Looking
out over the valley we beheld a memorable scene. What wonderful
vistas, with unnumbered miles of fields, forests and mountains,
with the blue of the sky for a background!
We were forced to take refuge from a heavy rain storm in a
garage located in Charles Town, the county seat of Jefferson
county, West Virginia. While we lingered, we were told that the
old courthouse in which John Brown was tried was located here.
He was hanged in this city. Sadly we turned to look at the old
courthouse on Main street where he was sentenced to death. Seven
miles from here are located Shennondale springs which are said
to be very much like those of Baden-Baden. The town was occupied
by both Sheridan's and Banks' army during the Civil war. Two and
one-half miles southeast of the city is "Washington's Masonic
Cave," where it is said George Washington and other prominent
men held Masonic meetings.
We soon were passing through Berryville, admiring the beautiful
residences and well kept grounds of the old town, dating from
the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth
centuries. "Greenway Court," the home in which lived Thomas Lord
Fairfax, and "Saratoga," the former residence of Daniel Morgan,
are located here.
As you near the city of Winchester you see many fine apple
orchards with their well cultivated trees extending in long
converging lines and "disappearing over the top of some distant
hill as if they had no end." It must be a beautiful sight in
spring to see the pink and white blossoms of these extensive
orchards foretelling an abundant harvest. In June it is one vast
expanse of green and gold that lies before you, or stretches
away beneath its silvery veils of misty blue. More than three-
quarters of a million barrels of apples are shipped from here
annually.
But it is not alone for its scenic beauty and bountiful harvests
of its valley that we remember Winchester, for north of the city
on a high knoll situated in a clump of trees is the remains of
the old "Star Fort" which figured in the fiercest engagements in
the Civil war.
Winchester is said to have been occupied and abandoned eighty
times during the war. It was held by the Confederates until
March, 1862, when after Johnston's defeat at Manassas the
southern forces withdrew up the Shenandoah valley and the
northern forces occupied the city. Two armies surged back and
forth over the territory until March 23, 1862, when the Federal
forces under General Shields defeated an inferior federate force
at Kernstown, four miles south of Winchester. The second battle
of Winchester occurred on June 14, 1864, when the Confederates,
under General Early, drove the Union troops from the town. The
third or most important battle of Winchester occurred on
September 19, 1864. This is one of the most memorable battles of
the war, for, out of a seeming defeat the magnetic presence of
Sheridan brought to the Union men an almost miraculous victory.
We shall quote the famous Sheridan's Ride by Thomas Buchanan
Read:
Up from the South at break of day,
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay
The affrighted air with a shudder bore,
Like a herald in haste to the Chieftain's door,
The terrible rumble, grumble and roar,
Telling the battle was on once more,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.
And wider still those billows of war
Thundered along the horizon's bar;
And louder yet into Winchester roll'd
The road of that red sea uncontroll'd,
Making the blood of the listener cold,
As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.
But there is a road from Winchester town,
A good broad highway leading down;
And there through the flush of the morning light
A steed as black as the steeds of night,
Was seen to pass, as with eagle flight,
As if he knew the terrible need;
He stretched away with his utmost speed;
Hills rose and fell but his heart was gay,
With Sheridan fifteen miles away.
Still sprang from those swift hoofs, thundering south;
The dust like smoke from the cannon's mouth,
Or the trail of a comet sweeping faster and faster,
Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster,
The heart of the steed and the heart of the master
Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls,
Impatient to be where the battlefield calls;
Every nerve of the chargers has strain'd to full play,
With Sheridan only ten miles away.
Under his spurning feet, the road
Like an arrowy Alpine river flow'd,
And the landscape sped away behind
Like an ocean flying before the wind;
And the steed like a bark fed with furnace ire;
Swept on, with wild eye full of fire.
But lo! he is nearing his heart's desire;
He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,
With Sheridan only five miles away.
The first that the general saw were the groups
Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops;
What was done? What to do? A glance told him both,
Then striking his spurs with a terrible oath,
He dash'd down the line, 'mid a storm of huzzas,
And the wave of retreat, checked his course there,
The sight of the master compell'd it to pause.
With foam and with dust the black charger was gray;
By the flash of his eye, and the red nostrils' play
He seem'd to the whole great army to say,
I have brought you Sheridan all the way
From Winchester down to save the day.
Hurrah! hurrah for Sheridan!
Hurrah! hurrah for horse and man!
And when their statues are placed on high,
Under the dome of the Union sky,
The American Soldiers' Temple of Fame,
There with the glorious general's name,
Be it said, in letters both bold and bright;
Here is the steed that saved the day
By carrying Sheridan into the fight
From Winchester - twenty miles away.
