{"nrhp_refnum":"70000824","name":"New Market Battlefield Park","other_names":["New Market Battlefield"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"N of jct. of U.S. 11 and U.S. 211","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Market","county":"Shenandoah County","state":"VA","lat":38.66360389400006,"lon":-78.66948269143802,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-09-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 160-acre Civil War battlefield park west of U.S. Route 11, about one mile north of New Market in Shenandoah County, Virginia, site of the May 15, 1864 Battle of New Market. It is administered by the Virginia Military Institute.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the Battle of New Market as one of the most important secondary engagements of the Civil War. Confederate forces under Breckinridge defeated Sigel's slightly larger Union force, which protected Confederate supply lines and the Virginia Central Railroad during Grant's 1864 spring campaign. It was also the only Civil War engagement in which cadets took part, including 247 from the Virginia Military Institute.","narrative":"About 160 acres of rolling, mostly open farmland west of the Valley Pike near New Market, Virginia, preserve the ground where Confederate and Union forces fought on May 15, 1864. Trails cross the field and lead to the bluff where Federal cannon stood, and the Bushong House, used by both sides as a hospital, now serves as the visitor center. The battle came as Union Major General Franz Sigel advanced up the Shenandoah Valley toward Staunton as part of Grant's spring campaign. Confederate forces under John C. Breckinridge, including 247 Virginia Military Institute cadets, met and defeated him. It remains the only Civil War engagement in which cadets fought. Historian Douglas Southall Freeman argued that the victory protected the Virginia Central Railroad and kept the Valley from Federal occupation. George Collins, an institute graduate, bought most of the battlefield in 1944 and willed it to the school, which received it in 1964.","period_of_significance":"1864","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as a park; the Bushong House serves as the visitor center, and a program of restoration and development was in progress at the time of nomination. Condition is listed as good and unaltered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.664967-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/43/6836/41683643/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/70000824.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000824/4d7a20dd0f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000824/4d7a20dd0f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Sarah Stierch","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virginia_Museum_of_the_Civil_War_-_Stierch.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sarah Stierch</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virginia_Museum_of_the_Civil_War_-_Stierch.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683643","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Market_Battlefield_State_Historical_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15262072"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/shenandoah-county/new-market-battlefield-park-70000824/"}