A Natural Bombproof

Following the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864, the Union VI Corps, 2nd Division built a mile-long chain of infantry trenches, rifle pits, and artillery emplacements on Hupp's Hill, and the preserved remnants there include artillery trenches that survive in notably good condition while similar earthworks east of the Valley Pike were destroyed by urban development. These unrestored works have been protected in part by natural groundcover that limits erosion. Because Hupp's Hill and much of the surrounding area had been deforested for cultivation during the 1860's, Federal gunners and infantrymen along the crest had an almost unobstructed field of fire down the hill's southern slope, so any Confederate force moving north along the Valley Pike would have faced devastating fire from this fortified line. A large sinkhole behind the line was likely used as an artillery ammunition dump, and archaeologists have suggested that Captain Hazard Stevens, the division adjutant general, ordered nearby artillery lunettes built there in part because this natural bombproof was well suited to storing or disposing of explosives. Geologically, the sinkhole is the first in a line of sinkholes extending north for half a mile.

Strasburg, Virginia · United States