Key Part Of Third Winchester Battlefield To Be Preserved
By Kathryn Jorgensen
(December 2008 Civil War News)

WINCHESTER, Va. — Representatives of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF), Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) and Commonwealth of Virginia met at the Third Winchester (Opequon) Battlefield on Nov. 12 to announce the pending $3.35 million purchase of core battle land.

A contract to purchase the 209-acre Huntsberry Farm has been signed. Called the Middle Field, the tract north of state Route 7 east of Winchester is the largest remaining undisturbed portion of the Third Winchester Battlefield.

Close to 55,000 soldiers under U.S. Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan and Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early battled in Winchester for control of the northern Valley on Sept. 14, 1864. Among them were future U.S. Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley.

Third Winchester was a Union victory that cost more than 9,000 casualties.

More than 3,000 casualties occurred at the Middle Field. The Union 19th Corps lost 40 percent of its men. Every one of its regimental commanders was killed or wounded at the Middle Field and Second Woods.

The Huntsberry Farm will link the CWPT’s already preserved 222 acres and SVBF’s144 acres creating a 575-acre battlefield preserve that has changed little since 1864.

Finalizing the sale by May is contingent on the SVBF raising $690,000. The foundation received a $1 million grant from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and added $50,000 from its Carrington Williams Preservation Fund. The Civil War Preservation Trust agreed to match the state grant with $1.61 million in federal grants and private donations.

“This is not a done deal by a long shot,” said CWPT President James Lighthizer. “We need all Americans with a passion for history and preservation to rise to the challenge and give generously to this worthwhile effort.”

SVBF Chairman Irvin Hess signed the contract with Huntsberry heirs. He said saving the farm was “a top-priority preservation project since the Battlefields Foundation’s inception.”

The organization has begun a campaign to raise the needed funds. CWPT spokesman Jim Campi said his organization will help SVBF to the best of its ability. He said raising the CWPT’s $1.61 million share “is a tall order in this difficult economy.”

Calling the battle tract a “must have” acquisition, Campi said, “If the Huntsberry Farm was lost to development, it would diminish all that has been accomplished at Third Winchester up to now.”

He said the Huntsberry Farm land will transform the Third Winchester Battlefield “from an afterthought for visitors to a genuine tourism destination.” It will stretch from Interstate 81 at its western end to Millbrook High School to the east,

To generate public appreciation of the battle, CWPT in 2007 opened a five-mile walking and biking trail on its 222-acre property. The entire battlefield is almost eight square miles totaling nearly 5,000 acres.

After the Huntsberry Middle Field purchase is final, the SVBF and CWPT will work together to create a seamless network of interpretive trails. “Bordered by growing neighborhoods, the area promises to be an island of quiet green space for generations to come,” Campi said.

The Huntsberry family owned the property since the early settlement of the Shenandoah Valley by Europeans. Originally granted to ancestor Jacob Huntsbarger by Lord Fairfax in 1762, the land played a significant role in the agricultural history of Frederick County.

The Huntsberry house, the remains of which still exist, is noted on Civil War-era maps. Campi said it would eventually be interpreted. Hay is grown on the farm and no buildings remain.

The property contains almost a half-mile of Redbud Run, a major tributary of Opequon Creek, which drains into the Potomac River.

Campi said preservation of this area protects the stream’s sloped and forested buffer, which will enhance water quality for the stream itself as well as the downstream watersheds, including the Chesapeake Bay.

Once the purchase is finalized, portions of the property will remain in agricultural use while the Battlefields Foundation conducts archeological and cultural resources studies. This research will help the partner groups determine appropriate types and locations of future interpretive activities.

For information about making a tax-deductible donation contact Tom Robinson at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation at (540) 740-4545 ext. 204 or David Duncan of the Civil War Preservation Trust at (202) 367-1861 ext. 202. Or go to www.shenandoahatwar.org and www.civilwar.org/winchester08/.

At the CWPT’s site viewers can donate, see a video of the news conference as well as historical and modern photos and maps and links to several sites with history of the site and a virtual tour of CWPT’s markers on its part of the battlefield.