Cedar Mountain

In the only recorded time during the Civil War that Stonewall Jackson drew his sword, the Confederate Army battled Union forces and won at Cedar Mountain Aug. 9, 1862.

After defeating General McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign in battles surrounding Richmond the month prior, Confederates made their way north under Jackson’s guidance as Gen. John Pope drove the Union Army south from Culpeper along modern-day U.S. 15.

More than 3,000 men were killed or wounded at Cedar Mountain — the deadliest day in Culpeper’s history — and Major Gen. A. P. Hill rallied the Confederates to victory after Jackson’s line deteriorated. Two days after the battle, Federal troops requested a truce to treat the wounded and bury the dead. Jackson then withdrew across the Rapidan and Robinson rivers.

Today, the nonprofit Friends of Cedar Mountain Battlefield organization works to preserve the 152-acre site, which sits mostly untouched about six miles south of the town of Culpeper. The group has planted more than 2,000 trees to reforest the 6.5 acres that were there at the time of the battle, restored a portion of the old Orange-Culpeper Road and installed a split-rail fence along the roadbed.

In addition, the FCMB has continued wildlife habitat management, begun an initiative for Civil War trail signs along U.S. 15 and 29, raised
more than $5,000 with its initial “Dinner with A. P. Hill” event and secured an American Battlefield Protection Program grant.