Worth Fighting For

Bellevue: The Lewis Homestead, Salem, Virginia, by Edward Beyer

Private Collection; Image Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society

"The great Valley of Virginia was before us in all its beauty. Fields of wheat spread far and wide, interspersed with woodlands, bright in their robes of tender green. Wherever appropriate sites existed, quaint old mills, with turning wheels, were busily grinding the previous year's harvest; and grove and eminence showed comfortable homesteads. The soft vernal influence shed a languid grace over the scene."

Confederate Brig. Gen. Richard Taylor, 1862

From the arrival of the first American Indians and European settlers, through the coming of the Civil War, the rich natural resources of the Shenandoah Valley shaped both its history and its fate.

Peopling of the Valley

American Indians came to the Valley thousands of years ago where abundant wildlife and crops of maize, beans and squash sustained their communities. The first European settlers also benefitted from the land's fertile soil, flowing waters, and north-south travel corridor.

East-West Divide

Early settlers shaped the social and political landscapes of the Valley. The German and the Scots-Irish settlers were Lutherans, Presbyterians, Dunkards or Mennonites, while Virginia's established Anglican church played a minor role in the Valley. These settlers were not wealthy, had few or no slaves, and worked small family farms.Slavery, which played a large role in eastern Virginia, was less common in the Valley and the mountains. Differences in religion and use of slave labor between the western and Tidewater regions of Virginia created an east-west tension that led to the ultimate secession of the western Virginia counties during the Civil War.