Article • The War Consumed Everything

War Comes to the Valley

Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

An illustration shows cavalrymen on the move with a burning town in the background.
During the burning of the Valley, the U.S. Army destroyed what they could not take: barns, mills, fields of grain, and livestock.

Library of Congress

"The war consumed everything and the simple everyday task of feeding one's family became troublesome, as food shortages were commonplace and the few supplies that can be found demanded a higher price."

Julia Chase

Although most Shenandoah Valley residents favored remaining in the Union, once Abraham Lincoln called for troops against the seceded Southern states, people opted to support their state. Virginia's westernmost counties stayed in the Union to form a new state, while most of the Shenandoah Valley went with the rest of Virginia to the Confederacy. The Valley's strategic geography made it a major theater of the Civil War, witnessing hundreds of skirmishes and engagements, including twenty battles.

Timeline

Civil War battles, movements, and other actions in the Shenandoah Valley

Stories

Loading results...
    Tags: civil war shenandoah valley campaign

    Campaigns

    Showing results 1-5 of 5

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Early's Raid and Operations Against B&O Railroad

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A column of soldiers march through through the gate of an earthwork fort with cannons.

      After Hunter's loss and retreat from Lynchburg, Early’s instructions from Lee were to invade Maryland, destroy the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and threaten or even take Washington, D.C.

    • Gettysburg Campaign

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park, Gettysburg National Military Park
      An 1863 photo in stark black and white depicts a dead US soldier in a trench fortified by rocks.

      The Shenandoah Valley was a natural "avenue of advance" for Gen. Robert E. Lee's 1863 invasion of the Northern states, and the Battle of Gettysburg.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Jackson's 1862 Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A pencil sketch records mounted troops crossing a river on a pontoon bridge.

      In spring of 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson unleashed a vigorous offensive that diverted thousands of Federal troops from their massive advance against the Confederate capital at Richmond.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Sheridan's Valley Campaign

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A general and five of his commanders pose outside a tent in an 1864 photo.

      Gen. Philip Sheridan delivered a series of stinging defeats to the Confederates and wresting their control of the vital region. Sheridan’s army left much of the Shenandoah Valley in ashes, making it unable to sustain Confederate armies.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Lynchburg Campaign

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A yellowed hand drawn map from 1864 shows a battlefield in great detail.

      In 1863, Ulysses S. Grant, the new general-in-chief of the US Army, ordered his commanders to destroy the Confederacy's armies, transportation networks, and its economic and agricultural base in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia.

    Tags: campaign
    Back to top

    Battles, Skirmishes, & Raids

    Showing results 1-10 of 23

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Battle of Berryville

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      An engraved granite tablet marks the site of a battle on the farm field behind it.

      Sheridan marched his Army of the Shenandoah south, reaching Berryville on September 3, 1864. Confederates found them pitching camp and attacked with limited results. During the night, Early brought up his entire army but by daylight found the Federal position too strongly entrenched to attack. Early withdrew after dark on September 4 to Winchester.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Engagement at Middletown on May 24, 1862

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      An ink illustration depicts mounted soldiers and cannons in battle.

      Although Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was pleased with his May 23, 1862, victory at Front Royal, he was faced with a difficult decision the next day. “In the event of Banks leaving Strasburg he might escape toward the Potomac,” he wrote later, “or if we moved directly to Winchester, he might move via Front Royal toward Washington City.” To determine US Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks’s intentions, Jackson sent troops toward both Winchester and Strasburg.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Battle of Port Republic

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A historic pencil drawing shows roads, forest, towns, houses, and waterways.

      The Battle of Port Republic was the last in Gen. Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. After his victory there the Federal army withdrew farther north. On June 18th, Jackson’s troops marched out of the Valley and across the Blue Ridge Mountains. They joined Gen. Robert E. Lee to defend Richmond against US Gen. George McClellan’s Army of the Potomac.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      First Battle of Winchester

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A mowed grass hilltop beyond a wire fence is lined with trees.

      Exhausted by their harried evacuation of Strasburg, US Gen. Banks’s soldiers took up positions on the hills south of Winchester. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson’s morning assault pushed the Federals into a retreat through the hostile population in Winchester. Jackson’s victories at Front Royal and Winchester once again forced the US Army to divert troops from their advance on Richmond to the Shenandoah Valley.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Battle of Cross Keys

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      An 1800s pencil drawing shows an army gathering for battle.

      The twin battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic closed out Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign. At Cross Keys, Jackson occupied key bridges to keep US generals Fremont and Shields from joining their armies. Jackson then defeated each general in turn before withdrawing to make his stand at Port Republic.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Battle of Front Royal

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A highway historical marker and wayside exhibit stand on a courthouse grounds.

      Using his knowledge of Valley geography, Stonewall Jackson side-stepped Banks' Federals by marching the bulk of his army across Massanutten Mountain. The Confederates surprised and overwhelmed a small Federal outpost at the Battle of Front Royal, at the northern end of Massanutten, on May 23. Banks, finding Jackson in his rear, had no choice but to order a rapid retreat to Winchester, in hopes of making a stand there.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Battle of McDowell

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson won his first victory of the 1862 Valley Campaign at McDowell. Jackson’s skillful maneuvers deceived the Federals into thinking he was leaving the Valley, before doubling back to take a strong position on Sitlington’s Hill.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Third Battle of Winchester

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A red-tinted color 1880s print depicts a heroic cavalry charge.

      Confederates suffered a costly defeat at the Third Battle of Winchester, September 19, 1864. The largest battle in the Shenandoah Valley saw 54,400 total troops engaged and 8,630 casualties, including over a quarter of the Confederate Army of the Valley. The Confederates' retreat from Winchester to Fisher's Hill was the beginning of the end of their resistance in the Valley.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Burning of Chambersburg

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      An 1864 stereograph shows men on horseback looking at burned out buildings.

      Confederate Gen. John McCausland's cavalry crossed the Potomac River and rode into Pennsylvania, demanding $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in cash from the citizens of Chambersburg. They refused, and on July 30, 1864, McCausland burned the entire town. The raid was payback for US Gen. David Hunter's burning of Lynchburg, Va.

    • Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park

      Battle of Cedar Creek

      • Locations: Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park
      A painting richly colored with red and yellow depicts soldiers rallying to the U.S. flag.

      The Federal victory at Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864 ended Confederate resistance in the Shenandoah Valley. Coming just three weeks before the presidential election, news of the victory boosted morale in the Northern states and helped carry Abraham Lincoln to a landslide reelection.

    Tags: battle raid
    Back to top

    Part of a series of articles titled The War Consumed Everything.

    Next: Jackson's 1862 Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley

    Tags

    Last updated: August 20, 2023