Here we see Professor Jonathan Noyalas (on the right) telling the story of Fort Collier. He mentions that Yankee prisoners were put to work building the fort. They were taken at the Battle of Falling Waters in nearby West Virginia.
The fort saw little action until late in the afternoon on September 19, 1864, when, during the Third Battle of Winchester, it became a focal point of the engagement. Here a great Union cavalry charge led by Gen. Wesley Merritt turned the battle against Gen. Jubal A. Early’s outnumbered Confederates. The charge was earthshaking and memorable. A Confederate infantryman who survived the attack later wrote, “I never saw such a sight in my life as that of the tremendous force, the flying banners, sparkling bayonets and flashing sabers moving from the north and east upon the left flank and rear of our army.”Chances are that the soldier who wrote that ran for his life! The Federal charge was composed of 6,000 cavalrymen in five brigades. Among the many Confederate soldiers killed was their commander, Colonel George S. Patton, grandfather of the famous World War II general.
Hastings survived the bullet, which damaged his knee, and lived until 1904. He commissioned the marker after the war. The top of the marker reads Gen. Russell Hastings 23rd Ohio Inf. The side of the marker reads Wounded 19 Sept. 1864.
The battlefield park for Third Winchester was in private hands until a few years ago, so it is not cluttered with monuments like some Civil War battlefields. The landscape is partly wooded and partly open fields.
We began our tour at the north parking lot of the county school complex on First Woods Drive. (See the HMDB map.) These pictures show the first part of our walking tour, which was rather long but pleasant.
The battlefield park features a number of interpretative signs. One of the first ones we saw starts out like this:Gen. Jubal Early assuming that Gen. Phil Sheridan was yet another cautious Union commander, divided his roughly 14,000 troops on a wide front north from Winchester. Sheridan planned to use his army of 39,000 men to attack the portion of Early's force near Winchester. Early, however, learned of the impending attack and raced to concentrate his army at Winchester.
| There will be a single-day class in the Northern Shenandoah Valley on April 9, 2011. See the LFCC Announcement for Civil War History: Every man must take care of himself: The Second Battle of Kernstown. The instructor is Jonathan Noyalas, seen here in the class I took in October (19-second video). |
Here's Ben when we first got him. He was about 5 months old. This was back in 2003 when we still lived in Montclair. 
I knew I was in the right place even before I saw the old Lincoln homestead or the "Lincoln Cemetery" sign because there were so many cars parked along the road — perhaps a hundred. A crowd had turned out for the Lincoln's Birthday ceremony on Saturday. 
See all my Lincoln posts.
On previous trips to the arboretum in Harrisonburg we found ducks in the large pond or in the creek that feeds it. This time they were in the smaller catchment at the bottom of the terraced gardens. I happened upon this when I walked down from the upper parking lot — the pavilion parking lot was closed that day.
The sprawling JMU campus includes a new section on the east side of Interstate 81. I believe this modern building contains the dining hall. 
glass and a bird posing on a perch and the mountain ridge in the background.
This squirrel must have been hungry. He made his way to our deck, a story above the ground, to scavenge a little scattering of seed that fell from our new bird feeder.
This picture is from a week ago, when we still had icicles hanging from the eaves. Recent rains have cleared the roof, although we still see patches of snow in the yard. 
During the summer we can't see the homes next door to ours. But when the leaves are off the trees, we can glimpse them through the woods. The bright trim on this a-frame makes it easy to spot.
These girls are going uphill while standing on a "carpet lift," which is like a moving sidewalk on an incline. At the top of the lift they will take their turn sliding down the "snow lanes."
The tubing run is free of obstructions and engineered for an easy stop at the bottom, so it should be a lot safer than tubing on just any hill, which I recently read is more dangerous than sledding because tubes tend to spin around, making control just about impossible.
I took this picture in Winchester in October. The duck is so bright that the squirrel almost disappears by comparison.
I moved our green-roofed suet feeder into the backyard because it doesn't seem too susceptible to squirrel raids. I suspended this new one off the deck where the squirrels rarely visit. The birds like it just fine!
That's "Monty" the Montero. We don't use him a lot because the car is more comfortable and easier on gas, but Monty has been invaluable in the snow.
Today was the "ribbon cutting" for the new room at the Basye-Orkney Springs Community Library. Mona Wolf brought this fancy cake decorated with books and a yellow bow.
Cardinals are beautiful birds! And the male with his bright red feathers is so colorful - a wonderful contrast to a white snowy background.
This morning we were pleasantly surprised to find our driveway had been plowed before we took the dogs out at 9 o'clock. At least, it was partially cleared. Perhaps the guys had an equipment problem — it looks like they got one lane cleared almost to the top. A little work with the shovel will get the car out tomorrow. 
Our little library has an addition! Steven Custer Construction built it and it looks great!
October was a beautiful month! I miss the sunshine and warm days!
