On April 5, 1862, Confederate Brigadier General Edward “Allegheny” Johnson and his men took up position on Shenandoah Mountain. The following day the fortification was named Fort Johnson and its associated encampments Camp Shenandoah. Over the next two weeks the men rapidly constructed fortifications under the assumption that an attack from Union General Robert Milroy was imminent from the west. They also set to work on building their camps. On the 19th General Johnson met with Stonewall Jackson in Conrad Store. Shortly after he left the fort, his second in command, Colonel George Porterfield, received erroneous intelligence that a large Union force was moving to his rear attempting to cut him off from the Shenandoah Valley. He immediately ordered the fort and camps abandoned and in a driving rainstorm moved east to West View closer to Staunton. Johnson did not become aware of the move until he was returning to his headquarters after the meeting with Jackson. Interestingly, Johnson decided to keep his army in West View and not reoccupy Fort Johnson or Camp Shenandoah, despite all the work his men performed in the preceding 2 weeks.

In 1998 and 1999 an archeological study of the fort and camps was carried out. A preliminary analysis was published in 2003 by Professor Clarence Geier of James Madison University. He noted that in 1839 the two-lane Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike designed by Claudius Crozet was completed. Prior to the turnpike travelers crossed the mountain on two separate one-lane roads. One road ascended the mountain from Salthouse Hollow while the other descended the mountain into Deverick Hollow. The extensive earthworks were on both the north and south side of the Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, shown in the figure below, from the excellent article by Professor Geier (see sources at the end of the post for the reference). I rotated the image so north is at the top of the figure and south at the bottom.

The earthworks were constructed rapidly in an area where the topsoil was not very deep and their path in many cases was adjusted based on the contour of the mountain. They served as sheltered trenches with four artillery platforms located along the line. The width of the parapet was 10-11 feet. The top was only about 3 feet above grade and 4-5 feet above the bottom of the interior trench. It did not need to be taller because approaching Union soldiers would be firing uphill and anything taller would be an impediment to Confederate soldiers firing downhill. The trench was only 2 feet wide. North of the turnpike the earthworks, shown in Figure 3, extended for about 3000 feet on the west side of the mountain before folding back on the east side to protect against flanking movements. There were two protected breaks in the wall to allow soldiers to move in and out. The northernmost break was protected by rifle pits. There were two battery platforms north of the turnpike. The northeastern end of the earthwork was also protected by rifle pits. On the southern side of the turnpike the earthwork was about 2600 feet long and extended southwest before falling back on itself. It also had two artillery platforms.

Camp Shenandoah consisted of three spatially distinct camps extending over a wide area. The first, Mountain Camp, was on the mountain itself, while the second camp was further east in the hollows and ravines of Ramsey’s Draft (Creek) with the Mountain House Inn near its center. The third camp for Johnson’s cavalry was west of the mountain in the farmland along Shaw’s Fork. The three camps were placed geographically to take advantage of the local water supply. Mountain Camp is shown in the figure below.

Mountain Camp was the home of the 44th, 52nd and 58th VA. It was near the only spring on the mountain and located in such a way as to protect it from upper level winds and was not visible from the west, the direction of march of an advancing Union force. Camps further east were located in the hollows and ravines of Ramsey’s Draft and its tributaries. The 12th GA’s camp was located on Ramsey’s Draft 2.5 miles east of Fort Johnson. Road Camp was west of the Mountain House Inn. Two probable camps were located on Ramsey’s Draft north and east of the Mountain House Inn. General Johnson’s headquarters was two miles further to the east at “Mason’s Shanties”.

I took the pictures below on a trip to McDowell.

There was a new Civil War Trails sign on the mountain.

There are trenches that can be seen on both sides of the road on LiDAR for which I had mapped GPS coordinates but there is no cell signal on top of the mountain, so I was not able to use them.

The next three images show shallow trenches along the side of the mountain.

The trench passes under the bridge. This is the area where they are best seen.

On April 20, 1862, the Confederate garrison left Fort Johnson to protect Staunton, and to avoid being cut off from the rear by another advancing Union Army. Lt. Pryor describes the retreat from the mountain.

Camp at Westview, 7 mil N, Of Staunton

April 22, 1862

My Dear Penelope,

I take the opportunity this morning to let you know what weev been doing since I last wrote you. Wee were lying quietly at Camp Shenandoah. Gen. Jackson dispatched to Gen. Johnson to meet him at Harrisonburg. Johnson went in 6 hours, but after he left wee received another message that Jackson had fallen back 6 miles south of Harrisonburg and left the main pike & turned turwards the Blue Ridge, which left the main road open for the enemy to go down to Staunton, & they were nearer than wee were. Wee were ordered to pack up amediately to go wee did not know where.

Wee left the old camp about one hour by sun, marched down to Buffalo Gap over the worst road & the darkest knight I ever saw 12 miles. I waded mud up to my knees for miles; I imagin that I had never seen any hard times before. Wee got to Buffalo Gap at 12 oclock at knight, it raining. Wee built fires, stood around them in the rain untill late the next day before the train of wagons caught up. Wee then started on again toward Staunton; got to this place 4 miles from the gap and was ordered to halt to waite further orders, so wee are now here. I slept the first knight after getting here, was officer of the picket guard last knight.

I am just too tired & sleepy to write you any more now; will write you again in a few days if I get the chance.

Give my love to all,

Shep

The works are best seen in the area of this sign.

Union forces now occupied Fort Johnson and were moving to capture Staunton. “Stonewall” Jackson, moving with speed and secrecy, had arrived at the foot of Shenandoah Mountain and moved west to defeat Union Generals John C. Fremont and R.H. Milroy at the Battle of McDowell two days later on May 9, 1862. Major Jedediah Hotchkiss, Jackson’s mapmaker, tells how he led an attack on Fort Johnson up the steep slopes below it:

Wednesday, May 7th. The General and part of the staff started very early this morning. After a ride of 25 miles from Staunton to Rodgers’ Toll-gate in Ramsey’s Draft, where the advance of General Johnson’s Men, had fallen on the Federal outpost at that point, killed and wounded several of the enemy, captured stores, etc.

The main body of the enemy advance, had retreated up the Shenandoah Mountain but is supposed was still holding our “Fort Johnson” at the pass on the top. The General ordered me to go up the spur of the mountain on our right, preceded by a line of skirmishers, and ascertain whether the enemy had left the top of the mountain, Col. Williamson doing the same thing on the left. We had a hardscramble up the steep slope of the spur, but finally reached the top only to find the enemy all gone but seeing their rear guard on the top of Shaw’s Ridge, the next one beyond us.

Next- The Battle of McDowell- May 8, 1962

Source

Confederate Fortification and Troop Deployment in a Mountain Landscape: Fort Edward Johnson and Camp Shenandoah, April 1862 by Clarence R. Geier Historical Archaeology Volume 37, No. 3, pages 31-45, 2003.