July 21, 24 and 28, 2018
Wapping Heights/Manassas Gap Anniversary Programs
Battle of Wapping Heights - 155th Anniversary Program and Tour
Front Royal, Virginia

(Saturday, July 21, 2018, 10am)
 
1 55th anniversary program and tour on the Battle of Wapping Heights led by Matt Wending.  (Fought on July 23, 1863, the action is also known as the Battle of Manassas Gap.)  The event will begin with a short talk at the Warren Heritage Society (101 Chester Street, Front Royal) followed by a car caravan tour of battlefield sites.  Sponsored by the Warren Heritage Society, the Warren Rifles Confederate Museum, and the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.  Free but pre-registration is required. To register, click here or call 540-740-4545. For more information, contact Matt Wendling at 540-636-3354.  
Second Kernstown Anniversary Programs
Pritchard-Grim Farm
Second Kernstown Anniversary Programs
Kernstown Battlefield on the Pritchard-Grim Farm, Winchester
(July 21, 24, 28, 2018)
 
The Kernstown Battlefield Association will commemorate the 154rd anniversary of the Second Battle of Kernstown with a series of events on July 21, 24, and 28, 2018. All events are free and open to the public.

On Saturday, July 21, and Saturday, July 28, we will be giving special walking tours of the Second Battle of Kernstown at 11 am and 1 pm. Please dress accordingly, and meet at the Visitors' Center. (We do have a golf cart for those needing a ride.) 
On Tuesday, July 24, the actual date of the Second Battle of Kernstown, the battlefield will be open from 10 am to 4 pm.

The Kernstown Battlefield Association is totally rebuilding the front porch to the 1854 Pritchard House. Please come and watch as the rebuilding progresses. We also have incorporated new exhibits into our Museum, especially in the Artillery Annex. Stop by for a look.  610 Battle Park Drive, Winchester.  For more information, go to the battlefield website here or Facebook page here.
   
Summary: The Battle of Wapping Heights (Manassas Gap)
Battle of Manassas Gap
The Battle of Wapping Heights (Manassas Gap)
(July 23, 1863)
 
After recrossing the Potomac River at Williamsport during its retreat after the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's army withdraws up the Shenandoah Valley. Gen. George B. Meade's Union army crosses the Potomac River east of the Blue Ridge and follows Lee into Virginia. On July 23, Meade orders the III Corps, under Gen. William. H. French to cut off the retreating Confederate columns at Front Royal by forcing passage through Manassas Gap. At first light, French begins slowly pushing Col. E. J. Walker's Confederate brigade (Gen. Richard Anderson's division) back into the gap. About 4:30 pm, a strong Union attack drives Walker's men until they are reinforced by Gen. Robert Rodes's division and artillery. By dusk, the poorly coordinated Union attacks are abandoned. During the night, Confederate forces withdraw into the Luray Valley. On July 24, the Union army occupies Front Royal, but Lee's army is safely beyond pursuit.
 
Summary: The Second Battle of Kernstown
The Second Battle of Kernstown
(July 24, 1864)
 
After the Union victory at the Battle of Rutherford's Farm (July 20, 1864), Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early withdrew his forces south to Fisher's Hill.  Believing that Early's army was no longer a threat in the Valley, Union Gen. Horatio Wright ordered the VI and XIX Corps to return to Washington, where they were to be sent to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's before Petersburg. Wright left Gen. George Crook with three divisions and some cavalry to hold Winchester. Under orders to prevent reinforcements from being sent to Grant, Early marched north on July 24 against Crook. After an hour of stubborn resistance at Pritchard's Hill, the Federal line collapsed and Crook's divisions streamed back in disarray through the streets of Winchester. Crook retreated to the Potomac River and crossed near Williamsport on July 26. As a result of this defeat and the burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on July 30, Grant returned the VI and XIX Corps and appointed Gen. Philip H. Sheridan as commander of Union forces in the Valley.
 
Further Reading
For more on the Battle of Wapping Heights, see the article, "Too Good to Be True" by Rick Barram in the March 2018 issue of America's Civil War Magazine. An online version of that article is available here.
 
The battle is also covered in detail in the book Meade and Lee After Gettysburg: The Forgotten Final Stage of the Gettysburg Campaign, from Falling Waters to Culpeper Court House, July 14-31, 1863 by Jeffrey Hunt.
 
For more on the Second Battle of Kernstown, (as well as other events and battles in July-August 1864, including the battles of Cool Spring and Rutherford's Farm), see Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign by Scott C. Patchan.  
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District | 540-740-4545 | theder@svbf.net | www.ShenandoahAtWar.org 
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