The Bushong Farm
Caught in the Crossfire
On June 22, 1791, Henry Bushong patented a 260-acre tract in Shenandoah County that would be home for several generations of his descendants. Henry’s son, Jacob married Sarah Strickler in 1818. They took up residence in a four-room log house and began a family that would grow to include four boys and two girls.
In 1825 Jacob Bushong built this vernacular Federal-style home. An 1852 expansion added double porches attached on the north end to provide extra room for the growing family. The Bushongs raised wheat, oats, cattle, hogs, and horses. Wheelwright and blacksmith shops provided farm implements for the Bushongs and other area families. The family worked alongside three African American slaves on the property—an unmarried man, a woman named Mary, and a young boy, Israel.
On May 15, 1864 seven family members took refuge in their sturdy cellar as the Battle of New Market raged across their farm. Peering through the windows, they saw VMI cadets pass on the east and west sides of the house as they marched to join the Confederate battle line. After the battle the house and barn, like most buildings in and around New Market, served as a hospital..
(Sidebar):George R. Collins
In the early 1940s the Bushong family sold the farm to Mr. and Mrs. Everette Croxton, who in turn sold it in 1944 to George Randall Collins, VMI Class of 1911. At his death in 1964, Mr. Collins bequeathed the Bushong Farm and a $3 million operating endowment to VMI “to be used as a trust to perpetuate and maintain as a Memorial of the Battle of New Market.”
Marker can be reached from George Collin Parkway (County Route 305), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
