War and Peace

This peaceful scene was once the stage of a bloody Civil War battle between Confederate and Union troops. Bushong's Farm, in the background, is one of the few farmhouses left standing after Union troops laid waste the Shenandoah Valley, and was used as a hospital by both Union and Confederate troops (the family took shelter in the basement as the battle was raging).

Hard to believe today, but Virginia was the site of four out of ten of the bloodiest battles of the war. The fertile and beautiful Shenandoah Valley was the "breadbasket of the Confederacy" and also a natural corridor for Confederate forces moving north. Knowing this, Union forces under General David Hunter moved all the way down the valley, burning farms, barns and crops, carrying off or slaughtering cattle - a deciding factor in the war. Even Union sympathisers and pacifists such as the Mennonites were not spared.

None of this will be news to American blippers, but it was all new to us - I don't recall learning much about the Civil War in Britain, let alone in the US. The valley, the hills, fields and trees are so beautiful and yet have been the scene of so much suffering and hardship. As one of the booklets said, it was 'a most uncivil war'.

The drive from Massunutten to Harrisonburg, and then on to the Virginia Museum of the Civil War,was a blaze of colour, with bright, clear sunlight - not at all what the weather forecast had lead us to expect. We avoided the main highways in both directions, and drove back cross-country and up to Skyline Drive again, catching the sunset (but no bears today). I will be really sorry to leave this area tomorrow.