Cedar Mountain Battlefield Foundation
Preserving and interpretating the historic Cedar Mountain Battlefield
Come help us celebrate an Ole Fashion Holiday fun day at Cedar Mountain Battlefield. Learn how the Civil War Soldiers at Cedar Mountain spent Christmas. What was Santa like? Have fun helping to trim the tree in real Civil War holiday attire. Followed by listening to stories about Civil War life and sipping hot chocolate. This event will take place on Saturday, December 14th from 10-11:30 AM at Cedar Mountain Battlefield.
Please RSVP by December 9th to [email protected]. 
Virginia has more Civil War battlefields – over 450 – than any other state. Cedar Mountain Battlefield outside of Culpeper is one of these historic battlefields. These battlefields have been preserved to ensure that future generations would know about the valor of the soldiers that fought here, and the importance of their efforts would be preserved and shared with the general public. Cedar Mountain Battlefield has added another goal: to restore the land of the battlefield to its natural habitat and encourage people to visit, become informed about the battle that occurred here, and to appreciate and appreciate the important role this land can serve in supporting nature.
Cedar Mountain Battlefield (CMB) is among the many battlefields supported by the American Battlefield Trust. It also supported by the Cedar Mountain Battlefield Foundation. In October 2024 the State of Virginia provided $3.9 million of State funding to protect the Civil War Battlefields. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has the responsibility to work with the battlefields and oversee the use of these funds. This will support CMB’s interest to use its property for educational purposes by its own staff and community organizations such as Old Rag Master Naturalists to engage others interested in resource management, conservation and education.
The Old Rag Master Naturalists chapter has established a partnership with CMB to support its long-term commitment to remove invasive plants and plant and promote native vegetation in their place. The battlefield encompasses over 200 hundred acres that includes fields, woodlands and a small pond. The opportunity to create vernal pools is being explored.
Our common goal is to restore the natural habitat to increase pollinators, native insects, birds and other animals. Given the large acreage in open fields, there will be a focus on improving habitat for nesting birds in these fields. In our first few months of partnering with Cedar Mountain Battlefield, ORMN has installed a bluebird trail that include 8 boxes and a CMB volunteer has expressed interest in helping to monitor these boxes next year. We also plan on installing a kestrel box later this year.
ORMN volunteers have worked with CMB to begin to removing invasive plants as well as and conducting the October Big Day bird count, which engaged CMB volunteers, ORMN members, and interested citizens.
ORMN’s partnership with Cedar Mountain Battlefield is an example of how other Master Naturalists chapters could work with other Civil War battlefields around the State to promote native habitat restoration and use this “sacred ground” to educate people about both history and nature.
Dr. Logan Brandt’s Farm stood at the base of Cedar Mountain below Reverend Philip Slaughter’s home which was situated up the slope of the mountain, and between the Crittenden Farm. During the course of the war the farm suffered the loss of crops, animals, fences, and eventually, buildings, to the soldiers of the Union army.
Mr. Morgan Pierce, the previous director of the Culpeper Museum of History received the following depositions of Dr. Brandt’s neighbors documenting the slow dismantling of the farm. Karen Quaintance of the museum staff transcribed the documents. I have made slight changes in the transcriptions by spelling out abbreviated words and other minor changes, for easier reading. Continue reading “The Brandt Farm Dismantled”
General N.P. Banks initiated the fight at Cedar Mountain, against Stonewall Jackson, and though his troops fought with incredible courage and achieved at first, remarkable success, the end result was devastating. His corps was essentially out of service for the next 3 weeks of the war until they were heavily re-enforced with new regiments. General Banks never wrote an official report on the battle he instigated. Banks was primarily a politician, and most concerned with his public reputation, which suffered after the battle. In December of 1864, while giving testimony in Washington, D.C. to the Committee on the Conduct of the War, regarding the Red River Expedition, he brought up of his own volition, the subject of his marching orders from General Pope, on the morning of August 9, 1862, the day of the battle of Cedar Mountain. His statement meant to justify his decision to attack Jackson. When General John Pope, who was serving in the West, accidentally learned of this testimony, he replied to the committee in the form of a long letter.
This post presents the testimony published in the following volume: “Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War: at the second session Thirty-eighth Congress;” by, United States Congress, Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War; Wade, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1800-1878; Gooch, Daniel Wheelwright, 1820-1891; United States, Congress (38th, 2nd session: 1864-1865). Publication date 1865.
That said, these reports are difficult to locate. They are in the Miscellaneous Section (p. 44-54) at the end of the volume that contains the following reports: Sherman-Johnston. Light-Draught Monitors. Massacre of Cheyenne Indians. Ice Contracts. Miscellaneous.
Continue reading “The Controversy Over General Bank’s Orders”
This is the fourth and last post in a series on the service of Captain Erwin Ambrose Bowen of the 28th New York Volunteers and the 151st New York Volunteers. We are grateful to Mary Z. Robinson for sharing her ancestor’s story with us.
Introduction
Presented here is the narrative of Harry Bowen, the youngest son of Captain Erwin Bowen, Co. D, 28th New York Volunteers. Harry attended the 1902 40th reunion of the regiment at Culpeper, VA, and the dedication of the 28th NY monument in the Culpeper National Cemetery. This document was in the collection of Lon Lacy, received from Capt. Bowen’s descendant, Mary Z. Robinson, in 2012 at the 150th anniversary of the battle. Continue reading “Captain E. A. Bowen, Part 4; A Visit to Culpeper”
Many people turned out for Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield’s first day of activities commemorating the 160th Anniversary of the battle. The weekend event lasts two days. Here are some pictures from day 1.
List of participants registered for 2022 Slaughter on the Mountain Continue reading “Annual event participants list”