DRIVING TOUR # 1
Tour Stop 1: Winchester-Frederick County Visitor Center
1400 South Pleasant Valley Road, Winchester, VA, 22601
GPS coordinates: 39.16855° N, 78.16132° W
The Visitor Center is a great place to begin a tour of Third Winchester. Situated near the parking lot is Abrams’ Delight, one of oldest homes in Winchester. Construction on the main house began in 1748 by one of the earliest settlers of Frederick County, Abram Hollingsworth. There is a Civil War kiosk inside the visitor center that will orient you to the surrounding area and the actions that took place during both the 1862 and 1864 Valley campaigns. While here, you may gather maps and materials on the Civil War and the surrounding area.
TO TOUR STOP 2
Leaving the Orientation Center, turn right onto South Pleasant Valley Road. Proceed 1.2 miles to the intersection of Route 7. You will notice Mt. Hebron Cemetery on your left before you reach the intersection. You will come back to this as the last stop on the Third Winchester tour. In the meantime, turn right onto Route 7, the Berryville Turnpike. Proceed 2.3 miles and turn right onto Route 656 (Greenwood Road). Continue up the hill and make a left into the parking lot of the Grace Brethren Church. This is Tour Stop 2.
GPS coordinates: 39.18582° N, 78.11062° W
TOUR STOP 2: Eversole’s Knoll
143 Greenwood Road, Winchester, VA 22602
At the time of battle, this knoll was occupied by the farm of J. A. Eversole. The farm marked the westernmost reaches of the Berryville Canyon. On the morning of the battle, the 2nd and 5th New York Cavalry, supported by the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry, pushed Robert Johnston’s North Carolinians through this area. Johnston was wounded during the engagement.
It was here that Sheridan set up his headquarters on the morning of the battle. Looking east, Little Phil viewed his army marching toward its first large encounter with Early’s forces. Was he anxious, realizing that defeat would be costly not only to his army but to the Northern war effort? He could not have known at the time that he would witness on that day the beginning of the end of the Confederate presence in the Shenandoah Valley. From this command post, Sheridan directed the battle. Beyond the Berryville Turnpike and just past the high school, one can still glimpse the fringes of the First Woods.
TO TOUR STOP 3
Turn right out of the parking lot and make another right at the stoplight. As you drive through the Berryville Canyon, notice its depth and steep sides. After entering the canyon, make the first left hand turn. This left will take you up a long ramp. Make a left onto Woods Mill Road. Proceed on Woods Mill Road and make another left onto Redbud Road. After making a sharp bend to the right, you will see open ground and a woodline to your left front. This is the First Woods. Watch for Civil War Trust signs and make a left into the parking lot. There is ample parking.
GPS coordinates: 39.12146° N, 78.7591° W
TOUR STOP 3: First Woods
Civil War Trust Property Off Redbud Road
By driving to this tour stop, you have traveled through the rear of the Union lines. There are Civil War Trust signs orienting you to the walking trail. You are now overlooking Early’s left flank. Although you will see a number of interpretive signs, when you walk the trail from this location you will be following in the footsteps George Crook’s assault.
TO TOUR STOP 4
Turn left out of the Civil War Trust parking lot onto Red Bud Road. At the first stop light, make a left onto the Martinsburg Pike (Route 11). After the Route 81 overpass, follow the signs and bear to stay on Route 11. You will actually pass by the entrance to Fort Collier on the left. As the road is extremely busy, proceed to the next stoplight (the intersection with Brooke Road). Turn left at the intersection and then make an immediate left after crossing the railroad tracks. Up ahead is Fort Collier.
GPS coordinates: 39.20116° N, 78.15378° W
922 Martinsburg Pike, Winchester, VA 22601
Traveling south on Route 11, you have followed the path that the Union cavalry took during their charge on the fort. At the time of the battle, the ground north of the fort was open and rolling. Brigadier General Wesley Merritt commented that the ground was ideally suited for cavalry operations. It was here that the Confederate line began to give way and collapse.
TO TOUR STOP 5
From Ft. Collier, turn left onto Route 11 and proceed into Winchester. Follow the signs for parking but be mindful that some streets are one-way. The museum is located at 20 North Loudoun Street.
GPS coordinates: 39.18443° N, 78.16502° W
TOUR STOP 5: Old Courthouse Museum
20 N Loudoun Street, Winchester, VA 22601
Downtown Winchester changed hands more than 70 times during the war. The courthouse, constructed in 1840 on the site where the previous courthouse once stood was used either as a courthouse or offices until 1995. The following year, the idea of turning it into a Civil War museum was recommended and seven years later the museum opened its door. The building saw all visages of the war—first, as a rallying point for local men to sign up to fight for war, then as a place to care for the wounded, and lastly a place to house captured soldiers. Take a tour of the courthouse to learn about Winchester in the Civil War and the museum’s collection of artifacts; including some impressive pieces of artillery. Of particular note is the inscriptions that have been verified of soldiers that spent time in the Old Courthouse as prisoners of war, both Northern and Southern.
TO TOUR STOP 6
After returning to your car, proceed to Route 7 (East). Follow the signs to the Winchester National Cemetery. Be careful pulling into the cemetery. Parking is limited.
GPS coordintes: 39.18432° N, 78.15653° W
TOUR STOP 6: Winchester National Cemetery
401 National Avenue, Winchester, VA 22601
Remember, this is a place of reverence. Please follow the cemetery regulations posted at the gate.
There are many monuments to explore in the cemetery. Notice the monument to the 114th New York Infantry. This regiment lost more than 60 percent of their strength while stopping Maj. Gen. John Gordon’s counterattack from the Second Woods at Winchester. Farther down on the right as you walk from the parking lot is a monument to the 34th Massachusetts Infantry. The bust on top of the monument is the regiment’s commander, Col. George Wells (see page 61). He was killed during a skirmish a few days before the battle of Cedar Creek. From the National Cemetery, you can see Mt. Hebron Cemetery across the street, where a number of Confederates were buried.
TO TOUR STOP 7:
Make a left out of the cemetery onto Route 7. Make another left onto North East Lane. The entrance to Mt. Hebron Cemetery will be on the left. Once you enter the cemetery gates, follow the signs to the Confederate section of the cemetery. Again, this is a place of reverence.
GPS coordinates: 39.18197° N, 78.15792° W
TOUR STOP 7: Mt. Hebron Cemetery
305 East Boscawen Street, Winchester, VA 22601
The cemetery is actually four cemeteries surrounded by one enclosure and in the oldest section graves date from 1769. In 1844 the charter was granted by the General Assembly of Virginia in response to a petition by the people of Frederick County “to establish a public cemetery.” As you drive in, follow signs to the “Stonewall” Cemetery where Confederate dead are buried. Next to the cemetery road, you will find the graves of Robert Johnston, Archibald Godwin, and George Patton. All three men fought at Third Winchester. Johnston was wounded and Godwin was killed. Patton was mortally wounded during the fight. Following the battle, he was taken to a house in Winchester owned by his cousin, Mary Williams, where he passed away on September 25. Patton was interred in the same grave as his brother, Tazewell, after the war. As a colonel of the 7th Virginia Infantry, Tazewell was killed in Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg.
The grave of Confederate cavalryman Turner Ashby, who was killed in a skirmish outside Harrisonburg in June of 1862 during Stonewall Jackson’s ’62 Valley campaign
This concludes the driving tour for Third Winchester.
Col. George S. Patton and his brother, Tazewell, were both mortally wounded during the war—the former at Third Winchester and latter at Gettysburg. They share a gravesite. “Here lie asleep in one grave The Patton Brothers,” their headstone says.
Prior to his wounding at Third Winchester, Confederate Brig. Gen. Robert Johnston had been wounded three times during the war: Seven Pines, Gettysburg, and Spotsylvania. He surived the war, however, and practiced law in North Carolina until his death in 1919.
Maj. Gen. Daniel Morgan, a hero of the Revolutionary War and a key figure in supressing the Whiskey Rebellion, retired to Winchester, where he represented the area in Congress as a Federalist. He died at his daughter’s home on his sixty-sixth birthday.
