Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association

06/15/2026

Today is Flag Day. It commemorates the date in 1777 on which the Continental Congress adopted the American flag. Stop by the Museum this afternoon between 1 and 4 to view our recently-installed 35-star flag, which commemorates West Virginia's entrance into the Union in 1863.

06/06/2026

Lots of interest in the Battlefield!

06/06/2026

We are set up for the day! All our info is out! Stop on by! Thanks to Board member Dr. Sam Stribling for setting up! Already a lot of interest.

06/05/2026

Ahead of the Shepherdstown Streetfest tomorrow (Saturday, June 6, 10 am - 8:30 pm), we'd like to announce very, very good news:

Please welcome the Shepherdstown Battlefield’s newest partner!

The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District!

We especially recognize Kevin Walker, CEO, Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, New Market, VA

The Jefferson County Commissioners recently voted unanimously to join the SVB.

WELCOME TO SHEPHERDSTOWN!

Send a message to learn more

06/05/2026

Hello Battlefield Supporters,

We will have a booth at Streetfest as partners with the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War. We will be right outside. GTM Director Dr. Jen Murray and staff are excited to welcome the SBPA for the day. They have new artifacts to show and will have an open house all day!

Stop by to learn about new progress in preserving battlefield property including renewed partnerships with the Antietam National Battlefield, the Antietam Institute and the GT Moore Center; and a new partnership with the Shenandoah National Battlefield Foundation!

Hope to see you at Streetfest! We will have the best view at the festival so stop by! I will be showing an artifact from 1860 that you probably have not seen, that I found in 1996, that started it all off for me and history in the Shenandoah Valley!

Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District!

See you Saturday! Donations from Battlefield Supporters make these efforts possible! Help us Save the Battlefield!

Dr. Mike Nickerson, President
SBPA

Send a message to learn more

06/05/2026

The Shepherdstown Battlefield would like to express our appreciation for a renewed partnership with:

The Antietam National Battlefield!

We especially recognize Andrew Banasik, Superintendent

The NPS recently cleaned 4 historic bronze battlefield signs on River Road, and will be installing a newly made ‘lost’ sign about Packhorse Ford.

WELCOME TO SHEPHERDSTOWN!

06/01/2026

Historic Shepherdstown received Institution of the Year award from the West Virginia Association of Museums. The award was for activities related to the Bee Line March 250th Anniversary celebrations last spring and summer. See https://historicshepherdstown.com/2026/05/historic-shepherdstown-west-virginia-museums-institution-of-the-year/

05/26/2026

June 27 10:30 am – 11:30 am EDT
Join Museum docents for a walking tour of Downtown Shepherdstown focused on the city’s role as a makeshift hospital in the final months of 1862. The tour is limited to 15 participants.

https://shepherdstownbattlefield.org/june-27-a-confederate-hospital-walking-tour-in-downtown-shepherdstown/

05/22/2026

Another shot from the Touched by Fire series is among the rarest of the rare. Confederate camp photos in Virginia are I think unique to just one rarely seen and small series of views taken at Camp Quantico near Dumfries about six months after the Battle of Manassas. Usually captioned as 1st Texas men at their winter quarters dubbed the Beauregard Mess, I have long held that the man standing to the left of the door looks a lot like the “Dead Sharpshooter”, photographed at Devil’s Den some 18 months later. He looks a bit too tall and we do not know his identity (nor that of the Dead Sharpshooter no matter how loudly some may proclaim that we do) and I have thus never published this weakly supported theory of mine, but it has held my interest nonetheless.

01/01/2026

Great news for us at the Shepherdstown Battlefield! Let's preserve this battle and historic site! Federal funds for $20M annually thru 2035! Go team!

Bipartisan Push Seeks to Lock In Protection for America’s Historic Battlefields
December 20, 2025 - by Maryann Pugh

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senators Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and Tim Kaine of Virginia on Thursday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening and extending federal protections for historic battlefields tied to …