The Third Battle of Winchester culminated at Fort Collier, where on the afternoon of September 19, 1864, Union General George Armstrong Custer led the largest cavalry charge in American history and stormed the Confederate positions here.
Fort Collier was constructed by Confederate forces in 1861 to defend Winchester. Both sides wished to control the city because of its strategic location at the head of the Lower Shenandoah Valley. Winchester changed hands over 70 times during the course of the war. The Third Battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864, was the bloodiest of the clashes in the Shenandoah Valley. It tore the strategic initiative from Confederate hands, laid open the Valley to the “Great Burning,” and along with the fall of Atlanta (September 2) and Sheridan’s victory at Cedar Creek (October 19), propelled President Lincoln to reelection in November.
The Fort Collier Civil War Center, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the earthworks at Fort Collier Civil War site in Winchester, Virginia. FCCWC purchased the 10-acre Fort Collier tract on April 1, 2002. Purchase was made possible through private donations totaling approximately $295,000 and approximately $176,000 in grants.
