The area's roots to the Civil War are so strong that it joined Harpers Ferry, W.Va., Saturday in beginning the sesquicentennial commemoration two years early.
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| Mike Rearick of Inwood, W.Va. (left), Sterling Ambrose of Berkeley Springs, W.Va., and Tom Dunne of Hedgesville, W.Va., portray soldiers from 1859 during the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Sesquicentennial kick-off Saturday at Abram's Delight in Winchester. The 150th anniversary of the war's start will be in 2011. (Photo by Jeff Taylor) |
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The Virginia Sesquicentennial, recognizing the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, formally began Saturday at Abram's Delight in Winchester.
Noted Virginia Tech history professor James I. "Bud" Robertson Jr., director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, said Saturday that the Shenandoah Valley proved to be crucial in the outcome of the war, with the area serving as the source of food for Confederate troops and a target for the Union.
Winchester alone changed hands between the Union and Confederacy more than 70 times, making it focal point of the war, he said.
Robertson said the Shenandoah Valley's offerings included wheat, corn, livestock, and orchards.
"It had a comfortable middle class," he said. "The Shenandoah Valley was important because of location. It was the western flank of all military operations."
Robertson said the Valley's being the breadbasket of the Confederacy made it a vital part of the uprising, and leaders like Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson knew it.
"In January 1862, Jackson said 'If the Valley is lost, Virginia is lost,'" Robertson said.
He said Union Gen. Philip Sheridan even made it a point to burn Harrisonburg at about the same time that Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was burning Atlanta.
Robertson said the celebration of the war should be a time for enjoying history, building on visits by citizens to boost the economy of various towns and counties throughout Virginia.
He also championed a film project he worked on, "Virginia and the Civil War," a three-hour piece divided into 20-minute segments to explain Virginia's importance throughout the war.
Designed for the classroom, the film allows teachers and instructors to talk, then show a segment, and then conclude with more discussion, Robertson said.
Cheryl Jackson, executive director of the Virginia Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War Commission, said starting the celebration two years early allows for an emphasis on the importance of various battles or events in the commonwealth.
"Here in Virginia, we are uniquely in a position to tell a little better story," she said.
A traveling exhibition will take the story to communities, an enhancement of what was done for the Civil War's centennial celebration in the 1960s.
Jackson said one exhibit, the document digitization project, will allow people to share their heirlooms.
Those diaries and journals, she said, often contain significant information about how things were going for soldiers, and the information could foster new discussion or ideas about the Civil War.
Irvin E. Hess, president of Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, said communities throughout the region will be able to use the sesquicentennial as a chance to tell their story, revealing facts about the communities and the people who lived there.
"The Valley is off to a wonderful start," he said.
Jackson said Virginia's celebration will build, and it will be running smoothly by the time the actual sesquicentennial begins in 2011.
