hat, and include most of Wharton’s personal camp gear (his cot, camp chest, mess equipment, field desk, chair, etc.). 

It’s amazing to think that in 1864, these items were carried up and down the Valley and were on the field at battles like New Market, Third Winchester, and Cedar Creek.  The fact that the collection has remained intact since the war is almost unheard of and has garnered a tremendous amount of attention from collectors through the years. 

The grouping was set to be sold piece by piece but thanks to the efforts of some of our close friends led by Commander Craig Morin, we have the opportunity to purchase the Wharton items and keep this one-of-a-kind collection intact.  Commander Morin was able to solicit the help of Sue Bell, who provided the lead gift to get the ball rolling on this purchase of her great-great-grandfather’s personal items.  She was joined by Jack and Sandy Davis, Ted Tedards, and Commander Morin, who together have provided enough funding to hold the items while we attempt to raise the remainder.

We’ll use the collection as a key exhibit in our New Market Battlefield Visitor Center and Museum, arranging the pieces in a camp scene that visually transports visitors to Wharton’s 1864 headquarter tent.

Flag of the 6th Maryland Infantry

The second collection comes from our good friend Brendan Synnamon and his phenomenal shop, The Union Drummer Boy.  The main piece is a 33-star American flag that was carried by the 6th Maryland Infantry from the beginning of the war until the flag was retired in December of 1863. 

I call this a collection of items because it comes with a wonderful flag case that was made specifically for this flag with a presentation plaque affixed giving its history and details.  Together, they make up what, for us, is a priceless set that is directly related to the Battle of Second Winchester and the land that you and I have preserved at Carter’s Woods.

The 6th Maryland was carrying this flag as they advanced across that property in an attempt to break out of the Confederate stranglehold before being captured.  The regiment was able to get around the Confederate line and escape to Harper’s Ferry along with their flag.

It will be stunning for visitors to walk the interpretive trails at Carter's Woods and then visit the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum in Winchester and see this flag that once crossed the very same ground.

Campbell wore the uniform while on duty with General Robert Patterson’s army here in the Valley in the earliest days of the war and is presumed to have worn it during the fighting around Martinsburg on July 12th, 1861 – more than a week before the Battle of 1st Manassas.  Still stained by his sweat, the uniform is a stunning early war example, and the fact that it was worn in the Valley makes it an unbelievably important addition to our museum exhibits in Winchester.

12th New York Uniform

The third collection of items are the uniform pieces of Private Mark Campbell.  Campbell enlisted in April of 1861 as a private in a “three months” regiment, the 12th New York Volunteers.  As a Chasseur regiment, the 12th was issued short, skirted jackets, balloon cut velvet trousers and a braided French styled chasseur cap. 

This collection of items includes all those pieces, and each is in excellent condition!

Saving battlefields is WHAT we do, but WHY do we do it?

When the modern battlefield preservation movement began, we were called to defend our hallowed ground from strip malls, housing developments and the ever-encroaching sprawl of urban living. 

That remains a battle that we are waging every day, but in recent years, a new front has opened in our war for preservation and that’s the fight for hearts and minds - a battle to ignite a passion for preservation by connecting people to place and fostering an understanding of just how important and just how relevant our history is. 

Over the past decade we’ve focused a great deal of effort on education – on using the battlefields that you have preserved to educate and inspire hundreds of thousands of visitors.  We are doing everything we can to encourage people to visit these fields of honor and sacrifice and invite them to experience the landscape and its history in a way that they can’t by looking at a screen or paging through a book. 

If we are going to save our battlefields and all that they represent, then we’re going to have to focus heavily on restoring the battlefields, improving interpretive access, increasing programing, and creating phenomenal museum experiences that connect history to place in highly impactful ways.

We must do all that we can to bring history to life, to make it vibrant and relatable and powerful in its presentation.  The items we now have the opportunity to purchase and the new exhibits that we will create with them will help us do just that. 

Because of the generosity of our lead donors, we’ve been able to kick off this campaign.  Their gifts total $51,000, leaving you and I to raise $118,500 to purchase these items before they’re sold piecemeal to private collectors and lost for years, if not forever. 

$118,500 is no small sum, but it’s a fraction of the value.  Wharton’s frock coat alone is worth nearly $120,000 and that is only one item in this massive acquisition! 

Please consider joining this campaign by making a contribution to save these items before it's too late.  They’re directly connected to our battlefields, allowing us to better tell the stories of those places and encourage visitors to search out these fields of honor to visit them and to carry home with them what they learn there.