Help Save 98 Acres at Cross Keys
We have an amazing opportunity to save almost 100 acres on the Cross Keys Battlefield and do it for pennies on the dollar! I’m talking about permanent protection of 98 acres that would normally cost more than $600,000 – that we can preserve for only $35,000! The only thing that makes this possible is the extreme generosity of the landowners who have agreed to donate an easement on the property, leaving us only the due diligence costs of the transaction to pay. $35,000 isn’t an insignificant amount of money, but it’s nothing when compared to the hundreds of thousands we would have to pay if the owners had not approached us with a passion for preservation and kindness in their hearts. Not only is this core battlefield, it’s at Cross Keys, one of the most storied and now most threatened battlefields in the Valley.
Cross Keys. Say those two words to any student of the American Civil War and immediately the drama of that battle and that campaign will be brought to mind. Most would recall Jackson’s daring; his gamble-it-all approach; his refusal to fail and the dogged persistence that drove his army to the brink of exhaustion and total collapse – and then total victory. There are few, if any, campaigns in military history that elicit as much fascination and study as Jackson’s Valley Campaign of 1862. Though that campaign came to an end 162 years ago, a new fight rages across the very same battlefields where Jackson once waged war. This fight is against time itself, and all the change that time brings with it. And though our war is much different than the one that consumed this land in 1862, we too are fighting for the future of our country. We know that preserving these battlefields preserves the lessons of the past and keeps the inspiring flames of history aglow for future generations.
These 98 acres belonged to Dr. J. B. Webb at the time of the war and, as Jackson’s Confederates took up positions along Mill Creek Ridge a quarter mile south of the property, their advance guard pushed through Webb’s farm and established a forward post along its northern edge. Men of the 15th Alabama would hold that position as the first shots of the battle rang out and would spar with the advance elements of Freemont’s federal army as they appeared over the crest of White Oak Ridge. As more and more of Cluseret’s Federal Brigade came onto line, the Alabamians withdrew across the Webb Farm to the relative safety of the main Confederate line. Their withdraw was supported by Brockenbrough’s 4-gun battery along the ridge who held Cluseret’s Ohioans in check long enough for the Alabama boys to make good their skedaddle. Late in the day, Fremont ordered an assault on the Confederate left and Schenck’s Ohio Brigade cautiously advanced across the Webb Farm, supported by Cluseret’s two Ohio regiments and four guns of Captain DeBeck’s Battery K, 1st Ohio Light Artillery. Those Buckeyes in Blue met stiff resistance, especially from artillery, and their advance only reached the southern end of the Webb Farm before stopping short of reaching the main Confederate line.
So, with that said, it all comes down to us.
Let’s honor the men who fought at Cross Keys, and thank the current owners of this property for their amazing generosity by raising the funds we need to preserve the Webb Farm for all time. Please join in this campaign and protect this beautiful property before time steals it away and another piece of our history is lost.
Will Eichler of Civil War Digital Digest at the Cross Keys Battlefield
View Across the Webb Farm