Civil War Driving Tour of Southwest Virginia

Southwest Virginia is all too often overlooked in histories of the Civil War era. Our region is far away from the best-known battlefields such as Gettysburg and Bull Run. Yet it contains many sites of Civil War significance.

The Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, housed in Virginia Tech’s history department, proudly presents The Civil War Driving Tour of Southwest Virginia. The tour begins life as a printed brochure and website. Eventually, we plan to make the tour accessible through other media, such as a smartphone app and audio files. To request a free copy of the printed brochure, send your mailing address to rcstanley@vt.edu with the subject line “Driving tour brochure request.”

We interpret Civil War history broadly and include sites of significance for the history of all aspects of the Civil War era, roughly 1848-1877. Thus, in addition to battlefields such as Cloyd’s Mountain, we include places such as antebellum slave plantations, wartime hospitals, and sites relevant to the political and social struggles of the Reconstruction years.

There are two ways to navigate through the site: you can click on the map below, or use the alphabetized text links below the map. 

Abingdon

Battle of Cloyd’s Mountain

Battle of Jonesville (Lee County)

Battle of New River Bridge (Radford)

Broce House

Cambria Depot

Christiansburg Institute

Christiansburg Presbyterian Church

Civil War Leaders

Confederate Monuments

Cumberland Gap

Gainsboro

Glencoe Mansion

Hanging Rock

Historic Smithfield

Jubal Early Birthplace

Kentland Plantation

Laurel Hill

Marion

Montague House

Montgomery County Confederate Monument

Montgomery White Sulphur Springs

Mountain View

New Town

Old Blacksburg Presbyterian Church

Olin & Preston Institute

Pearisburg

Pound Gap (Wise County)

Price House

Roanoke College

Saltville

Solitude

Stoneman’s Raid

Westview Cemetery

Whitethorne

Wytheville

Staff: The project was spearheaded by VT alumnus Tom Seabrook, with support from Lucas Kelley, under the supervision of VCCWS director Paul Quigley. Other VT MA students, past and present, also made valuable contributions: Kevin Caprice and Kevin Dawson.

Acknowledgements: For their invaluable help we thank Daniel B. Thorp (Virginia Tech History Department), April Danner (Historic Smithfield Plantation), and Jean Elliott (former Communications Director, Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences

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