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Soldiers prepared for a battle that never was
Expert explains significance of Confederate breastworks on Shenandoah
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
 | | Dr. Clarence Geier of the department of sociology and anthropology at James Madison University, spoke to the Highland Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia this month about the Confederate fortification at Fort Edward Johnson atop Shenandoah Mountain. Behind Geier is a reconstructed portion of the trenches at Fort Johnson. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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MONTEREY - Dr. Clarence Geier, a professor from the department of sociology and anthropology at James Madison University, spoke to the Highland Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia about Fort Edward Johnson July 12 at the Highland County Public Library.
Geier has written about the temporary field fortification and conducted field research at Fort Johnson in the late 1990s with Carole Nash and Joseph Whitehorne.
Fort Johnson, also known as the Confederate Breastworks - a temporary fortification built breast-high - is atop Shenandoah Mountain at the eastern border of Highland County and accessible from U.S. 250. A rest stop is located at the site of the fortification, and a half-mile long trail, maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, allows visitors an opportunity to view the remains of the earthworks.
A 3,000-foot long trench can still be seen on the mountain trail. Part of the trench has been reconstructed to show what it may have looked like when it was built in April 1862. Trees, cut down when the fortification was built, have overgrown the site, but at one point on the trail some of the trees have been cut down to reveal the view the soldiers would have had in 1862.
An additional 2,600 feet of trenches is south of the turnpike, but is not part of the modern interpretive trail.
"Threatened by the possible flanking of his Confederate Army at the mountain stronghold of Camp Allegheny, which blocked Union access into the central Shenandoah Valley, General Robert E. Lee ordered the camp commander, General Edward Johnson, to identify and then move to a more defensible position to the east," Geier wrote in the journal, "Historical Archaeology," in 2003.
Johnson's 4,000-man army spent 14 cold and rainy days (April 6-20) turning the top of Shenandoah Mountain into a fortification, complete with gun emplacements.
The soldiers camped below the mountain at Camp Shenandoah; close enough to respond to the alarm to man the fortification if the lookouts above spotted enemy troop movements.
Four artillery batteries ranging in size from 25x20 feet to 25x30 feet showed signs of preplanning. They are positioned almost on a perfectly straight line and gave each gun a field of fire that would have overlapped with the adjoining battery.
Geier said it is possible that abattis - trees cut down, branches trimmed and sharpened, and buried in the slope of the mountain point up - provided an additional defensive feature.
The steep slope down from the fortification (between 40-60 percent) made the fortification even stronger.
Geier said the designer of the fortification is unknown but was obviously well-versed in the construction of defensive fortifications.
Camp Shenandoah was made up of several camps, each belonging to a particular regiment. Johnson's cavalry deployed in the farmland along Shaw's fork west of the fortification where water and forage were accessible.
Infantry regiments camped in the hollow and ravines of Ramsey's Draft to the east and 600-900 feet below the fortification. The camps are not directly accessible from the interpretive trail.
Soldiers had to climb nearly 1,000 feet "on the double" if the enemy was sighted, said Geier.
The officers only conducted one drill to test the soldiers' response, he said. That was also enough to try the soldiers' endurance and patience. They apparently reserved further tests to actual enemy threats.
Camps were arranged differently according to where the troops came from, Geier theorizes. The Georgia Camp had substantial box hearths with collapsed chimneystacks, said Geier, while Road Camp, west of Mountain House Inn, had large rectangular stone hearths. Mountain Camp, on the other hand, had landscaped tent platforms not seen at the other two camps.
Differences in camp layout may also be due to differences in officer training, camp ecology and length of time the encampment was there with older campsites having the beginnings of cabins and other structures. Only Georgia Camp shows evidence of cabin construction, writes Geier.
The fortification and camp were then abandoned and occupied briefly by Union forces.
"Neither Jackson nor Johnson gave the order to withdraw," writes Geier. "In fact, Johnson was not notified of the move until he was returning from his meeting with Jackson.
"During the remainder of the war, Confederate forces would continue to use the adjoining valley locales as a base of support for military operations out of Highland County against Federal forces to the west," he said.
Geier said after the battle of McDowell (May 8, 1862), the war in the Shenandoah Valley shifted further north.
Investigators conducted a field survey in 1998 and conducted ongoing research in 1999, including intensive historic research, a site survey, Global Positioning System mapping, systematic metal detecting and feature mapping of the fortification and encampment remains.
The field study revealed two additional roads crossed the Shenandoah Mountain at Fort Johnson, in addition to the turnpike. One road gave ascending wagons a slow climb, twisting back and forth along the mountain. The other road provided a quick descent. Both roads were later abandoned, but traces of them are still visible in the surrounding woods.
Fort Johnson provides a snapshot of the Civil War as it was in 1862 because it was not reoccupied and has remained relatively undisturbed. Geier writes, "The earthwork provides a unique glimpse into the early architecture and strategy of entrenchment implemented by the Confederate Army in its efforts to fortify mountain terrain."
Ironically, the massive efforts of nearly 4,000 men over a twoweek period to fortify the mountaintop were for an anticipated battle that never occurred, said Geier.
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