Millbank Preservation Project
Background
The Fort Collier Civil War Center, Inc. was gifted this property in 2014 by the Winchester-Frederick Service Authority. The original members of the Coalition to Save Millbank were: The Civil War Trust, The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, The Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources, Preservation Northern Shenandoah Valley, The Kernstown Battlefield Association, and The Fort Collier Civil War Center. After 4 years of perseverance, the Fort Collier Civil War Center has transferred ownership to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation where it is now preserved through an historic easement and saved for future generations.
Millbank
Millbank, also known as Spout Spring and Hillwood, is an historic house at 3100 Berryville Pike, in Frederick County, Virginia east of the city of Winchester. The two story brick mansion was built c. 1850 by Isaac and Daniel T. Wood. It is one of the largest Greek Revival houses in the county, standing on a hill overlooking Berryville Pike and Opequon Creek, which flows east of the property. The house (vacant in 2014) has a typical I-house plan, with two entrances, one facing the highway and one the creek. Both were originally sheltered by Doric-columned porches, but the side entry's porch has been removed by vandals. The house was previously owned by the Winchester-Frederick Service Authority, who took the property in 1984 by eminent domain to construct the adjacent sewage treatment plant.
Millbank History
Located in Frederick County, Virginia, on nearly 3 acres, Millbank stands as one of the few remaining antebellum buildings in the Third Battle of Winchester battlefield area and is closely tied to the victory of the Union Army. The house has great interpretive potential for its role as a witness to and participant in the battle. Millbank is locally significant under Criterion A for its function as a temporary medical aid station for the Union Army on the day of the battle (September 19, 1864) and for several days afterward. The house and surrounding fields provided essential medical care for the Union Army until the Sheridan Field Hospital could be assembled near Shawnee Springs on the 22nd and 23rd of September. Daniel T. Wood, the owner of Millbank during the Civil War, joined other Quakers in the area as a Union sympathizer, evidenced by a protection order issued for his property in 1863 by General Robert H. Milroy. Wood's loyalties exemplify a trend among Quakers, who often broke vows of pacifism to support the Union and fight for the abolition of slavery. Mill bank's period of significance is September 19-23, 1864, encompassing its direct association with the Third Battle of Winchester.