Winchester, Virginia, in the American Civil War

The city of Winchester, Virginia, and the surrounding area, were the site of numerous battles during the American Civil War, as contending armies strove to control the lower Shenandoah Valley.

Ties between Winchester and the American Civil War are considered to have begun with the suppression of John Brown's raid in October 1859, in nearby Harpers Ferry.

Colonel Lewis Tilghman Moore, of the 31st Virginia Militia of Frederick County, assembled 150 militiamen from the Marion Guards, the Morgan Continentals, and the Mount Vernon Riflemen, and moved them on the Winchester and Potomac Railroad to Harpers Ferry, 30 miles (48 km) to the east.

When Union troops arrived his body was on display in the one-room museum of the college, with a label that read: "John Brown's son—thus always with Abolitionists", and the lips "purposely distorted in disrespect".

To dishonor a son of Brown, who also died fighting slavery, and displaying the body as a crude lesson to abolitionists, was deeply offensive to the Union officers.

Link writes: On December 14, Robert Young Conrad, subsequently the Unionists' leader at the Richmond secession convention, composed resolutions adopted by a Frederick County meeting in Winchester.

Although Northerners had launched an "insane war" against Southern institutions, Frederick citizens regarded slavery "as perfectly consistent with civilization, humanity, and piety."

"[5]At the same time, the resolutions renounced secession, promised "unfaltering attachment" to the Union, proposed boycotting imports from some Northern states, and called for, if necessary, a national convention to resolve the sectional issues.

[6] In January 1861, Virginia's Governor John Letcher and the State Assembly called for and sponsored the Peace Conference of 1861, which ended up failing in its purpose to get the U.S. Congress to review an agreed upon compromise.

Immediately after this vote, Governor Letcher ordered the capture of the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and Winchester companies of the Virginia militia were among the first to arrive, under the command of Colonel Thomas J.

Sitting just south of the Potomac River, Winchester lay on the only route between the east and western United States with direct connections to Washington, D.C.

During the war, Winchester suffered greatly under five major periods of Union occupation: During the Federal occupation of Winchester, many residents were exiled from town, personal property was stolen, citizens rendering medical assistance to wounded soldiers were shot and murdered, homes were illegally stolen, occupied and destroyed, a medical school was burned down, and the citizens of the Commonwealth were not allowed to vote on re-admittance to the Union under the reign of Major General Schofield.

Shortly thereafter, by May 31, Major Gen. Jackson departed Winchester up the Valley (southwest) and Banks re-entered the town, occupying it with forces from June 4 to September 2, 1862).

Major General Robert Milroy, commander of the 2nd Division, entered in force at the beginning of the year in 1863, coincidental with the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Milroy is most famous for his edict that: In this city (Winchester) of about 6,000 inhabitants ... my will is absolute law – none dare contradict or dispute my slightest word or wish.

The secesh here have heard many terrible stories about me before I came and supposed me to be a perfect Nero for cruelty and blood, and many of them both male and female tremble when they come into my presence to ask for small privileges, but the favors I grant them are slight and few for I confess I feel a strong disposition to play the tyrant among these traitors.Milroy was noted for his harsh treatment of women.

[13] Many of the local blacks freed in January 1863 under the Emancipation Proclamation fled the area, presumably fearing reconquest by the Confederates (as in fact happened later in the year).

Winchester Medical College, at which Hunter McGuire was a professor and his father the founder president, was deliberately burned in 1862 by the Union troops of Gen. Nathaniel Banks in retaliation for what happened to John Brown and his men.

The Federal Secretary of War Edwin Stanton summarized his impression of Winchester after visiting there by noting that "the men are all in the army" and "the women are the devil", while Maj. Gen. Milroy said that "Hell is not full enough ...

Noted diary accounts include: Among those who took part in battles at Winchester were future U.S. presidents William McKinley and Rutherford B. Hayes, who both were officers in the U. S. Army of West Virginia.