Pritchard-Grim Farm

I LOVE the local newspaper here. You can definitely tell you live in a small town when the local news is about vistors walking their dogs at the vistors center. What I love about the paper is a list of all the local events. We have everything from Spaghetti feeds to concerts in the park to Cow Drops. Not sure what a cow drop is. Well the event is coming up on Aug 9th and I plan to be there camera in hand. You won't want to miss that blog. The other thing I love about the newspaper is the history. One day it had an article about recently finding George Washington's boyhood home. I didn't even know it was missing. Last week was a big article about the renovations happening at the Pritchard-Grim Farm. The First and Second Battle of Kernstown (battles in the Civil War) happened right in the back yard. Over the last 8 years they have been restoring the outside to its original state and to my luck they were having an open house. The house is located about a mile outside of Winchester.

Camera in hand, Corrie, Austin and I headed out to experience this piece of history.

Whenever combat raged across the farmstead, the family hid in the celler. When the fighting subsided the house was used as a field hospital with the wife of the family attending to many wounded

Front of the house

Back of the house. The house was built in 1854 and was occupied until about 1940. At some point you can tell there was an addition on the back of the house. That is where the kitchen was in the early 1900's. No one I talked to at the open house knew where the original kitchen was during the Civil War. To me I think the kitchen was on the bottom floor.

The rooms on the second floor were for entertaining. Nothing has been restored on the inside of the house. The wall paper is the original wall paper from the Civil War

The bedrooms where on the top floor

Being in the house without it restored was pretty creepy. But the best part was the backyard where the battles actually occurred. The land is strategically located between two major north/south roads. On the northern perimeter is a hill known as Pritchard's Hill. This a view of the hill from the house.

As Corrie, Austin and I were walking to the top of the hill we pretended to be soldiers. Although it was an easy hike to the top we couldn't imagine walking and marching all day and then fighting in hand to hand combat fighting for your life. Standing at the top of the hill, you can easily appreciate its military importance. The hill does not look that tall but from atop you have a great view of the area. After having spent the winter of 1861/1862 in Winchester the heavily outnumbered command of Confederate General Thomas J (Stonewall) Jackson was forced to evacuate the town on March 11, 1862. A mere twelve days later, after being misinformed that most of the Federal Army had left Winchester, Jackson marched north to engage his enemy. Colonel Nathan Kimball placed 16 Union cannon atop Pritchard's Hill to contest Jackson's movements. They were supported by two brigades of infantry deployed in front of the hill and east of the main north/south road. Nine hundred brave Virginians marched across the open, marshy lowlands in front of Pritchard's Hill. The Union cannon on Pritchard's Hill bombarded the advancing Confederates causing them to shift westward to an area known as Sandy Ridge. The Federals advanced reinforcements and met the Confederates in battle. After a bitter two-hour battle the outnumbered Confederates began to run out of ammunition and were forced to retreat southward. Thus ended the First Battle of Kernstown. It was Stonewall Jackson's only defeat during the Civil War. On July 24, 1864 Pritchard's Hill and the farm was also the site for the Second Battle of Kernstown. In this battle future presidents Rutherford B Hayes and William McKinley fought for the Union but lost the battle. Both retreated to Winchester

This is a view from atop the hill towards Sandy Ridge

This is a view from atop the hill looking towards the house. The Confederates came from south of the house past the house and then headed westward towards Sandy Ridge. It is hard to see but the house is among the trees to the left of the white barn

This is a few from the house to the south west. The Confederates would have come up on the left side of the picture then across where the picture was taken to the Sandy Ridge which is on the right of the picture.

This view is actually from the south looking towards the house. The house is among the trees. The white barn you see is the white barn next to the house. Pritchard's Hill is on the other side of the trees. This is what the Confederates saw. What a different view than the Union had. From on top of the hill we could see this spot we are standing on. The Union could see all advancing soldiers. But from this point the Confederates have no idea what is beyond the trees. They have no idea until they are at the house there are 16 cannon's pointing directly at them. By this time there are no more trees to hide in. Not that hiding in Civil War combat mattered at all since Civil War combat was done only a few yards from the enemy. It isn't like today where you can hide behind objects several hundred yards and hit your target.

I can't wait to see what is in this weeks newspaper.