"Witness"

"Witness"
Battle of Fisher's Hill
Fisher's Hill, Virginia
2014

On September 22, 1864, the chestnut oak "Lookout Tree" stood as it does today at the top of Ramseur's Hill, when confederate observers erected a platform from its branches and trunk , Scars from these cuts are still visible.

This engagement was somewhat of a last stand, as Early's 10,000 exhausted men fell back from the 3rd battle of Winchester to high ground at the narrow choke point west of the Massanutten, in an effort to defend the the Shenandoah Valley from Sheridan's 30,000 approaching federal troops. When the confederate line broke at Fisher's Hill they were pushed south to Waynesboro, which set the stage for the scorched earth movements that followed, still known as "The Burning".

I first visited Fisher's Hill guided by the letters of a soldier who fought in the Valley under Early on my mother's side of the family, he wrote to his wife of 3 months from each location and detailed not only his experiences but the troop movements throughout the Shenandoah Valley while marching north from his home in Wytheville. He eventually went on to become a Captain in the 8th Virginia. His letters currently serve as a guide for much of my photography.
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