John Rutherford's Farm

Interrupted by War

John H. Rutherford was born about 1820. He acquired approximately 275 acres here between 1843 and 1848 from the heirs of John Carter. About May 24, 1849, Rutherford married Camilla C. Baker. At first, the couple lived with ...

Rutherford's Farm

In the Path of Battle

In addition to the action of July 20, 1864, known as the Battle of Rutherford’s Farm, two other significant events occurred on or near John Rutherford’s property here.

The first took place on June 14-15, 1863, during ...

The Winter Farmhouse

C. 1844

Thomas Winter (b. 1820) built this home on family land c. 1844. The style is “vernacular” with some Greek Revival influences, common to the era. Winter married twice and had ten children from 1844 to 1874. This rare, 970 ...

Battle of Rutherford's Farm

Union Victory

Confederate Gen. Jubal A. Early attacked the defenses of Washington, D.C., in July 1864, then retreated to the Shenandoah Valley. Union Gen. Horatio G. Wright pursued him, and after a sharp fight and Confederate victory at Cool Spring on ...

The McCoy Farmhouse

Located on one of Dane County's earliest and most successful tobacco farms, the cream-brick-Italianate McCoy Farmhouse was built by Benjamin Brown in 1861. Tobacco growing began here in 1853 and boomed during the Civil War when Southern tobacco became unavailable ...

The Murphy Farm

Established 1869

Alexander Murphy 1840-1931

Mollie M. Murphy 1869-1945

Mary Murphy 1834-1908

William J. Murphy 1872-1931

Historical events on the Farm:

Battle of Harpers Ferry

September 13-15, 1862

General Philip Sheridan's Fortification

August 1864 to April 1865

Site of John Brown Fort

1895-1910

Pilgrimage of the

Colored Women's League of Washington, D.C.

July 1896

The ...

The Battle of Payne’s Farm

A Fruitless Campaign

“In the fight of Johnson’s Division on last Friday I was under as warm a musketry fire as I have experienced for a good while—certainly worse than I have been in since Sharpsburg.” — Let. Col. Alexander S. ...

The Battle of Payne’s Farm

The Confederate Wheel

“Several efforts were made to charge the hostile line, but as these attempts were made by single brigades, without proper deliberation and without co-operation on the part of the other forces to the right and left, they naturally ...

The Battle of Payne’s Farm

The Stonewall Brigade

“We soon struck the Yankee skirmishers and drove them back through the woods to an open field, where we ran into French’s entire corps and into about the hottest place that could be imagined.” — Capt. William B. ...

The Battle of Payne’s Farm

The Worm Fence

“We gained a slight rise in the land behind an old worm fence. The enemy had fallen back under cover of a piece of woods well in our front. Soon they came out in splendid battle array, with ...