Winchester, Virginia
Encyclopedia
Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...

 of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census. Winchester is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Frederick County
Frederick County, Virginia
Frederick County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is included in the Winchester, Virginia-West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. For ten years it was the home of George Washington. As of 2010, the population was...

 and the principal city of the Winchester, Virginia-West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area
Winchester, VA-WV MSA
Winchester, VA-WV MSA is a U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget as of June, 2003. Its population as of 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates is 122,369....

, which is a part of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...

. The Bureau of Economic Analysis
Bureau of Economic Analysis
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides important economic statistics including the gross domestic product of the United States. Its stated mission is to "promote a better understanding of the U.S...

 combines the city of Winchester with surrounding Frederick County for statistical purposes. Winchester is home to Shenandoah University
Shenandoah University
Shenandoah University is a comprehensive private university located in Winchester, Virginia in the United States. It has an enrollment of approximately 3,800 students across more than ninety programs in six schools: College of Arts & Sciences, Harry F. Byrd, Jr. School of Business, Shenandoah...

 and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street, Winchester, Virginia. The Museum interprets the art, history, and culture of the great valley for which it is named. This regional museum complex includes a historic house dating to the 18th century, six acres of spectacular...

.

Native Americans

Various indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....

 lived along the waterways of present-day Virginia for thousands of years before European contact. Archeological, linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

 and anthropological studies have provided insights into their cultures. Though little is known of specific tribal movements prior to European contact, the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...

 area, considered a sacred common hunting ground, appears by the 17th century to have been controlled mostly by the local Iroquoian-speaking groups, including the Senedo and Sherando.

The Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

-speaking Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

 began to challenge the Iroquoians for the hunting grounds later in that century. The explorers Batts and Fallam in 1671 reported the Shawnee were contesting with the Iroquoians for control of the valley and were losing. During the later Beaver Wars
Beaver Wars
The Beaver Wars, also sometimes called the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, commonly refers to a series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern North America...

, the powerful Iroquois Confederacy from New York (particularly Seneca
Seneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...

 from the western part of the territory) subjugated all tribes in the frontier region west of the Fall Line
Fall line
A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...

. Over the years between 1670 and 1712, the Seneca were more active to the southwest as far southward as present-day North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 while the Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...

 extended their power north to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 and the St. Lawrence River valley. By right of conquest, the Iroquois (especially the Seneca) claimed the Ohio Valley as their hunting ground. In the early 18th century, the Iroquoian Tuscarora
Tuscarora (tribe)
The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...

 migrated to New York away from warfare in North and South Carolina; in 1722 they were accepted by the Iroquois as the Sixth Nation of the Haudenosaunee.

By the time European settlers arrived in the Shenandoah Valley around 1729, the Shawnee were the principal occupants in the area around Winchester. During the first decade of white settlement, the Valley was also a conduit and battleground in a bloody intertribal war between the Seneca and allied Algonquian Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...

 from the north, and their distant traditional enemies, the Siouan Catawba
Catawba (tribe)
The Catawba are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. They live in the Southeast United States, along the border between North and South Carolina near the city of Rock Hill...

 in the Carolinas. The Iroquois Six Nations finally ceded their nominal claim to the Shenandoah Valley at the Treaty of Lancaster
Treaty of Lancaster
The Treaty of Lancaster was a treaty concluded between the Six Nations and the colonies of Virginia and Maryland. Deliberations began at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on June 28, and ended on July 4, 1744....

 (1744). The treaty also established the right of colonists to use the Indian Road, later known as the Great Wagon Road
Great Wagon Road
The Great Wagon Road was a colonial American improved trail transiting the Great Appalachian Valley from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, and from there to Georgia....

.

The father of the historical Shawnee chief Cornstalk
Cornstalk
Cornstalk was a prominent leader of the Shawnee nation just prior to the American Revolution. His name, Hokoleskwa, translates loosely into "stalk of corn" in English, and is spelled Colesqua in some accounts...

 had his court at Shawnee Springs
Cross Junction, Virginia
Cross Junction is an unincorporated community in northern Frederick County, Virginia, USA. Cross Junction is located on the North Frederick Pike at its intersection with Collinsville Road...

 (near today's Cross Junction, Virginia
Cross Junction, Virginia
Cross Junction is an unincorporated community in northern Frederick County, Virginia, USA. Cross Junction is located on the North Frederick Pike at its intersection with Collinsville Road...

) until 1754. In 1753, on the eve of the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

 (Seven Years War), messengers came to the Shawnee from tribes further west, inviting them to leave the Valley and cross the Alleghenies, which they did the following year. The Shawnee settled for some years in the Ohio Country
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...

 before being forced by the US government under Indian Removal
Indian Removal
Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...

 in the 1830s to remove to Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

.

Winchester had a notable role as a frontier city in those early times. The Governor of Virginia, as well as the young military commander George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

, met in the town with their Iroquois allies (called the "Half-Kings"), to coordinate maneuvers against the French and their Native American allies during the French and Indian War.

European exploration

French Jesuit expeditions may have first entered the valley as early as 1606, as the explorer Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....

 made a crude map of the area in 1632. The first confirmed exploration of the northern valley was by the explorer John Lederer
John Lederer
John Lederer was a 17th-century German physician and an explorer of the Appalachian Mountains. He and the members of his party became the first Europeans to crest the Blue Ridge Mountains and the first to see the Shenandoah Valley and the Allegheny Mountains beyond...

, who viewed the valley from the current Fauquier and Warren County line on August 26, 1670. In 1705 the Swiss explorer Louise Michel and in 1716 Governor Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood
Alexander Spotswood was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army and a noted Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He is noted in Virginia and American history for a number of his projects as Governor, including his exploring beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, his establishing what was perhaps the first...

 did more extensive mapping and surveying.

In the late 1720s, Governor William Gooch
William Gooch
Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet , born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, and died in London, served as Governor of Virginia from 1727 through 1749...

 promoted settlement by issuing large land grants. Robert "King" Carter"
Robert Carter I
Robert "King" Carter , of Lancaster County, was a colonist in Virginia and became one of the wealthiest men in the colonies....

, manager of the Lord Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and of Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway....

 proprietorship, acquired 200000 acres (809.4 km²). This combination of events directly precipitated an inrush of settlers from Pennsylvania and New York, made up of a blend of Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 and various German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 and Scots-Irish homesteaders, many of them new immigrants. The Scots-Irish comprised the most numerous group of immigrants from the British Isles before the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

.

European settlement

The settlement of Winchester began as early as 1729, when Quakers such as Abraham Hollingsworth migrated up (south) the Great Valley along the long-traveled Indian Path (later called the Great Wagon Road
Great Wagon Road
The Great Wagon Road was a colonial American improved trail transiting the Great Appalachian Valley from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, and from there to Georgia....

 by the colonists) from Pennsylvania. He and others began to homestead on old Shawnee campgrounds. Tradition holds that the Quakers purchased several tracts on Apple-pie Ridge from the natives, who did not disturb those settlements.

The first German settler appears to have been Jost Hite in 1732, who brought ten other families, including some Scots-Irish. Though Virginia was an Anglican colony, Governor William Gooch
William Gooch
Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet , born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, and died in London, served as Governor of Virginia from 1727 through 1749...

 had a tolerant policy on religion. The availability of land grants brought in many religious families, who were often given 50 acres (202,343 m²) plots through the sponsorship of fellow-religious grant purchasers and speculators. As a result, the Winchester area became home to some of the oldest Presbyterian, Quaker, Lutheran and Anglican churches in the valley. The first Lutheran worship was established by Rev. John Casper Stoever, Jr., and Alexander Ross established Hopewell Meeting for the Quakers. By 1736, Scots-Irish built the Opequon
Opequon, Virginia
Opequon is an unincorporated community along Opequon Creek in Frederick County, Virginia. Opequon is located on Cedar Creek Grade at Miller Road and also known as Kernstown, Virginia. The community of Opequon was designated a National Historic District in 2002. Opequon School, which was in...

 Presbyterian Church in Kernstown
Kernstown, Virginia
Kernstown is an unincorporated community within the independent city of Winchester, Virginia. Parts of Kernstown also lie within Frederick County. It is centered along the Valley Pike U.S. Highway 11. During the American Civil War, the first and second Battles of Kernstown were fought here.- See...

.

A legal fight erupted in 1735 when Thomas Fairfax, Sixth Lord Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and of Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway....

, came to Virginia to claim his land grant. It included "all the land in Virginia between the Rappahannock and the Potomac rivers", an old grant from King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 which overlapped and included Frederick County. It took some time for land titles to be cleared among early settlers.

Founding

By 1738 these settlements became known as Frederick Town. The county of Frederick
Frederick County, Virginia
Frederick County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is included in the Winchester, Virginia-West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. For ten years it was the home of George Washington. As of 2010, the population was...

 was carved out of Orange County. The first government was created, consisting of a County Court as well as the Anglican Frederick Parish (for purposes of tax collection). Colonel James Wood, an immigrant from Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...

, England, was the first court clerk. He laid out 26 half-acre (2,000 m²) lots around 1741, and constructed his own residence, Glen Burnie. Finally, the County Court held its first session on 11 November 1743, where James Wood served until 1760. Lord Fairfax, understanding that possession is 9/10ths of the law, built a home here (in present-day Clarke County) in 1748.

By 1750 the Virginia House of Burgesses
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...

 granted the fourth city charter in Virginia to Winchester; as Frederick Town was re-named after Colonel Wood's birthplace in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. In 1754, Abraham Hollingsworth built the local residence called Abram's Delight, which served as the first local Quaker meeting house. George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 spent a good portion of his young life in Winchester helping survey the Fairfax land grant for Thomas Fairfax, Sixth Lord Fairfax, as well as performing surveying work for Colonel Wood. In 1758 Colonel Wood added 158 lots to the west side of town; Thomas Fairfax contributed 173 more lots to the south and east.

French and Indian War

General Edward Braddock's expeditionary march to Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....

 crossed through this area in 1755 on the way to Fort Cumberland
Fort Cumberland (Maryland)
thumb|380px|Fort Cumberland, 1755 Fort Cumberland was an 18th century frontier fort at the current site of Cumberland, Maryland, USA...

. Knowing the area well from work as a surveyor, George Washington accompanied General Braddock as his aide-de-camp. Resident Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion.-Early years:Most authorities believe that...

 joined Braddock's Army as a wagoner on its march to Pennsylvania .

In 1756, on land granted by James Wood, Colonel George Washington designed and began constructing Fort Loudoun, which ultimately covered 0.955 acres (3,864.8 m²) in present-day downtown Winchester on North Loudoun Street. Fort Loudoun was occupied and manned with guns until the start of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

. During this era, a jail was also built in Winchester. It occasionally held Quakers from many parts of Virginia who protested the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

 and refused to pay taxes to the Anglican parish. While their cousins in Pennsylvania dominated politics there, Virginia was an Anglican colony and did not tolerate pacifism well. The strong Quaker tradition of pacifism against strong Virginia support for both this war and the next, led to long-term stifling of the Quaker population. Winchester became a gateway to Quaker settlements further west; by the mid-19th century, the Quaker population was a small minority here.

During the war in 1758, at the age of 26, Colonel George Washington was elected to represent Frederick County to the House of Burgesses
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...

. Daniel Morgan later served as a ranger protecting the borderlands of Virginia against Indian raids, returning to Winchester in 1759. Following the war, from 1763 to 1774 Daniel Morgan served in Captain Ashby's company and defended Virginia against Pontiac's Rebellion and Shawnee Indians in the Ohio valley (that part now in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

).

Revolutionary War

During the Revolutionary War, the Virginia House of Burgesses chose local resident and French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

 veteran Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion.-Early years:Most authorities believe that...

 to raise a company of militia to support General George Washington's efforts during the Siege of Boston. He led the 96 men of "Morgan's Sharpshooters" from Winchester on 14 July 1775, and marched to Boston in 21 days. Morgan, Wood, and others also performed various duties in holding captured prisoners of war, particularly Hessian soldiers.

Hessian soldiers were known to walk to the high ridge north and west of town, where they could purchase and eat apple pies made by the Quakers. The ridge became affectionately known as Apple Pie Ridge. The Ridge Road built before 1751 leading north from town was renamed Apple Pie Ridge Road. The local farmers found booming business in feeding the Virginia Militia and fledgling volunteer American army.

Following the war, the town's first newspapers, The Gazette and The Centinel, were established. Daniel Morgan continued his public service, being elected to one term in the U.S. House of Representatives (1797–1799).

Civil War

Winchester and the surrounding area were the site of numerous battles during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, as both the Confederate and Union armies strove to control that portion of the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...

. Seven major battlefields are within the original Frederick County:

Within the city of Winchester:
  • The First Battle of Kernstown
    Battle of Kernstown I
    The First Battle of Kernstown was fought on March 23, 1862, in Frederick County and Winchester, Virginia, the opening battle of Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War....

    , March 23, 1862
  • The First Battle of Winchester
    First Battle of Winchester
    The First Battle of Winchester, fought on May 25, 1862, in and around Frederick County, Virginia, and Winchester, Virginia, was a major victory in Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Campaign through the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. Jackson enveloped the...

    , May 25, 1862
  • The Second Battle of Winchester
    Battle of Winchester II
    The Second Battle of Winchester was fought between June 13 and June 15, 1863 in Frederick County and Winchester, Virginia as part of the Gettysburg Campaign during the American Civil War. As Confederate Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell moved down the Shenandoah Valley in the direction of...

    , June 13–15, 1863
  • The Second Battle of Kernstown
    Battle of Kernstown II
    -References:* Patchan, Scott C. Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-3754-4.-External links:* for July 24, 1864, of Major Alexander Hart of the 5th Louisiana Regiment.*...

    , July 24, 1864
  • The Third Battle of Winchester
    Battle of Opequon
    The Battle of Opequon, more commonly known as the Third Battle of Winchester, was fought in Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864, during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War....

    , September 19, 1864


Near the city of Winchester:
  • The Battle of Berryville
    Battle of Berryville
    The Battle of Berryville was fought September 3 and September 4, 1864, in Clarke County, Virginia. It took place toward the end of the American Civil War....

    , September 3–4, 1864
  • The Battle of Belle Grove (or Cedar Creek)
    Battle of Cedar Creek
    The Battle of Cedar Creek, or Battle of Belle Grove, October 19, 1864, was one of the final, and most decisive, battles in the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. The final Confederate invasion of the North, led by Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early, was effectively ended...

    , October 19, 1864


Winchester was a key strategic position for the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 during the war. It was an important operational objective in Gen Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph E. Johnston
Joseph Eggleston Johnston was a career U.S. Army officer, serving with distinction in the Mexican-American War and Seminole Wars, and was also one of the most senior general officers in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

's and Col Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's
Stonewall Jackson
ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...

 defense of the Shenandoah Valley in 1861, Jackson's Valley Campaign
Valley Campaign
Jackson's Valley Campaign was Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's famous spring 1862 campaign through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia during the American Civil War...

 of 1862, the Gettysburg Campaign
Gettysburg Campaign
The Gettysburg Campaign was a series of battles fought in June and July 1863, during the American Civil War. After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia moved north for offensive operations in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The...

 of 1863, and the Valley Campaigns of 1864
Valley Campaigns of 1864
The Valley Campaigns of 1864 were American Civil War operations and battles that took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from May to October 1864. Military historians divide this period into three separate campaigns, but it is useful to consider the three together and how they...

. Including minor cavalry raids and patrols, and occasional reconnaissances, historians claim that Winchester changed hands as many as 72 times, and 13 times in one day. Battles raged along Main Street at different points in the war. Both Union General Sheridan
Philip Sheridan
Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S...

 and Stonewall Jackson located their headquarters just one block apart at various times.

At the north end of the upper Shenandoah Valley, Winchester was a base of operations for major Confederate invasions into the Northern United States
Northern United States
Northern United States, also sometimes the North, may refer to:* A particular grouping of states or regions of the United States of America. The United States Census Bureau divides some of the northernmost United States into the Midwest Region and the Northeast Region...

. At times the attacks threatened the capital of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

. The town served as a central point for troops' conducting major raids against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. The total length of the canal is about . The elevation change of...

, and turnpike and telegraph paths along those routes and the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 Valley. For instance, in 1861, Stonewall Jackson removed 56 locomotives and over 300 railroad cars, along with miles of track, from the B&O Railroad. His attack closed down the B&O's main line for ten months. Much of the effort to transport this equipment by horse and carriage centered in Winchester.

During the war, Winchester was occupied by the Union Army for four major periods:
  • Major General Nathaniel Banks - (March 12 to 25 May 1862, and 4 June to 2 September 1862)
  • Major General Robert Milroy - (24 December 1862, to 15 June 1863)
  • Major General Philip Sheridan
    Philip Sheridan
    Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S...

     - (19 September 1864, to 27 February 1865)
  • Major General Winfield Scott Hancock
    Winfield Scott Hancock
    Winfield Scott Hancock was a career U.S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War...

     - 27 February 1865, to 27 June 1865


Major General Sheridan raided up the Valley from Winchester, where his forces destroyed "2,000 barns filled with grain and implements, not to mention other outbuildings, 70 mills filled with wheat and flour" and "numerous head of livestock," to lessen the area's ability to supply the Confederates.

Numerous local men served with the Confederate Army, mostly as troops. Dr. Hunter McGuire
Hunter McGuire
Hunter Holmes McGuire, M.D. was a physician, teacher, and orator. He started several schools and hospitals which later became part of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. His statue sits prominently on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol...

 was Chief Surgeon of the Second "Jackson's" Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia
Army of Northern Virginia
The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, as well as the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac...

. He laid the foundations for the future Geneva conventions regarding the treatment of medical doctors during warfare. Winchester served as a major center for Confederate medical operations, particularly after the Battle of Sharpsburg
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000...

 in 1862 and the Battle of Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

 in 1863.

Among those who took part in battles at Winchester were future U.S. presidents McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...

 and Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...

, both as officers in the Union IX Corps
IX Corps (ACW)
IX Corps was a corps of the Union Army during the American Civil War that distinguished itself in combat in multiple theaters: the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.-Formation, Second Bull Run, and Antietam:...

.

Today, Winchester has extensive resources for Civil War enthusiasts. For instance, there are remains of several Civil War-era forts:
  • Fort Jackson - (aka Fort Garibaldi, Main Fort, Fort Milroy, Battery No.2)
  • Fort Alabama - (aka Star Fort, Battery No.3)
  • Fort Collier - (aka Battery No.10)
  • Louisiana Heights - (aka the combination of West Fort or Battery No.5 and Battery No. 6)
  • Bower's Hill - (aka Battery No.1)

Jubal Early Drive, which curves south of downtown Winchester, was the central location for many of the battles.

The United States assigned military presence to Winchester and other parts of the South during Reconstruction after the war. Winchester was part of the First Military District
First Military District
The First Military District existed in the American South during the Reconstruction era that followed the American Civil War included Virginia. The district was commanded by General John Schofield....

, commanded by Major General John Schofield
John Schofield
John McAllister Schofield was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He later served as U.S. Secretary of War and Commanding General of the United States Army.-Early life:...

. This period lasted until 26 January 1870.

20th century

Winchester was the first city south of the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 to install electric light.

Winchester is the location of the bi-annual N-SSA national competition keeping the tradition of Civil War era firearms alive.

National Register of Historic Places

Site Year Built Address Listed
Abram's Delight 1754 Parkview Street & Rouss Spring Road 1973
Douglas School 1927 598 North Kent Street 2000
Fairmont 19th century 311 Fairmont Avenue 2004
Glen Burnie 1794 901 Amherst Street 1979
Handley Library 1913 Braddock & Piccadilly Streets 1969
John Handley High School
John Handley High School
John Handley High School is an endowed public high school located in the city of Winchester, Virginia. It was founded by a grant from Judge John Handley, hence the school mascot, the Judges. Construction on Handley High School started in 1922, and continues to the present day...

1920s 425 Handley Boulevard 1998
Hexagon House 1870s 530 Amherst Street 1987
Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters Museum
Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters Museum
The Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters Museum was an antebellum home owned by Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Tilghman Moore, commander of the 31st Virginia Militia. Later, while commanding the 4th Virginia Infantry, Colonel Moore offered his home at 415 North Braddock Street, Winchester, Virginia, USA, to...

mid-19th century 415 North Braddock Street 1967
Adam Kurtz House (Washington's Headquarters) 1757 Braddock & Cork Streets 1976
Old Stone Church (Presbyterian Meeting House) 1788 304 East Piccadilly Street 1977
Winchester Historic District 1750–1930 US 522, US 11 & US 50/US 17 1980
Winchester Historic District (Boundary Increase) 120 & 126 North Kent Street 2003
Winchester National Cemetery
Winchester National Cemetery
Winchester National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery located in the city of Winchester in Frederick County, Virginia. It encompasses , and as of the end of 2005, it had 5,561 interments...

1860s 401 National Avenue 1996

Others

In addition to the sites on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, the following historic sites are located in Winchester:
  • Belle Grove Plantation (1797)
  • Christ Church (1828)
  • George Washington's Office Museum (1755)
  • Mount Hebron Cemetery, Winchester, VA (1844)
  • Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
    Museum of the Shenandoah Valley
    The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street, Winchester, Virginia. The Museum interprets the art, history, and culture of the great valley for which it is named. This regional museum complex includes a historic house dating to the 18th century, six acres of spectacular...

  • Old Court House Civil War Museum (1840)
  • Old Town Winchester (1738)
  • Opequon Presbyterian Church and Cemetery (1736)
  • Red Lion Tavern (1783)
  • Shenandoah Valley Military Academy
    Shenandoah Valley Military Academy
    Shenandoah Valley Military Academy, also known as Shenandoah Valley Academy, was an independent boarding school for boys in Winchester, Virginia. It closed its doors in 1934.-See also:...

     (1764)
  • Site of Historic Fort Loudoun (1756)
  • Stonewall Cemetery (1866)
  • Kurtz Building (1836)

Geography

Winchester is located at 39.178355°N 78.166771°W. It is in the Shenandoah Valley
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...

, between the Blue Ridge
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...

 and the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

. I-81 passes through the city, along with US 50, US 522, US 17, which ends in the city, and VA 7
Virginia State Route 7
State Route 7 is a major primary state highway and busy commuter route in Northern Virginia, United States. It travels southeast from downtown Winchester to State Route 400 in downtown Alexandria...

, which also ends in the city. The city is approximately 75 miles (120.7 km) to the west of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....



According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 9.3 square miles (24.1 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 23,585 people, 10,001 households, and 5,650 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 2,526.7 people per square mile (976.0/km²). There were 10,587 housing units at an average density of 1,134.2 per square mile (438.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.06% White, 10.47% African American, 0.24% Native American, 1.59% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 3.46% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 2.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.47% of the population.
Historical populations
Census
year
Population

1900 5,161
1910 5,864
1920 6,883
1930 10,855
1940 12,095
1950 13,841
1960 15,110
1970 14,643
1980 20,217
1990 21,947
2000  23,585
2010  26,203


There were 10,001 households out of which 25.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.5% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.5% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.7% under the age of 18, 13.1% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $34,335, and the median income for a family was $44,675. Males had a median income of $30,013 versus $24,857 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $20,500. About 8.1% of families and 13.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.2% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Apple Blossom

Winchester is the location of the annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival
Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival
The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival, a six-day festival held annually in Winchester, Virginia, is known for its many guest celebrities and events. The festival was first held Saturday, May 3, 1924, and was originally celebrated as a one day event...

, which has existed since 1924. The festival includes a carnival, several dances and parties, and a coronation where the Apple Blossom Queen is crowned. Local school systems and many businesses close the Friday of Apple Blossom weekend.

Winchester has more than 20 different "artistic" apples that are made of various materials including wood, rubber pipe, plaster, and paint. These apples were created in 2005 by occupants of the city, and were placed at a specific location at the artists' request after being auctioned off. For example, a bright red apple with a large stethoscope attached to it was placed beside a much-used entrance to the Winchester Medical Center.

Restaurants

Winchester is home to a number of "classic" restaurants that have changed little over the years.

One such restaurant is the Triangle Diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...

 on West Gerrard Street. Built in 1948 by the Jerry O'Mahony company, it is the oldest stainless steel style O'Mahony diner in the state of Virginia. The name "Triangle Diner" is derived from the fact that the diner sits on a triangular piece of land across from Handley High School. The diner is currently undergoing a historic restoration by a new owner.

Another popular 50's style restaurant is the 1949 Snow White Grill on Loudoun Street. It is known for its mini-burgers with fresh ground beef, sliced grilled onions, pickles and steamed rolls.

Sports

Winchester is home to the Winchester Royals
Winchester Royals
The Winchester Royals are a collegiate summer baseball team in Winchester, Virginia. They play in the northern division of the Valley Baseball League....

 of the Valley Baseball League
Valley Baseball League
The Valley Baseball League is an NCAA-sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. Each Valley Baseball League season consists of 44 games played during summer. Many Valley Baseball League players have continued on to play in Major League Baseball.The...

.
Shenandoah University is located in Winchester and has numerous male and female sports in the USA South Athletic Conference. Winchester is also home to the Winchester Speedway, a 3/8 mile clay oval track, which plays host to a number of touring series, such as the World of Outlaws Late Model Series
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is a racing championship series for dirt late model stock cars currently owned by World Racing Group. It competes on a national tour of the United States and Canada on dirt ovals...

, and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is a racing championship series for dirt late model stock cars, founded in 2005. It is one of two such touring series' on dirt ovals in the United States...

.

Transportation

  • Winchester Transit provides weekday transit for the city of Winchester.
  • Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus
    Shenandoah Valley Commuter Bus
    The Valley Connector Regional Shuttle and Commuter Bus is a public transportation service provided by S & W Tours, LLC and Valley Connector, Inc. which provided weekday commuter bus service in the United States from Northern Shenandoah Valley to Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.. Commuter bus...

     offers weekday commuter bus service from Northern Shenandoah Valley
    Shenandoah Valley
    The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...

     including Shenandoah County
    Shenandoah County, Virginia
    As of the census of 2000, there were 35,075 people, 14,296 households, and 10,064 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile . There were 16,709 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...

     and Warren County
    Warren County, Virginia
    As of the census of 2000, there were 31,584 people, 12,087 households, and 8,521 families residing in the county. The population density was 148 people per square mile . There were 13,299 housing units at an average density of 62 per square mile...

     to Northern Virginia
    Northern Virginia
    Northern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...

     and Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C.
    Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

    , including Arlington County
    Arlington County, Virginia
    Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of...

     and Fairfax County
    Fairfax County, Virginia
    Fairfax County is a county in Virginia, in the United States. Per the 2010 Census, the population of the county is 1,081,726, making it the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 13.5% of Virginia's population...

    . Origination points in Shenandoah County
    Shenandoah County, Virginia
    As of the census of 2000, there were 35,075 people, 14,296 households, and 10,064 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile . There were 16,709 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...

     include Woodstock
    Woodstock, Virginia
    Woodstock is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. It has a population of 5,097 according to the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Shenandoah County....

    . Origination points in Warren County
    Warren County, Virginia
    As of the census of 2000, there were 31,584 people, 12,087 households, and 8,521 families residing in the county. The population density was 148 people per square mile . There were 13,299 housing units at an average density of 62 per square mile...

     include Front Royal
    Front Royal, Virginia
    Front Royal is a town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was 13,589 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Warren County.-Geography:Front Royal is roughly west of Washington, D.C....

     and Linden
    Linden, Virginia
    Linden is an unincorporated community in Fauquier and Warren counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is less than an hour from Washington, D.C...

    .

Sister cities

  • Ambato
    San Juan de Ambato
    Ambato is a city in located in the central Andean valley of Ecuador. Lying on the banks of the Ambato River, the city also sits beneath several tall mountains. It is the capital of the province of Tungurahua, at an elevation of 2,577 meters above sea level. The population is 180,000 , making it...

    , Ecuador
    Ecuador
    Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

  • Winchester, United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...



Winchester's first sister city, Winchester, England, is where the Virginia town gets its name. During the Eisenhower administration, Winchester also formalized a sister city relationship with Ambato, Ecuador
San Juan de Ambato
Ambato is a city in located in the central Andean valley of Ecuador. Lying on the banks of the Ambato River, the city also sits beneath several tall mountains. It is the capital of the province of Tungurahua, at an elevation of 2,577 meters above sea level. The population is 180,000 , making it...

.

18th century

  • Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
    Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
    Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and of Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway....

     (1693–1781), buried in Winchester
  • President and Lieutenant General George Washington
    George Washington
    George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

     (1732–1799), surveyor of the Fairfax Landgrant, first elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses from Winchester
  • Representative and Major General Daniel Morgan
    Daniel Morgan
    Daniel Morgan was an American pioneer, soldier, and United States Representative from Virginia. One of the most gifted battlefield tacticians of the American Revolutionary War, he later commanded troops during the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion.-Early years:Most authorities believe that...

     (1735–1802), Major General of the Virginia Militia
    Virginia Militia
    The Virginia militia is an armed force composed of all citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia capable of bearing arms. The Virginia militia was established in 1607 as part of the British militia system. Militia service in Virginia was compulsory for all free males...

     in the Revolutionary War, buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery
  • Jane Frazier
    Jane Frazier
    Jane Frazier was a woman captured by the Indians in the 18th century. She lived in a log house built in 1754 just beyond the Cumberland, Maryland city limits. On October 1, 1755, while returning to her home from the Fort Cumberland Trading Post several miles away, Jane was captured by Indians and...

     (1735–), American frontier
    Frontier
    A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...

     woman
  • Rebecca Boone
    Rebecca Boone
    Rebecca Ann Boone was an American pioneer and the wife of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone. No contemporary portrait of her exists, but people who knew her said that when she met her future husband she was nearly as tall as he and very attractive with black hair and dark eyes.She was born near...

     (1739–1813), American pioneer
    Settler
    A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...

     and wife of frontiersman Daniel Boone
    Daniel Boone
    Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...

  • Brigadier General James Wood (1747–1813), governor of Virginia, son of the founder of Winchester
  • Francis White
    Francis White (Virginia)
    Francis White was a U.S. Representative from Virginia.Born near Winchester, Virginia, White attended school in Winchester. He engaged in agricultural pursuits....

     (–1826), U.S. Representative from Virginia
  • John H. Aulick
    John H. Aulick
    John H. Aulick was an officer in the United States Navy whose service extended from the War of 1812 to the end of the antebellum era....

     (1787–1873), United States Navy
    United States Navy
    The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

     officer and veteran of the War of 1812
    War of 1812
    The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

  • Briscoe Baldwin
    Briscoe Baldwin
    Briscoe Baldwin was Virginia attorney, politician, and jurist.Baldwin was born in Winchester, Virginia. After attending private schools, he entered the College of William and Mary. Later, he studied law under Judge William Daniel in Cumberland County and started practice in Staunton...

     (1789–1852), Virginia Delegate and member of the Constitutional Convention
  • Senator and Commissioner James Murray Mason (1798–1871), grandson of George Mason and Commissioner of the Confederate States to Great Britain and France
  • General John Neville (1731 –1803), Revolutionary War and Whiskey Rebellion
    Whiskey Rebellion
    The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...

     General
  • General Presley Neville
    Presley Neville
    Presley Neville was an American military officer, and state official who served in the American Revolutionary War.Presley Neville was born at the family home in Winchester, Virginia, to General John Neville and Winifred Oldham Neville. He served as the Marquis de Lafayette's aide-de-camp for two...

     (1756–1818), Revolutionary War aide-de-camp
    Aide-de-camp
    An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...

     to the Marquis de Lafayette and Chief Burgess of the Borough of Pittsburgh
    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...


19th century

  • George Hay Lee
    George Hay Lee
    George Hay Lee was born in Winchester, Virginia, in 1808. He attended the University of Virginia in 1827-28 and studied law under Judge Henry St. George Tucker in Winchester. In 1854, he was elected to the Virginia Court of Appeals...

     (1808–), United States judge
  • James William Denver (1817–1892), briefly a Brigadier General in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and for whom the city of Denver, Colorado
    Denver, Colorado
    The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

     was named
  • John Snyder Carlile, (1817–1878), United States Senator, instrumental in the creation of West Virginia
    West Virginia
    West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

  • Cornelia Peake McDonald
    Cornelia Peake McDonald
    Cornelia Peake McDonald was an American diarist who was the author of A Diary with Reminiscences of the War and Refugee Life in the Shenandoah Valley, 1860-1865 in which she recaps her life as a woman living in Winchester, Virginia...

     (1822–1909), notable civil war diarist of Winchester
  • John Randolph Tucker
    John Randolph Tucker (1823-1897)
    John Randolph Tucker was an American lawyer, author, and politician from Virginia. He was a member of the Tucker family, which was influential in the legal and political affairs of the state of Virginia and the United States for many years.-Early Life and Family:Tucker was born in Winchester,...

     (1823–1897), U.S. Representative from Virginia
  • Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
    Stonewall Jackson
    ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...

     (1824–1863), while commanding the Valley District
    Valley District
    The Valley District was an organization of the Confederate States Army and subsection of the Department of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War, responsible for operations between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Allegheny Mountains of Virginia. It was created on October 22, 1861, and was...

     of the Army of Northern Virginia from Oct 1861–Dec 1862
  • Brigadier General Turner Ashby
    Turner Ashby
    Turner Ashby, Jr. was a Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War. He had achieved prominence as Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's cavalry commander, in the grade of colonel, in the Shenandoah Valley before he was killed in battle in 1862...

     (1828–1862), Confederate cavalry commander buried in Stonewall Cemetery
  • Frederick W. M. Holliday
    Frederick W. M. Holliday
    Frederick William Mackey Holliday was a member of the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War and the 38th Governor of Virginia from 1878 to 1882....

     (1828–1899), member of the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War
    American Civil War
    The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

     and the Governor of Virginia
    Governor of Virginia
    The governor of Virginia serves as the chief executive of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a four-year term. The position is currently held by Republican Bob McDonnell, who was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, as the 71st governor of Virginia....

     from 1878 to 1882
  • Hunter McGuire
    Hunter McGuire
    Hunter Holmes McGuire, M.D. was a physician, teacher, and orator. He started several schools and hospitals which later became part of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia. His statue sits prominently on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol...

    , M.D. (1835–1900), Chief Surgeon of the Second "Jackson's" Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, famous for sparking the Confederate policy of returning captured Union surgeons in the American Civil War
  • U.S. Solicitor General Holmes Conrad
    Holmes Conrad
    Holmes Conrad was an American politician, lawyer and military officer.-Early life:Conrad was born in Winchester, Virginia. He was the son of Robert Young Conrad, a prominent lawyer of Winchester, and state attorney general from 1857 to 1862; his mother was Elizabeth Whiting, daughter of Burr Powell...

     (1840–1915), under President Grover Cleveland
    Grover Cleveland
    Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...

     and Confederate cavalry Major in the American Civil War
    American Civil War
    The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

  • Robert T. Barton
    Robert T. Barton
    Robert Thomas Barton was a Virginia lawyer and politician, the author of law and historical books and articles, and a president of the Virginia Bar Association....

     (1842–1917), Virginia Delegate, Mayor of Winchester and Confederate veteran of the American Civil War
  • Willa Cather
    Willa Cather
    Willa Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...

     (1873–1947), Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist
  • Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957), pioneering polar explorer
  • Admiral Louis M. Nulton (1869–1954), superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy (1925–1928) and Commander Battle Fleet
    Battle Fleet
    The United States Battle Fleet or Battle Force was part of the organization of the United States Navy from 1922 to 1941.The General Order of 6 December 1922 organized the United States Fleet, with the Battle Fleet as the Pacific presence. This fleet comprised the main body of ships in the Navy,...

     (1929–1930).
  • Spotswood Poles (1887–1962), accomplished baseball player in the precursor to the Negro Leagues
    Negro league baseball
    The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...


20th century

  • John Kirby
    John Kirby (musician)
    John Kirby , was a jazz double-bassist who also played trombone and tuba.-Background:Kirby may have been born in Winchester, Virginia, although other sources say he was born in Baltimore, Maryland, orphaned, and adopted. Kirby hit New York at 17, but after his trombone got stolen, he switched to...

     (1908–1952), jazz musician in the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
  • Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
    Harry F. Byrd, Jr.
    Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. is a retired American politician. He represented Virginia in the United States Senate from 1965 to 1983. He is most notable for leaving the Democratic Party in 1970 and becoming an Independent, although he continued to caucus with the Democrats. He is the son of Harry F....

     (1914–), American politician and U.S. Senator
  • J. Kenneth Robinson
    J. Kenneth Robinson
    James Kenneth Robinson was a State Senator and U.S. Representative from Virginia.-Early life and career:Born in Winchester, Virginia, Robinson attended the public schools of Winchester. He graduated with a B.S. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia in 1937. He served as...

     (1916–1990), U.S. Representative from Virginia
  • Henry H. Whiting
    Henry H. Whiting
    Henry Hudson Whiting , was a member of the Supreme Court of Virginia.-Life:One of eight children born to Lt. Col. Edgar Mason Whiting and Helen Hudson Whiting. His godfather was General George S. Patton, an old friend of Lt. Col. Whiting's from military days...

     (1923–), Justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia
  • Patsy Cline
    Patsy Cline
    Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...

    , (1932–1963) country/pop music vocalist/icon
  • Joe Bageant
    Joe Bageant
    Joe Bageant was an American author and columnist known for his book Deer Hunting With Jesus.Bageant was originally raised in Winchester, Virginia. He left Winchester and worked as a journalist and editor...

     (1946–2011), writer and journalist
  • Penny DeHaven
    Penny DeHaven
    Penny DeHaven is an American Country Music Singer.She is best-known for having a series of Top 40 Country hits in the early 1970s. Her biggest hit was "Land Mark Tavern", a duet with Del Reeves in 1970.-Albums:...

     (1948–), American country music singer
  • Dan Aykroyd
    Dan Aykroyd
    Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

     (1952–), Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist
  • Brian Benben (1956–), American actor
  • Doug Creek
    Doug Creek
    Paul Douglas Creek is a former Major League Baseball pitcher with a nine year career from 1995–1997, 1999–2003, and 2005. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs of the National League and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit...

     (1969–), professional baseball player
  • David Arquette
    David Arquette
    David Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and occasional professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and...

     (1971–), American actor, director, producer, screenwriter
  • SaRenna Lee
    SaRenna Lee
    SaRenna Lee is an American big-bust adult model and stripper.-Biography:During most of the 1990s Lee appeared as a model in hundreds of adult-oriented magazines that were published both in the USA and in Europe. From 1993 through 1996 she toured as a featured headliner at strip clubs throughout...

     (1971–), American adult model
  • Mark McFarland
    Mark McFarland
    Mark McFarland of Winchester, Virginia) Currently works as a crew chief for Matt DiBenedetto in the K&N Pro East Series. McFarland won the NASCAR Weekly Series national championship in 2003.-Early career:...

     (1978–), NASCAR driver
  • Lang Campbell
    Lang Campbell
    Lang Campbell is an American football quarterback for the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League. He was originally signed by the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2005...

     (1981–), professional football quarterback
  • Devon McTavish
    Devon McTavish
    Devon McTavish is an American soccer player who currently plays for D.C. United in Major League Soccer.-Youth and College:...

     (1984–), professional soccer player who currently plays for D.C. United
    D.C. United
    D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...

  • John Gilkerson
    John Gilkerson
    John Gilkerson is an American soccer player.-College and Amateur:Gilkerson was a standout defender during his college career at Winthrop University. He was named to the All-Big South first team in his junior and senior years. In 2006, he was named to the NSCAA All-South Atlantic Region Team...

     (1985–), professional soccer player who currently plays for the Carolina RailHawks

External links

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