Part of the site of Shenandoah Valley’s most important Civil War battle will be preserved, a historic preservation group said Wednesday.
After nearly six years of negotiation, a 209-acre plot on which part of the Third Battle of Winchester was fought is being purchased from the family that currently owns it.
The $3.35 million cost is being covered by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, the Civil War Preservation Trust and the state of Virginia. The property will be managed by the foundation, which already protects 267 acres of the 4,914-acre battlefield.
“The preservation of that landscape has been fondly wished for for a long time,” said Elizabeth Paradis Stern, assistant director at the Battlefields Foundation. “This a real triumph.”
About 21,000 acres on 10 battlefield sites are in the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District created by Congress in 1996. The Battlefields Foundation protects as much of the area as it can through purchases and conservation easements on farmland.
The purchase in Winchester, in Frederick County, is designated as a “core area,” meaning it can still be viewed as it was during the battle and will not be developed or altered from its current condition.
“We are in a race against time to protect what we can out there,” Stern said.
The Third Battle of Winchester was part of Union Gen. Philip Sheridan’s campaign to clear the valley of its strong Confederate presence. Known as the “breadbasket of the South,” the agriculturally rich area was a critical source of supplies for the Confederate Army.
For Washingtonians, however, there was an even more pressing need to purge the valley.
“The valley is a direct quarter to the District of Columbia,” said Christopher Hamner, assistant professor of history at George Mason University. Lt. Gen. Jubal Early, the regional Confederate commander, had famously orchestrated a previous attack on the capital, making Abraham Lincoln the only U.S president to come under enemy fire in wartime.
The battle took place Sept. 19, 1864, and ended with a Confederate retreat after 8,600 casualties between the sides. More than 54,000 troops fought in the battle, compared with a current population of just over 70,000 residents in Frederick County today, according to 2006 Census Bureau information.
It was one of the valley’s largest battles and widely considered its most important.
Stern said she is optimistic about the site’s potential for drawing educators and tourists.
“It’s a very green, contemplative place,” Stern said. “It’s actually quite lovely.”
