Preservation Victory at Port Republic

107 Acres Saved at The Coaling

PORT REPUBLIC, Virginia — The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation has announced the preservation of 107 acres of “The Coaling” on the Port Republic battlefield in Rockingham County. The Coaling, one of the most famed Civil War battlefield sites in the Shenandoah Valley, was the critical position during the Battle of Port Republic, the final battle of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson’s legendary Valley Campaign.

“This is a great victory for battlefield preservation – at one of the most desperately fought-over sites in the Shenandoah Valley,” said Keven Walker, CEO of the Battlefields Foundation. During the battle, fought on June 9, 1862, the Coaling witnessed a ferocious struggle between Union troops and the famed “Louisiana Tigers.” As renowned Civil War historian Robert K. Krick described the fighting, "Men ceased to be men. They cheered and screamed like lunatics – they fought like demons – they died like fanatics."

This preservation project began in 2017, when the Battlefields Foundation learned that that this historic ground had been divided into building lots and was on the cusp of being developed. Now, after 6 years of hard work, it has been forever preserved. The total cost of the project was $1,555,000. Funding came from private funds, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund, and the American Battlefield Protection Program. With the preservation of these 107 acres, the Battlefields Foundation has now preserved a total of 760 acres of the Port Republic battlefield.

During the Battle of Port Republic, the Coaling was a critical Union artillery position that decimated Confederate attackers on the lower ground below. “The shell from the battery on the coaling was ripping the ground open all around us, and the air was full of screaming fragments of exploding shell,” recalled Confederate Col. George M. Neese. With his initial attacks stymied by that artillery fire, Stonewall Jackson sent Gen. Richard Taylor’s Louisiana troops to seize the heights. After a series of back-and-forth assaults and horrific fighting, the Confederates finally gained control of the Coaling, and the Federals were forced to retreat.

With the ground now preserved, future plans are for the Coaling to be opened to the public with new trails and interpretive signs – part of the Foundation’s growing number of such sites in the Valley.

Map of the Battle of Port Republic with the newly preserved land in yellow