US Route 11, originally known as the Valley Pike, was a well-designed 19th-century highway whose graded, macadamized surface made travel and trade easier and helped build towns like Woodstock. Built by the Valley Turnpike Company beginning in 1834, it eventually ran 93 miles from Winchester to Staunton. When the Civil War began, this road became a key route for repeated military campaigns, bloodshed, and destruction in the Shenandoah Valley. General "Stonewall" Jackson used the Pike effectively during his 1862 Shenandoah Valley Campaign, helping earn his Confederates the nickname "Foot Cavalry" for their rapid marches. During the Gettysburg Campaign, most of the Army of Northern Virginia marched to Pennsylvania on the Pike. In the 1864 Valley Campaign, Union Gen. Philip Sheridan used the Valley Pike to move his forces and shut down Confederate traffic on the road.