The Village of Unison
The village of Unison with horse and carriage
Unison is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. The 1862 Battle of Unison was fought around the village and is now under attack by a different force—development.
The Unison Preservation Society (www.unisonva.org) is working to preserve the battlefield around the village of Unison that played a significant role in the history of our area, state, and nation. Listen to what noted historians say about this battlefield.
Patrick Brennan “After his victory at the Battle of Antietam in September, 1862, General McClellan was ordered by President Abraham Lincoln to cross the Potomac and give battle to Confederate commander Robert E. Lee. To counter McClellan’s thrust, Lee dispatched Jeb Stuart to slow the Northern advance. The fighting peaked at the beautiful town of Unison where the outnumbered and outgunned Confederates fought a delaying action for three days until General Longstreet could get into position to defend Fredricksburg and Richmond. Stuart’s successes convinced Lincoln that McClellan would never be the man to lead the Army of the Potomac. At a crucial point in America’s greatest conflict, Lincoln would fire his commander.”
Clark B. Hall “ As a result of extensive research conducted on cavalry warfare, it is my compelling belief there is scarcely a more pristine and important field of mounted combat in the country left more unprotected and unrecognized that the vital, significant, and marvelous Unison Battlefield.”
Edwin C. Bearss “At this moment, the roads, stonewalls, and many structures in and around Unison remain as they were in 1862 and have served me and others as a magnificent laboratory for interpreting our nation’s past.”
Others have championed the Unison Preservation Society by supporting its efforts to get the battlefield nominated to the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register for Historic Places and to receive grant funding from the National Park Service to map the battlefield.
Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, State Historic Preservation Officer, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, “Based on careful review of documentation on the significance and integrity of the battlefield in and around the village of Unison by our staff evaluation team and careful field inspection of the battlefield by our regional staff archaeologist and architectural historian, I am able confidently to report the professional finding of this Department that the known battlefield in and around Unison appears to meet the criteria for listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.”
Christopher Needels, President of the Mosby Heritage Area Association, referring to the mapping of the battlefield by the National Park Service, “This work is crucial to the Unison Preservation Society’s overall efforts to secure easements to protect battlefields and other pristine farmland in the area.”
UNISON IN THE CIVIL WAR
By Mitch Diamond
The 1862 Battle of Unison, which ranged along the roads and fields between Philomont, Unison and Upperville, is moving toward the recognition it deserves. This battle, while modest compared to the preceding battle at Antietam, and the subsequent battle at Fredricksburg, was of national significance and a wonderful microcosm of Civil War strategy and tactics. It directly involved major figures including Lincoln, Lee, McClellan, Stuart, Pelham and Pleasonton, foiled a plan conceived by the President, and led directly to the removal of McClellan from his command.
On December 8th, after visits here and discussions with state and national historians, the State of Virginia Department of Historic Resources in Richmond officially recognized that the Battle of Unison “appears to meet the criteria for listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register and The National Register of Historic Places”.
Following that important step, on January 12th, after a month of hard work by Paul Hodge, Kim Hart, Paul Ziluca, Flora Hillman and yours truly, an application was submitted to the American Battlefield Protection Program for a battlefield mapping study grant. This grant, if it is awarded to us, will support detailed study of the events here, definition of battlefield boundaries and sites, mapping of battle actions and production of an official report on our 1862 Civil War battle by National Park Service historians. We expect to find out about the awarding of this grant late this summer.
In the meanwhile, we have had a researcher examining old newspaper accounts and military histories at the Library of Congress and have turned up much new detail on the events here during the Fall of 1862. Based on this work, we have developed a detailed chronology of events which shows even more clearly the importance of the encounter here between JEB Stuart and Alfred Pleasonton.
October 4, 1862: Lincoln visits McClellan near Antietam and urges him to move forward.
October 6, 1862: Halleck, overall Union Commander, wires to McClellan, “The President directs you to cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him south.”
October 13, 1862: Lincoln writes a long letter of strategic military advice to McClellan. In it he points out that by virtue of Lee’s current position, he would have to take a roundabout path to defend Richmond – ‘the arc of a circle’ while McClellan could take ‘the inside track’ east of the Blue Ridge or ‘the chord’ of the same circle. He points out that McClellan could beat Lee to Richmond “unless you admit that his is more than your equal on a march.” He later tells his private secretary, John Hay, “I saw how he could intercept the enemy on the way to Richmond…If he let him get away I would remove him.”
October 22, 1862: McClellan wires Halleck. “I have decided to move upon the line indicated by the President in his letter of the 13th.”
October 24, 1862: McClellan begins to move the Army of the Potomac across the river into northern Loudoun County.
October 28, 1862: Lee begins to move Longstreet’s force south and dispatches J.E.B. Stuart and a small force of about 1,000 cavalry and artillery to delay McClellan.
October 31, 1862: Stuart’s force and McClellan’s advance guard, led by Pleasonton, meet on the Snickersville Turnpike. Sturart captures a number of Union prisoners in a surprise raid.
November 1, 1862: Stuart and Pelham engage Pleasonton’s force in artillery duels and cavalry clashes in front of the village of Philomont.
November 2, 1862: Pleasonton’s force is reinforced by a brigade of infantry and a regiment of cavalry and begins to move forward from Philomont toward Unison. Stuart, supported ably by Pehlam’s artillery, resists near Philomont, then sets up again and resists in front of Unison. The village is bombarded by both sides and many structures are on fire. Stuart falls back to the Quaker Meeting House, then to the Beaverdam Creek, then finally to Seaton’s Hill (near the intersection of Quaker Lane and Welbourne Road). The entire Army of the Potomac begins to move toward Unison.
November 3, 1862: Pleasonton is further reinforced with another brigade of cavalry and another artillery battery increasing his total force to about 3,500. He mounts an all-out assault on Stuart’s force set up near the Fletcher Farm (today’s Maples). Stuart resists until mid afternoon, then escapes through Upperville and Ashby’s Gap. Pleasonton has moved his force forward only 8 miles in three days. On the same day Longstreet crosses the Blue Ridge and reaches Culpeper. Lee escapes.
November 5, 1862: Lincoln signs the order relieving McClellan of command.
November 7, 1862: McClellan is relieved at Rectortown.
Our next steps will include scouring the collections at The Balch Library and Oatlands for letters, diaries, local news accounts and other materials from the period. If any of you have, or know of, family materials, stories, pictures, letters or other accounts of Civil War events or experiences here we would welcome them - please contact Mitch Diamond at 540-554-8877 or at MDiamond9@earthlink.net.
In the Fall we will be hosting a panel of historians to discuss events here and provide input to the NPS mapping team. We will need local volunteers to aid in carrying out a detailed inventory on local historic structures which may have been in the battlefield area and to do other tasks to support the historians panel and mapping team. Please contact Paul Hodge at 540-554-8624 or at A.P.Hodge@starpower.net.
