3rd Winchester • Tour the Battlefield • Battle Maps • Battle Facts • The Armies
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The West Woods wayside marker is about 1.2 miles south of the Redbud Road trailhead on the walking tour for the Civil War Trust’s Third Winchester battlefield site. (see map below)
The marker looks over the field where Rodes’ and Ramseur’s Confederate Divisions counterattacked and pushed back the Union attacker.
From the marker:
The Third Battle of Winchester
The West Woods
You are standing near the center of General Early’s infantry line at what has come to be called the West Woods. Although these particular trees were not here during the Battle of Third Winchester, some are in the same location as those that stood on that day.
At 11:40 a.m., the Union Sixth and Nineteenth Corps marched toward you to confront Early’s troops positioned to your left and right. As Union Gen. Horatio Wright’s Sixth Corps advanced along the Berryville Pike, it veered southward exposing breaks in the line between itself and the Nineteenth Corps. Confederate Gen. Robert Rodes’ Division was positioned behind you with Gen. Stephen Ramseur’s Division to his right: both braced to defend their lines against the oncoming attack. The Union Sixth Corps launched a successful attack, but Confederate units regrouped and executed a powerful counterthrust. Rodes was reported to have yelled “Charge them boys! Charge them!” before a shell exploded over his head and he fell dead from his horse.
Confederate Gen. Cullen A. Battle assumed command of the division as his Alabama Brigade advanced toward a break in the Union line. The rest of Rodes’ Division and all of Gordon’s Division followed. With a famed Rebel yell, they pushed the Union Sixth and Nineteenth Corps back to the First Woods.
From the caption to the pohoto:
Confederate General Robert E. Rodes. (image courtesy of The Library of Congress)
From the caption to the drawing:
Union General Rickett’s attack against Rodes’ Division in the West Woods. (image courtesy of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War)
The West Woods wayside marker is along the walking tour for the Civil War Trust’s Third Winchester battlefield site about 1 mile south of the Redbud Road trailhead. The trailhead can be reached from the Interstate 81 interchange with U.S. 11 north of Winchester. At the light immediately to the east of the interchange take Redbud Road (County Road 661) south 0.85 mile. Parking for the trailhead is on the south side of Redbud Road. (39°11’47.5″N 78°07’57.8″W)