Sculpted by Gary Casteel
 
1863 Signed and Numbered Limited Edition Monument Replicas
 
In his youth, Turner Ashby, Jr. organized an informal cavalry company known as the Mountain Rangers, which later became part of the 7th Virginia Cavalry ("Ashby's Cavalry").  With the outbreak of the Civil War, Ashby and his troopers were assigned to the Virginia Militia command of Col. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.  On July 23, 1861, Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston appointed Ashby lieutenant colonel of the 7th Virginia Cavalry.  When the regimental commander, Col. Angus McDonald, retired in February 1862, Ashby assumed command of the entire regiment on March 12.  Ashby organized the first Confederate horse artillery, named Chew's Battery, as part of this regiment.
 
As Stonewall Jackson continued his Valley Campaign, his army moved south along the Shenandoah Valley (or “up the Valley” as they say in Virginia) while being pursued by Union Gen. John C. Frémont’s forces.  On June 6, 1862, Union Gen. John C. Frémont’s forces encountered Confederate Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s army near Harrisonburg, Virginia.  As Jackson's army withdrew from the pressure of Frémont's superior forces, moving from south and east from Harrisonburg toward Port Republic, Ashby commanded the rear guard.  
 
The 1st Maryland Infantry and the 58th Virginia Infantry set an ambush for the Federals.  Around 6 p.m., however, Union forces did not appear in the road as expected, but in a concealed position near Ashby’s force.  The 1st New Jersey Cavalry attacked Ashby's position at Good's Farm.  Although Ashby defeated the cavalry attack, the following infantry engagement resulted in his horse being shot.  When Ashby’s horse, "Tom Telegraph", was shot from under him, Ashby rolled off the mount, regained his footing and ordered his men to stop shooting and use the bayonet, shouting, “Charge, men! For God’s sake charge!”  While Ashby was leading the Confederate infantry into action, a bullet believed to be from a 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Infantry “Bucktail” pierced Ashby's side and passed through his heart, killing him instantly.  Ashby fell dead while his men cleared the Federals from the wood line.
 
The next day, Ashby’s body lay in state in the Frank Kemper house in Port Republic, where a brief funeral service was held.  Jackson viewed the body there in private.  Although Ashby’s lack of discipline had drawn Jackson’s sharp rebuke two months earlier, Jackson later praised Ashby (although considering his earlier resistance to Ashby's promotion to brigadier general, the eulogy might be an exaggeration in favor of the young man):   “As a partisan officer I never knew his superior; his daring was proverbial; his powers of endurance almost incredible; his tone of character heroic, and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purposes and movements of the enemy.” 
 
Although Jackson’s Valley campaign benefited from Ashby's reconnaissance and screening, Ashby was criticized by Jackson for the lax training and discipline of his men.  By the time Ashby was killed, he had received his general’s star.  However, Ashby's official rank is contested as the promotion was not confirmed until after his death.  As Stonewall Jackson wrote in a letter to Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden, “Poor Ashby is dead. He fell gloriously. I know you will join with me in mourning the loss of our friend, one of the noblest men and soldiers in the Confederate army." 
 
Turner Ashby's body was moved from Port Republic and originally buried at the University of Virginia cemetery in Charlottesville, VA.  Ashby's body was moved and reinterred at the Stonewall Cemetery within the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Winchester in October 1866.
 
The monument was dedicated on June 6, 1898 by the Turner Ashby Chapter 162, United Daughters of the Confederacy and is located via Turner Ashby Lane, off of Neff Avenue near Port Republic Road in Harrisonburg, Virginia.