What was the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of Thomas Stonewall Jackson about?

Answer 1

The Shenandoah Valley is a very rich and fertile agricultural area. It produced much of the food that fed the Confederate Army in Virginia. Jackson's Valley campaign was about keeping the Valley from being overrun and occupied by the Yankees, which would deny this crucial source of food to the Rebels. Jackson had about 18,000 men. There were three separate Yankee armies ranged around the Valley, each as large or larger than Jackson's force. By rapid marches, which astonished the world for the distance covered, Jackson managed to confront, surprise and defeat each of these Yankee forces. The efforts of Jackson and his "foot cavalry" (so called for the distance and rapidity of their marches) tied up in excess of 60,000 Yankee troops, and kept those Yankees from participating in the effort of McClellan to capture Richmond, which was going on at the same time. Jackson's Valley Campaign is the only campaign of the Civil War which is still studied at military schools and academies such as West Point and VMI (where Jackson was a faculty member before the war), because it is still relevant in the lessons to be drawn from it today.