Ok, we are at stop #5 on the auto tour, Belle Grove. Belle Grove was the Union Army’s Headquarters during the battle of Cedar Creek. Belle Grove is actually owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a 1790’s Plantation Manor House and it is managed by another partner, Belle Grove, Incorporated. Belle Grove is well worth a visit if you have time, it is a beautifully restored Plantation Manor House. It was built by Isaac Hite, Jr. who married Nelly Madison, who would be the sister of future President James Madison. They’ve restored it and furnished it with period pieces and actually some original belongings of the Hite family. So if you have time, start your visit behind you at the Welcome Center. They have guided house tours, and the grounds tours are free. So please spend your time, if you have time to do so, and visit the manor house and the grounds itself.
As I said, before and during the Battle of Cedar Creek, this was General Sheridan’s Headquarters, although General Sheridan as we have talked about was not here during the battle. Having gone to Washington D.C. returning to the Valley on the 18th of October, but having spent the night in Winchester 15 miles to the north which is behind you. Behind me or to your south, you will actually see the Massanutten Mountain range. Signal Knob itself is actually hidden behind the trees directly behind me. As we discussed at stop #3, the 19th Army Corps, holding the center of the Union line had come under attack and had been driven out of its entrenchments, and now is fighting across the ground in front of Belle Grove or south of us. Belle Grove being the army’s headquarters had been surrounded by supplies, tents, and wagons, again this is the nerve center of the Union army. And although the 19th Corps was fighting hard to try to hold back the Confederate onslaught, it was simply a matter of time before the Confederates reached this area. While the 19th Corps is retreating in this direction they are scrambling as you can imagine, to evacuate Belle Grove. What again is assisting the Confederate attack has they drive the 19th Corps in this direction is that dense fog, we keep mentioning because it hides the Confederate troops from view until they are right on top of the Union line. One Union soldier in the 19th Corps remembered this during the fighting as they fought back in this direction towards Belle Grove. He later recalled, “The fog was so dense that we could not see the enemy in front of us. But the rapid and incessant discharge of small arms and canon, the bursting of shells and whizzing of bullets, mingling into the sound like that of a moaning wind told us unmistakably of its presence.” Well eventually it was just a matter of time before Belle Grove fell and it did at 7:00 am, about two hours after the Confederate assault began, the 19th Corps is driven out of this area. Belle Grove falls, although most of the supplies, wagons, and tents have been evacuated, and the Confederates pass through this area. That leaves only the 6th Corps remaining. The 6th Corps occupying the ground behind you in your right rear, which is to our northwest. They are going to form along Meadow Brook. As you drive to your next stop, stop #6 the Cemetery Hill, you are going to drive along Meadow Brook Road. The Confederates are going to be coming from your right to left and the Union line the 6th Corps is going to be on the high ground on either side of that road. Eventually the 6th Corps will also be driven out of their camps and off that high ground, where they make the final, their only real stand at Cemetery Hill which is our next stop.
