SHENANDOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGNS In the American Civil War (1861-65) the Shenandoah Valley was often the scene of military operations ; at two points in the war these operations rose to the height of separate campaigns possessing great significance in the general development of the war. From a military point of view the Shenandoah Valley was valuable to the army which controlled it as a requisitioning area, for in this fertile region crops and cattle were plentiful. There were, moreover, numerous mills and factories. For the Confed erates the Valley was also a recruiting area. A macadamized road from Lexington via Staunton and Winchester to Martinsburg gave them easy access to Maryland and enabled them to cover Lynch burg from the north. By a system of railways which united at Gordonsville and Charlottesville troops from Richmond and Lynchburg were detrained within easy distance of five good passes over Blue Ridge, and as Strasburg in the Valley lies almost due west of Washington it was believed in the North that a Confed erate army thereabouts menaced a city the protection of which was a constant factor in the Federal plan of campaign.
In the spring of 1862 the immense army organized by Gen. McClellan advanced and threatened to sweep all before it. The Confederates, based on Richmond, were compelled to show a front westward to the Alleghanies, northward to the Potomac and eastward to the Atlantic. The main armies were engaged on the Yorktown peninsula and the other operations were secondary. Yet in one instance a Confederate detachment that varied in strength between 5,000 and 17,000 contrived to make some stir in the world and won renown for its commander. Gen. Thomas J. Jack son with small means achieved great influence on the course of the war in the main theatre. The Valley operations in 1862 began by a retrograde movement on the part of the Confederates, for Jackson on March 12 retired from Winchester, and Banks at the head of 20,000 men took possession. Banks pushed a strong detachment under Shields on to Strasburg a week later, and Jackson then withdrew his small division (5,000) to Mt. Jackson.
Banks, however, recalled Shields in accordance with orders from Washington, Jackson conceived that he was bound to follow Shields, and, when Shields stood at bay at Kernstown on March 23, with 7,00o men, Jackson at the head of 3,500 attacked and was badly beaten.
The proof thus afforded by Jackson of his inability to contend with Shields seems to have been regarded by the Federal authori ties as an excuse for reversing their plans ; Shields was reinforced by Williams's division, and with this force Banks undertook to drive Jackson from the Valley. A week after the battle of Kerns town, Banks moved to Strasburg with 16,000 men, and a month later (April 29) was at Newmarket, after much skirmishing with Jackson's rear-guard which burnt the bridges in retiring. Mean while Jackson had taken refuge in the passes of Blue Ridge, where he too was reinforced. Ewell's division joined him at Swift Run Gap, and at the beginning of May he decided to watch Banks with Ewell's division and to proceed himself with the remainder of his command to join Edward Johnson's brigade, then beset by Gen. Milroy west of Staunton. Secretly moving by rail through Rockfish Gap, Jackson united with Johnson and in a few days located Milroy at the village of McDowell. After reconnaissance Jackson concentrated his forces on Setlington Hill and proposed to attack on the morrow (May 8), but on this occasion the Fed erals (Milroy having just been joined by Schenck) took the initi ative, and after a four hours' battle Jackson was able to claim his first victory. The Confederates lost Soo out of 6,000 men and the Federals 25o out of 2,500 men.
Meanwhile the army under Banks, now at Strasburg, had been largely sent elsewhere. Jackson's opportunity had come to destroy Banks's force completely. The Confederates numbered 16,000, the Federals only 6,000 men. Jackson availed himself of the Luray Valley route on the eastern or "blind" side of the Massanutton range to surprise the post at Front Royal as a preliminary to fall ing upon Banks. He captured the post, but failed to intercept Banks who escaped northwards by the turnpike road and covered his retreat across the Potomac by a rear-guard action at Win chester on May 25. On May 31 Fremont had reached Cedar Creek. McDowell was at Front Royal and Jackson had retired to Strasburg, where he was compelled to wait for a detachment to come in. This rejoined on the evening of June 1.