Winchester
The Valley Campaigns
Winchester’s location at the north end of the Shenandoah Valley made it a place of strategic importance during the Civil War.
From here, roads led north and east threatening Washington, D.C., and the Valley Turnpike led south and west endangering the breadbasket of the Confederacy.
Winchester endured a seemingly endless series of occupations and evacuations as the war ebbed and flowed through the city.
Stonewall Jackson made his headquarters here during the winter of 1861–1862. He fought the Valley’s first major battle at Kernstown, just south of the city on March 23, 1862. The bloody clashes continued through the years until Union Gen. Philip Sheridan’s army drove Confederate Gen. Jubal Early’s troops out of Winchester for the last time September 19, 1864.
Marker is at the intersection of North Cameron Street (Business U.S. 522) and East Boscawen Street, on the right when traveling north on North Cameron Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
