Moorefield Presbyterian Church
Confederate Sanctuary
When the Civil War began, the Greek Revival-style Moorefield Presbyterian Church consisted of the main sanctuary that fronts on Main Street and the small chapel behind it. The chapel was constructed about 1847, and the sanctuary was completed in 1855.
The Rev. William V. Wilson, the minister, was an outspoken Confederate sympathizer as was his congregation, which was composed of Moorefield's prominent, wealthy residents. Many sons of the older congregants served in the county militia and in regular Confederate army units.
Even before the fighting began, Wilson urged the members to prepare for large-scale warfare to ensure success. Because his sentiments were well known to Union commanders, Wilson left in February 1862 and never returned. Instead, he served as a chaplain in the Confederate army, principally in the Shenandoah Valley.
Both sides utilized the church as a hospital during the war, and Union soldiers burned pews for firewood and stabled their horses inside. Because of the damage, the congregation suspended services from early in 1862 until mid-1865.
Merchant Samuel A. McMechen, who lived down the street to your left, struggled to keep the Sunday school operating. Leigh Allen, on his way to Sunday school on March 23, 1862, found Union cavalry here and turned back. When gunfire erupted in his path, he ran into the woods with other townspeople and hid behind a log until evening, and then returned home. His aunt, who wrote of the episode, concluded that it was "quite a trial for a child of nine years."
The church was repaired after the war. The wings date to 1928 and 1855.
Marker is at the intersection of South Main Street (U.S. 220) and Winchester Avenue, on the right when traveling north on South Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
