Help Us Add to the Battlefield Experience!

Who among us Civil War nuts don’t love the site of a cannon on a battlefield? We’re drawn to them when we visit battle sites and though they no longer belch fire and iron, they still have power. We are right in the middle of our massive initiative to create new battlefield parks here in the Shenandoah Valley. We’re taking the lands that we’ve worked together to preserve and we’re opening them to the public. These newly accessible properties are stunningly beautiful and valuable as open space, but they are not typical park landscapes – they’re battlefields.

Every acre of this ground has been hallowed by the bravery and sacrifice of the men who fought there. These are fields where heroes tread – and as we open them as parks, we want visitors to remember where they are and the importance of the site. Getting outdoors, enjoying the fields and forests and taking in the great views are all tremendously important benefits for our visitors, but, while they are in our parks, we want them to come face to face with history. It’s important that they’re reminded that they are in a different kind of park and on some level, leave understanding that they’ve walked on sacred ground.

We’ve been making this connection for visitors by returning historic fencing to some of our landscapes, installing new interpretive signage, opening long lost war-time vistas, erecting monuments, and restoring key historic features throughout our battlefield sites. Now we want to take the battlefield experience here in the Shenandoah Valley to the next level – we want to add cannons to the landscape.

For the average visitor, young and old alike, few battlefield park features draw as much attention or inspire the imagination quite like the great guns marking those that once shook the very ground that we’ve now preserved. Today we have guns marking artillery positions at only two locations. Think about that; that’s only two locations on more than 7,500 acres we’ve preserved. Thanks to the generosity of the Graves family, we have guns marking the position of Breathed’s Battery on the Huntsberry Farm at the Third Winchester Battlefield and marking the second position of McLaughlin’s Confederate gunners on the New Market Battlefield. They are a magnet for visitors, popular photo locations, and heighten the feel and gravitas of the sites where they’re located. Cannons for the average visitor and the seasoned historian alike invoke the essence of the war itself and inspire the minds eye to see – really see – what happened on that spot. How many of us sat precariously on the axel or wheel of a cannon while our parents snapped a family photo? Or maybe ran from the muzzle to the tail pretending to load the gun and fire . . . transported for a moment to another time.

Cannons are not superfluous when creating a new battlefield park. If you want visitors to have the same type of experience that inspired you and me, they are not extra. We need cannons at our battlefield sites and I’m hoping that we can come together and raise the funds needed to get them. At a cost of more than $15,000 per gun, we are not going to be able to mark every key artillery position on every battlefield in the Valley, but we can select the most impactful locations and work together to return cannons to those sites. Each gun will mark an actual artillery position, making each a monument to the men of the artillery who once risked their lives at that location. The interpretive power of this project will be significant, and the visual impact will be stunning. For the average visitor, cannons make these sites “real battlefield parks.”

For $254,000 we can put 14 cannons at 8 sites on 5 battlefields (Third Winchester, Second Winchester, New Market, Port Republic, and Piedmont)– and instantly transform and elevate the experience of our visitors. Here’s the best part – thanks to Virginia’s General Assembly and our current governor, we already have half of the funds needed! That means we can match every donation, dollar for dollar, doubling the impact of every gift up to $127,000!

For those who might be interested in a naming opportunity, we are offering naming rights on a first come first serve basis to anyone who makes a $7,500 gift or more. For each $7,500 gifted, a plaque honoring the donor will be permanently placed on one of the 14 guns. Whatever the amount, please consider making a gift to this campaign, and putting your shoulder to the wheel. Every gift counts and every gift is appreciated.

Artillery helped determine the outcome of many of the battles fought throughout the Shenandoah Valley. Today, artillery can help win the battle for the hearts and minds of our visitors. It’s a battle that we are waging every day. So, let’s bring up the guns, get them unlimbered, and get them into action. . .

If you’re interested in making a gift of $7,500 or more towards one of these 14 cannons, please call Kirsten Heder at 540-740-4545, ext. 112.