172 Acres at 2nd Winchester

[eBrowne]

The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation needs to raise $35,000 for expenses to protect this property. A 3.3 million dollar easement was donated to the Foundation and now they need money for expenses.

Yonley Farm at Second Winchester — Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District

www.shenandoahatwar.org

 

[LCYingling3rd]

Thank you so much for posting this.

I had ancestors that fought on both sides at 2nd Winchester. My paternal great grandfather, George E Yingling, and his brother were in the 87th PA Infantry and my mother had an ancestor in the 2nd VA Infantry. Her ancestor, Samuel Stuckey, was present with the 2nd VA when they captured five regimental colors and hundreds of Union soldiers, including George E Yingling, during the early morning fighting at Stephenson's Depot on June 15, 1863. Obviously, a battle where my mother's relative captured my father's relative is quite amazing to me!

I will be unable to attend the tours and other activities being put on by the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation (SVBF) for the 162nd anniversary on June 13-15, 2025. They have some excellent tours planned for June 14th. Since I will be unable to attend, I stopped by and toured 2nd Winchester battlefield sites on Wednesday of this week. It was important to me to contribute to the preservation of this critical 172-acre plot of hallowed ground, so I ended my tour by stopping by the lovely 1840's Court House that the SVBF has preserved and turned into a fine museum in downtown Winchester to make a payment.

While there, I ran into two old friends! SVBF staff members Jack Owens and Michael Gionfriddo just happened to be at the Court House when I stopped by. As many of our CivilWarTalk members will remember, we had our 2023 Fall Muster in the Shenandoah Valley, and we had lots of support from the SVBF. As members may recall, Jack Owens led several excellent tours for us. And you may also remember Michael, who was not working for the SVBF at the time we were there, however, he was one of two docents at the Stonewall Jackson Headquarters Museum that we visited! He is now a trusted and excellent guide for the SVBF. I attended some of his excellent tours during the 160th Third Winchester activities in 2024.

So yes! Thank you for posting this important preservation information! I hope others can contribute what they can.

P.S. you can see on the linked SVBF map that the 87th PA was involved in the June 14th assault on the West Fort, and they were repulsed as the tidal wave of Confederates swept into town!