Turner Ashby Room

Turner Ashby, Junior was a Confederate cavalry general in the American Civil War. He achieved prominence as Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s cavalry commander in the Shenandoah Valley and might have been one of the most famous cavalry commanders of the war had he not been killed in battle in 1862.

As Jackson’s army withdrew from the pressure of John C. Frémont’s superior forces, moving from Harrisonburg toward Port Republic, Ashby commanded the rear guard. On June 6, 1862, near Harrisonburg, the 1st New Jersey Cavalry attacked Ashby’s position at Good’s Farm. Although Ashby defeated the cavalry attack, a subsequent infantry engagement resulted in Ashby being shot through the heart, killing him instantly. (The origin of the fatal shot has been lost to history. Soldiers of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry claimed credit, but some accounts blame friendly fire.)