Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, renowned in story and song, was home to American Indians and early settlers from Germany, Ireland, and Scotland, who followed the Indians' Warrior Path and turned it into the Great Wagon Road, while Tidewater gentry crossed the Blue Ridge and brought the practice of enslaving African Americans to the region; all were drawn by the limestone soils and rivers and streams that supported successful agriculture. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, both North and South sought to control the area, and in the fall of 1864, as both sides fought to the finish, General Jubal Early's Confederates launched a predawn attack at Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864, drove Union troops from their lines and through Middletown in disarray, but many Confederates stopped to collect prisoners and supplies left behind, allowing Union General Philip Sheridan to rally his troops and turn the Confederate victory into a total defeat, leaving the Shenandoah Valley in Union hands. In the postwar years, the Valley recovered and today is once again a vital transportation corridor.