Fort Collier Built by Confederate Lieutenant Collier and Virginia militia with the aid of Federal prisoners , this redoubt guarded the north entrance of Winchester , Virginia on the east side of the Martinsburg Pike . During later Federal occupations , it was known as Battery No . 10 . The fort was set on low ground , and generally offered little military advantage , except as a guard post for the pike . LtGen Jubal Early used it as part of his defensive works in the Third Battle of Wincheseter . Background . The fort is located on a tract of land acquired by Benjamin Stine from Jacob Baker in 1859 . Shortly afterwards the American Civil War began , and extensive defensive preparations were made in the northern Shenandoah Valley . After General Joseph E . Johnston assumed command of Confederate forces centered in Harpers Ferry he quickly decided that Harpers Ferry was indefensible , and to re - center his defensive posture based in Winchester . The Stine farmstead and homesite was located on high ground alongside the valley pike , and made a natural defensive position for the north end of town , and was chosen as the site for the fort by Confederate Engineer Lieutenant Collier and William Henry Chase . During the war . 1861 . Confederate troops began construction on July 7 , 1861 , under the orders of a Confederate engineering officer , Lieutenant Collier , assisted by a detachment of Federal prisoners . The supervision of construction may have been under Major William H . C . Whiting , the Chief Engineer for Gen . Johnston , and the fort was occupied by the Army of the Shenandoah during the winter of 1861 into 1862 , under the command of General Johnston . It then fell under the Valley District , commanded by MajGen Stonewall Jackson one of three districts under the Department of Northern Virginia . Stonewall Jackson ' s headquarters was located just south of the fort . On August 21 , 1861 , the fort was described in the diary of Harriet H . Griffith : 1862 . Defensive troops occupied the fort during the Romney Expedition in early 1861 , but Jackson evacuated Winchester in March 1862 as MajGen Banks invaded the town at the outset of the Valley Campaign . By May , Jackson returned to Winchester and routed all remaining Federal troops on May 25 , who chose not to defend the fort during the First Battle of Winchester . 1863 . During the occupation of MajGen Milroy from January to June 1863 , Federal troops manned the fort , and listed it under the name of Battery No . 10 , making it a part of a series of fortifications in the defensive scheme of Gen . Milroy . As the Second Corps , Army of Northern Virginia under LtGen Ewell routed Milroy on their movement to Gettysburg , they initially bombarded Milroy ' s command as they holed up in the various Winchester forts , damaging the Stine house on the night of June 15 . Early the next morning , Milroy abandoned the fort and Winchester , fleeing north on the pike , with Fort Collier being the last fortification abandoned as his troops marched north toward Martinsburg . 1864 . In September , 1864 , the Fort and Winchester again became a base for Confederate operations during LtGen Jubal Early ' s Valley Campaigns of 1864 . MajGen Sheridan advanced on Winchester September 17 , forcing Early to made a defensive stand along the north and eastern borders of Winchester on September 19 , with Fort Collier as a center piece and anchor of his defensive line , which stretched from Fort Alabama ( also known as Star Fort ) on the west to a long line of trenches and ramparts to the east and south of Fort Collier to the Berryville Pike . A Federal cavalry charge was made that day during the Third Battle of Winchester composed of 6 , 000 cavalrymen coming south from Stephenson ' s Depot . The assault , composed of five brigades lined across the open fields north of town , was the largest charge in the war made by cavalry against infantry . Three regiments commanded by Colonel George S . Patton , grandfather of the World War II general , were defending the fort and locations , and Colonel Patton was killed during the course of the battle . The Confederate forces in Fort Collier and along the defensive line were overrun and the Fort was captured with no survivors , while Early ' s forces retreated up the Valley through Winchester , rallied for a short while at Mount Hebron Cemetery , and reconsolidated further south at Fisher ' s Hill near Strasburg , Virginia . Modern . The Fort Collier Civil War Center , Inc . purchased a parcel on April 1 , 2002 with the help of a Federal grant , the Civil War Preservation Trust , the County of Frederick , Virginia , and private donations . Events and activities held at the camp include the Fort Collier Kids Civil War History Camp , Civil War Haunting , Shenandoah at War Events , and the Fort Collier Bluegrass Festival .