The region known as the Valley of Virginia, or the Shenandoah Valley, played an important part in the Civil War from the beginning almost to the end. Indeed Lee's little army was hastening toward that region in its very last march, and, if it had not been headed off by Sheridan's cavalry at Appomattox, the last hostile action on Virginia soil, like the first, might have taken place in the Shenandoah Valley.The situation of Richmond and Washington fore-ordered that Virginia, rather than Kentucky or other border State, should become the principal theater of operations, and the mountain region of the Shenandoah formed a strong natural barrier covering its left flank. All things combined to make the Valley the best line of communications with Virginia and the base at Richmond, for a Confederate army invading the North in this theater of the war; twice it was used for this purpose by Lee. Thus, the general direction of this Valley was northeast, and the Potomac, more easily forded here than farther east, crossed it within fifty miles of Washington. On its eastern or exposed flank it was covered by the Blue Ridge Mountains south of the Potomac, and South Mountain north of this river. These mountains could be crossed only at certain passes, or gaps, through most of which there were good roads. The Valley was connected with Richmond, the Confederate base, by two systems of railway, one leading out of it by way of Strasburg and Manassas Gap, the other by way of Staunton and Rockfish Gap. A good system of roads connected all the towns and villages in the region. The main thoroughfare was the Valley Turnpike, stretching from Staunton near the head of the Valley, to Martinsburg at its lower end, a distance of 120 miles; and passing through Harrisonburg, New Market, Woodstock, Strasburg, and Winchester. The main Valley of the Shenandoah, averaging about twenty miles in width, is closed on its western side by the Alleghenies, a more difficult chain of mountains than the Blue Ridge.
