On March 23, 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech, telling the congregants of St. John's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
31 Years later, the United States was not just a country in the image of Henry's words, but expanding: on March 23, 1806, explorers Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean, marking the end of their "Corps of Discovery" journey, and began the arduous journey home.
Nearly sixty years later and the country was almost unrecognizable. Larger than Lewis and Clark left it, and divided now not between Loyalists and Patriots, but between Confederates and Unionists.
On March 23, 1862, the First Battle of Kernstown, Virginia commenced, marking the start of Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign.
Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was known as the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy" due to its ample harvests and transportation centers, its role as an avenue of invasion into the North and its capacity to serve as a diversionary theater of war. The region became a magnet for both Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War, and nearly half of the thirteen major battles fought in the valley occurred as part of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign.
The Civil War raged and ended; Reconstruction came and left, and with the new century came even more change, and more progress. So much so that just exactly 103 years after Jackson's Campaign, the United States launched its first two-man space flight crew with the Gemini 3 on March 23, 1965.
Courtesy: Arcadia Publishing.
They helped publish a book written and compiled by the then Township Historian, Mrs. Batko. MONTAGUE was specifically composed in time for the township's 250th anniversary, celebrated in 2009.
Copies may still be available for purchased through the township's historical society - M.A.R.C.H.
This Friday, March 26th, Montague Township will mark its 262nd anniversary!
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