A 40-horse wagon train pulls Jackson’s engines to Staunton
By Carl Sell Jr. · Originally published September 2022 · pp. 9
A 40-horse wagon train pulls Jackson’s engines to Staunton
by Carl Sell Jr. The February issue of the Civil War News included a story about Colonel Thomas Jackson’s spring 1861 raid on the B&O Railroad that resulted in engines and cars being hauled to Strasburg, Va., for use on Confederate railroads. The story left open a report that the engines and equipment also were carried to Staunton so they could be sent to Richmond via the Virginia Central Railroad. Since publication of that article, information has been found that shows that the equipment was hauled up the Valley Turnpike south of Winchester. A recent visit to the Valley Turnpike Museum in Harrisonburg by Ben Trittipoe and Bill Kamenjar, two members of the team that produced the February story, recorded information concerning Jackson’s feat. The February story was based on a 2021 Both Sides Tour that visited stops along the B&O where Jackson’s raid was carried out. It also included stops between Harpers Ferry and Winchester along the Winchester and Potomac Railroad. Eye witnesses and diary information reported the railroad equipment was pulled by horses to Strasburg, where it was reset on the tracks of the Manassas Gap Railroad. The article did not report that engines and equipment absolutely continued on to Staunton and the Virginia Central, although several claims were made stating that they had. Trittipoe and Kamenjar’s subsequent visit provided the missing link. The Valley Museum offers
The model depicts the last engine being drawn through town by a 40-horse team.
a model of the last engine traveling through the streets of Harrisonburg on the Valley Turnpike. The model is based on historic and archaeological information collected by the H a r r i s o n b u rg - R o c k i n g h a m Historical Society. The model can be viewed at the Valley Turnpike Museum, located in the Hardesty-Higgins House (circa 1848), located at 212 South Main Street in Harrisonburg. The Museum is open seven days a week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Carl Sell is a frequent contributor to CWN. He has written books about his great grandfather, James Farthing, in the Civil War as well as a recent update on the life or Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart. Ironically, Carl also has published a booklet about Civil War activities in the area of Snickers Gap, the break in the Blue Ridge that overlooks the Shenandoah River and the Cool Spring battlefield. The Gap was one of the main avenues of movement by both sides during the war. Contact Carl at sellcarl@ aol.com of 703-971-4716.