Valley Foundation Buys 11 Acres at Cross Keys
January 2004

NEW MARKET, Va. - The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation has purchased 11 additional acres of core battlefield land on the Cross Keys battlefield in Rockingham County. This brings the total amount of protected land at Cross Keys to more than 210 acres.

The $100,000 purchase is the first one made since the creation of a preservation plan for the Cross Keys and Port Republic battlefields and is consistent with the directives of the plan, according to foundation Executive Director Howard J. Kittell.

He said that local landowners in the Cross Keys and Port Republic areas worked to craft a vision for how to preserve the battlefields for a year. "The Battlefields Foundation was pleased to be the catalyst for this effort."

The foundation, Rockingham County, and a 37-member citizens steering committee jointly prepared a preservation plan for the Cross Keys and Port Republic battlefields. With funding and support from the National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program, they established a process for developing a community-based action plan to preserve the battlefields.

The plan calls for the Battlefields Foundation to acquire small areas for public access and interpretation, while acquiring conservation easements on larger areas to keep land in farms. Using easements, landowners can extinguish development rights on their property.

The newly-protected parcel occupies part of a north-facing bluff on which four batteries of Confederate artillery were positioned on June 8, 1862, during the Battle of Cross Keys. It was purchased through the Land and Water Conservation Fund from the foundation's annual appropriation for land acquisition. In announcing the purchase, Kittell thanked Congressmen and Senators for their support.

The battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic were the decisive victories of Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Valley Campaign. At Cross Keys, one of Jackson's divisions beat back the army of Union Gen. John C. Fremont approaching Harrisonburg, while elements of a second division held back the vanguard of Gen. James Shields's division advancing toward Port Republic on the Luray Road.

During the night of June 8 to 9, Jackson withdrew from in front of Fremont and at dawn attacked two of Shields's four brigades, precipitating the battle of Port Republic. Fremont reached the vicinity too late. With the retreat of both Federal armies, Jackson was freed to join the Confederate army and Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Seven Days' Battles against McClellan's army before Richmond.