Locations related to Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign often garner much of the attention in the region’s Civil War history, overshadowing the area’s other historic battle sites. Virginia’s autumn landscape provides the perfect backdrop as historian Gregg Clemmer and special guest Ed Bearss lead an exploration of some of the less-familiar places in the valley that saw significant battles in 1863 and 1864.
The two-day tour begins at Stephenson’s Depot, just north of Winchester, where Old Alleghany Johnson blocked Robert Milroy’s fleeing Federals just two weeks before Gettysburg. Follow the lines of the Third Winchester near picturesque Hackwood; see Star Fort, now preserved by the Civil War Trust; and imagine Virginia Military Institute (VMI) cadets charging into history at New Market.
After a night at the newly renovated Quality Inn & Suites in Staunton, visit the VMI campus where Jackson taught and where the dead of New Market are interred. In Lexington, stop at the Stonewall Jackson House, as well as the burial sites of Robert E. Lee and Jackson.
After lunch, continue to the rarely visited Piedmont Battlefield in Augusta Country and see where Grumble Jones died as Union forces under David Hunter finally conquered the Shenandoah Valley. Stops in New Market and Edinburg complete this look at a pivotal and sweeping campaign.
General Details
- Cost includes one breakfast, two lunches, and Saturday dinner.
- Tour departs by bus from the Mayflower Hotel, Connecticut Ave. and DeSales St., N.W., with a pickup stop at the Vienna Metro south-side Kiss and Ride kiosk at about 7:55 a.m.
- Single-room supplement $65 (factored into the Single Room Member and Single Room Non-Member pricing).
- Singles registering at the double-room rate are paired (on a nonsmoking basis) if possible, but must pay the single-room supplement otherwise.
- Detailed information is mailed to registrants about four weeks prior to departure.
- Registrants may want to consider purchasing trip insurance.
