January 2, 2025 article by Ryan Fitzmaurice published in The Northern Virginia Daily:

New sign tells Medal of Honor stories at Fisher’s Hill

Shenandoah County is reshaping local Civil War storytelling with a focus on personal narratives, recently showcased by the installation of a Civil War Trails sign recognizing five Medal of Honor recipients from the Battle of Fisher’s Hill.

Located at 3124 Battlefield Road near Strasburg, the sign invites visitors to connect with the past through the individual stories of these soldiers, reflecting a broader initiative to humanize local history.

The sign highlights the actions of five U.S. soldiers. According to their Medal of Honor citations, each soldier was honored for extraordinary bravery on Sept. 22, 1864, during one of the Civil War’s pivotal battles.

Private James Connors, Company E, 43rd New York Infantry: Captured a Confederate flag.

Private John Creed, Company D, 23rd Illinois Infantry: Captured a Confederate flag.

Private George G. Moore, Company D, 11th West Virginia Infantry: Captured a Confederate flag.

Sergeant Sylvester D. Rhodes, Company D, 61st Pennsylvania Infantry: Led the skirmish line that drove the enemy from their first entrenchment, was the first to breach the breastworks, and turned a captured gun on the enemy.

First Lieutenant Edward Newton Whittier, Battery 5, Maine Light Artillery: Rode with the assaulting column to seize enemy artillery, turning it against Confederate forces.

“These five soldiers’ names haven’t been lost to time, but certainly they deserve to be better recognized,” said Drew Gruber, executive director of Civil War Trails, Inc. “We are humbled to help elevate their stories, and we hope as you stand in their footsteps, you find yourself inspired to dig into their lives in more detail.”

The sign is part of Shenandoah County’s deliberate effort to shift Civil War history from grand battles and strategies to individual and civilian experiences.

“The important element in this is we want to tell more stories of the people, not only of the soldiers, the everyday people that were here during the Civil War,” said Brenda Black, the county’s tourism development manager.

Black said the Shenandoah County is working hand in hand with the Civil War Trails organization and other partners to bring more stories to light of residents, women, children and the many others who participated in the war.

Gruber echoed the importance of uncovering the experience of the individual during the war.

“Oftentimes events of the past seem so foreign, but in exploring the lives of these five soldiers we are reminded that history is incredibly relevant and the people of the past are oftentimes just like you and me.”

The project was made possible through partnerships with a private donor, local historians, archivists and property owners.

“Partnerships are essential and at the core of our mission,” Gruber said. “Without the property owner and private donor, we wouldn’t have had the chance to put visitors in the footsteps of these soldiers.”

Shenandoah County, in coordination with the Civil War Trails organization, has reviewed and updated 14 markers across the region to incorporate broader narratives, with additional signs planned for the future, Black said.

The Civil War Trails sign at Fisher’s Hill is already featured on Virginia Civil War Trails map-guides, distributed to travelers worldwide. Efforts are also underway to include the site on the national Medal of Honor Valor Trail, a partnership between the American Battlefield Trust and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

“This new Civil War Trails site adds another amenity for travelers exploring Shenandoah County and also helps point visitors to the nearby battlefield park, encouraging them to stay longer,” Gruber said. “We know that our visitors tend to spend 2.5 days when they travel with the majority of their dollars spent going back into the hands of service industry employees at local restaurants, breweries and lodgings.”

For more information about Civil War Trails or to request a free brochure, visit civilwartrails.org. To explore Shenandoah County’s history and outdoor amenities, visit visitshenandoahcounty.com.

Dec 22/24 Battlefield Supporters:

Another volunteer activity has been scheduled in the Shepherdstown Battlefield. The American Battlefield Trust Park Day is Saturday, April 26, 2025.

We clean up the Cement Mill, Riverside Park, Trough Road and the Osbourn Farm from 9 am – noon. Then the SBPA hosts a light lunch at the Osbourn Farm house and an afternoon, expert-led battlefield tour!

Pencil it in! Last spring was an epic 3-hour tour led by Professor and Author Tom McGrath.

Visit the site to learn the history behind this 29th Annual Park Day

December 21, 2024

Only hardcore battlefield supporters out on the tour today! Dr. Nickerson was honored to host the great, great, great grandson of a soldier (Marker) who fought with the 118th PA. He survived the fighting on the ridge, the retreat down the cliffs, the friendly fire at the Cement Mill kiln and the dam crossing under intense fire back to Maryland.

Also members of the Ledden family from Shepherdstown. Thank you for your continued support of the Shepherdstown Battlefield!

December 20, 2024

Hello SBPA Members and Battlefield Supporters, 

We are planning a graffiti removal effort at the Historic Boteler Cement Mill in May. This will be led by JC Historic Landmarks Commission Intern Elizabeth Nicholson. If interested in participating, let Dr. Nickerson know at [email protected] and we will send additional details closer to spring. May is a lovely time at the Mill in the Battlefield!  

This is the first volunteer activity to be scheduled this coming year and we look forward to additional events in 2025! Thanks for your support for these preservation efforts!

December 18, 2024

A warm welcome to the staff from the American Battlefield Trust. Battlefield tour days are always special. Our 3-hour tour included the Confederate Generals’ camps for the first time!

Visit the link below to listen to the Antietam and Beyond Podcast‘s episode #27 on December 12, 2024 with SBPA President Dr. Mike Nickerson.

The Antietam and Beyond Podcast | Dr. Mike Nickerson on Battle of Shepherdstown

Hello Battlefield Supporters,

Hope this note finds you well and enjoying the holidays. We had a fantastic year for the battlefield and expect this momentum to continue in new and exciting activities in 2025. I hope you agree after reading this note and consider renewing your annual membership and / or making a tax-deductible donation to the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association (SBPA).

As volunteers we have many accomplishments to be very proud of. One that stands out in 2024 is the transfer of the Osbourn Farm deed from the American Battlefield Trust to the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission. Thus, we have completed a key goal in our 20+ years of efforts to preserve the battlefield. Our partners have been working diligently as well resulting in a new farmland preservation easement on the remainder of the Aspen Pool Farm which straddles Trough Road. This is where A.P. Hill formed his men before the advance on Union troops across Engle Molers Road en route to the Osbourn Farm and Potomac River. What we have accomplished is nothing short of amazing: 820 acres have now been preserved in the core of the battlefield through a combination of purchased properties (~180 acres), Farmland Preservation Easements and Land Trust Easements.

This year, we have continued to follow our mission with focus and commitment. We have supported our battlefield partners, especially the WV Farmland Preservation Board and the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission, provided premier battlefield tours and promoted public education about the battle at local events. We have renewed and strengthened our collaborations with partners including the Civil War Trails and American Battlefield Trust, and built new bridges with the Historic Shepherdstown Museum, Antietam Institute, Americana Corner and the Spirit of Jefferson Advocate newspaper. Specifically, tour leaders were Kevin Pawlak, Professor Tom McGrath, Dr. Jim Broomall and myself. We sponsored a talk at the Opera House by Tom McGrath, author of Shepherdstown: Last Clash of the Antietam Campaign, provided interviews and a tour to a new history reporter at the Spirit of Jefferson newspaper, and presented educational displays at the Shepherdstown Opera House, Shepherdstown Earth Day Celebration, Shepherdstown Streetfest, the local Tomato Jam Festival and the Antietam Institute Fall Conference. We had a very successful Spring Cleanup day, with many SBPA volunteers partnering with the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission and the American Battlefield Trust to clean up the Riverside Park and Cement Mill, Trough Road, and the Osbourn Farm. We made it fun by dividing into ‘Union’ and ‘Confederate’ groups respectively that worked at the river (Union) and Osbourn Farm (Confederate). The cleanup groups then met on Trough Road in the middle of the battlefield where the fighting was most intense, and a successful cleanup was achieved.

Surprising new information about the battle and battlefield continued to emerge this year! We reviewed and edited our maps of the battle thanks Tom McGrath, Kevin Pawlak, Tom Clemens and myself+; and have now expanded to 4 maps showing troop movements and artillery on September 17-18, September 19, September 20 early morning and September 20 late morning. This revealed that Confederate General Ewell’s troops were in fact commanded by Jubal Early during the battle. Then, upon my deep dive into the after-action reports available on Antietam online, General Early provided a key detail about his and A.P. Hill’s camp from September 19-21 at ‘a school and cemetery.’ Other reports showed this location to conclusively be the Smoketown Cemetery (and former school) on the Opequon Creek off Route 45. Further, we confirmed the location of Stonewall Jackson’s camp on the Rocky Marsh Run at Billmyer Mill with a unique account discovered by Kevin Pawlak in the 1922 Shepherdstown Register. Both of these locations are newly discovered and complement the previously known location of Robert E. Lee’s camp on the Rocky Marsh Run off Rt. 480 near Rock Spring Farm. Thus, we now have planned a ‘Confederate Generals Camp Tour’ that complements our efforts in battlefield education.

The SBPA is at an exciting moment of transition heading into 2025. Our first 20 years have been incredibly successful in promoting awareness of the battle and preventing development in the core of the battlefield. However, just this year we lost 40 acres to houses built off Trough Road near River Road where regiments fought above and downstream from the Ford. This is a terrible, permanent outcome given our mission and shows the fight for preservation is not over! In 2025, we will begin our transformation into a ‘Friends of the Battlefield’ group to support transition of the battlefield to the National Park Service. As the NPS virtually requires an active and participatory ‘Friends’ group for the establishment of any new battlefields, we are in the unique position to provide these essential services and enthusiastic volunteers.

We plan to host more events that allow volunteers to participate in the battlefield promotion beyond the Spring and Fall Park Day cleanups, likely one each quarter led by a senior SBPA member. Events will be designed to provide participants unique access to the battlefield, promote fundraising and attract additional members. The types of events we are considering are based on member suggestions and successful similar events at other Parks and battlefields. These include battlefield bluegrass at the Osbourn Farm (maybe with re-enactors and a cookout), renewing the crossing of the Ford, a luminary car tour with lights near sites where soldiers died (similar to Antietam but with 670 lights), initiate visits by local school groups, a corn maze with history stops, a bonfire night on the battlefield, Brews in the Battlefield and/or a related History Happy Hour, and hosting an evening event that includes a speech by an elected official. These exciting events will give our volunteers diverse opportunities to showcase the battlefield to the public, attract new members and catalyze donations.

As we close out 2024, your renewed support of the SBPA will help fund these exciting events and help preserve the battlefield. We continually demonstrate that this is ‘History Worth Learning.’ Renew your membership today and please forward this to friends and family to grow our impact.

I hope you and your family have very Happy Holidays!

Regards,
Mike

Dr. Mike Nickerson
President

Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association
P.O. Box 1695
Shepherdstown, WV 25443

Cell: 304-995-6975

A new webpage has been added to our Battle of Shepherdstown section showing the 8-page edition of Forney’s Weekly “War Press” published November 8, 1862.

Click to visit “this unique piece of Shepherdstown and Civil War history”.

We have made some critical updates to the maps of the Battle of Shepherdstown and the self-guided battlefield tour.  These Tour and Brochure files are the most recent.

Please visit our Maps of the Battlefield page to see those new versions, available as PDF files to download, for the most accurate details yet. Thanks for your support! Dr. Mike Nickerson

Self-Guided Tour Map and Brochure

SBPA President Mike Nickerson led the tour with stops at Ferry Hill, the Cement Mill ruins, the point of furthest Union advance up Trough Road and the historic Osbourn Farm.

View more photos at the Hagerstown Civil War Round Table Facebook page.