Virginia's Shenandoah Valley 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. Drawn by limestone soils and rivers and streams that supported successful agricultural enterprises, the valley became a vital region that both North and South sought to control after the Civil War erupted in 1861, and in the postwar years it recovered and again became an important transportation corridor. In the fall of 1864, as both the Union and the Confederacy fought to the finish, General Jubal Early's Confederates launched a predawn attack at Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864, drove Union troops out of their lines and through Middletown in disarray, then paused to collect Union prisoners and supplies left behind, allowing Union General Philip Sheridan to rally his troops and turn the Confederate victory into a total defeat that left the Shenandoah Valley in Union hands.

Photo: Bradley Owen

Photo: Bradley Owen

Middletown, Virginia · USA