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Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was important because of its fertile farms and strategic importance. The productive farmland of the Shenandoah Valley made it "The Breadbasket of the Confederacy," until those farmlands were largely laid waste during The Burning by Union forces under Gen. Philip Sheridan in fall 1864.
And the geography of the Valley - running northeast into the heart of the Union - made it a natural route of invasion into the north; Robert E. Lee used the Valley during both the 1862 Antietam and 1863 Gettysburg campaigns, as did Jubal Early when he advanced to the gates of Washington in 1864. Additionally, Confederate military successes in the Valley pulled Union troops away from Federal attempts to capture Richmond, with Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign being the greatest example. And Staunton, near the southern end of the Valley, was a vital supply depot and railroad hub for the Confederacy. The fall of Staunton would sever Richmond's railroad link to the west.
Stonewall Jackson wrote that "If this Valley is lost, Virginia is lost," and events proved him right. Once the Union established permanent control of the Valley in late 1864, Lee's surrender at Appomattox followed just months later.
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What union General destroyed the shenandoah valley?
Phil Sheridan. Grant told him to lay waste to the farms, so that a crow flying over the valley would need to carry its own rations.
Who against who in Total warfare in the civil war?
As it was all happening on Southern soil, it was the Union armies taking the war to the civilian 'underbelly' of the Confederacy. Grant said he wanted the fertile Shenandoah Valley ravaged so badly that a crow flying over it would need to bring its own rations. Soon afterwards, he told Sherman to "make Georgia howl" - which he did, and the same to South Carolina.
Why was Texas so important to the Confederacy?
It was the base, it held the troops and had the largest landmass. It was the base, it held the troops and had the largest landmass.
Why was water so important to the Indus Valley inhabitants?
Personal use, and to grow food crops in a dry land.
What was the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of Thomas Stonewall Jackson about?
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.
