Confederates Capt. George Summers and Sgt. Isaac Newton Koontz, members of the Massanutten Rangers of the 7th Virginia Cavalry, were executed without trial at this site on June 27, 1865, for seizing the horses of six straggling Union cavalrymen a month earlier near Narrow Passage. On May 22, Summers and Koontz, along with Pvt. Jacob D. Koontz and Pvt. Andrew J. Kite, were traveling north on the Valley Turnpike, reportedly to take the oath of allegiance to the Union, when they encountered the Federals and took their horses at gunpoint. Fearing retribution, and at the urging of Summers' father, they returned the horses and other property to the camp of the 192nd Ohio on Rude's Hill, where Union Col. Francis Butterfield agreed that they should not be molested or disturbed. A month later, however, Lt. Col. Cyrus Hussey, then temporary commander of the 192nd, ordered the arrest and execution of the men accused of attacking U.S. troops and stealing horses. On the morning of June 27, Union cavalry arrested Summers and Koontz and brought them back to this side of Massanutten Mountain, while Jacob Koontz and Andrew Kite escaped. When Summers and Koontz asked to go to the Union camp to plead their case, they were told they could go no further, and at 7:30 pm, as the sun set, they were forced to their knees, tied to a stake, and shot. In farewell letters, Summers wrote to his family, "We must soon leave this world to try the realities of an unknown one," and Koontz wrote to his fiancée, Emma Shuler, "They are now ready to shoot me. Oh, Emma, dearest in the world to me, how can I leave you but I must."

Photo: Bradley Owen

Photo: Bradley Owen

Mount Jackson, Virginia · USA