This is a good enough map, I suppose

https://www.shenvalleylodgings.com/images/shenandoahvalleyhighlevelmap.png

Anyway, the Shenandoah Valley contains some of the most fertile farmland in Virginia. If you are the Confederacy, you want to protect it as a food source. If you are the Union, you are worried that south could sneak a big force of soldiers up the valley (their movements obscured by the mountains on either side), get into western Maryland or central Pennsylvania, and from there threaten to attack major northern cities like Washington DC, Baltimore, or Harrisburg.

Anywhoo, in 1864 the Confederacy is clearly on the ropes. Lee got his ass kicked at Gettysburg the previous summer, Vicksburg has fallen to the Union, Stonewall Jackson is dead, and the Union now controls a lot of southern ports and rivers. Grant has just taken control of the main Union Army and is forcing Lee to retreat to Richmond. The main Confederate Army soon is surrounded and besieged at Petersburg.

The Union sends a second army to invade the south via the Shenandoah Valley. Surely, with the main Confederate force tied up hundreds of miles away, the north should be able to march through the valley and easily run shit there.

The first Union general they send is a guy named Franz Sigel. He is a political hire: German immigrants are an important voting bloc, and Germans fucking love Franz Sigel. Franz Sigel marches his army down the Shenandoah Valley...and promptly gets his ass kicked by a bunch of VMI students at the Battle of New Market. Sigel is fired and his military career ends.

New Union general comes, General Hunter. Things start well for Hunter. He wins his first battle, he sacks and pillages Lexington, VA, and it seems he will capture the important Confederate city of Lynchburg, Virginia. But the Confederacy, smelling blood in the valley, send a big force under General Jubal Early to defend Lynchburg. The Confederates win the battle. General Hunter then...runs away, retreating into West Virginia, leaving the entire Shenandoah Valley in Confederate hands.

The Confederates waste no time. They march up the valley and get into Maryland. The Confederates march on Washington DC.

Remember, Grant is outside of Richmond. There's no big army defending Washington DC. For a moment, it seems that because of Union incompetence in the backwater Shenandoah Valley, the Confederates are going to capture Washington DC with a relatively small force.

Thankfully, a small force led by the guy who would later write Ben-Hur (Lew Wallace) manages to put itself between the Confederates and DC. Lew Wallace is defeated, but the battle delays the Confederate attack on Washington DC until reinforcements can be sent to defend the capital. The Confederates attack the outskirts of Washington DC but are driven off.

Another Union general, General Wright, now comes out of Washington DC and tries to chase the Confederates back into the valley. General Wright forces the Confederates to retreat back into the valley, and, thinking all is clear, declares victory and sends most of his forces back to Petersburg to support Grant. The Confederates are not done, however, and route General Wright's Army. They then get GET INTO FUCKING PENNSLYVANIA and burn Chambersburg, PA.

The Confederacy is everywhere in retreat and disarray, except in the Shenendoah Valley where it has actually gained territory back from the Union.

Finally, in like September of 1864, Grant sends a competent general to the valley and he mops up the Confederates. But for over half the year, the Shenandoah Valley is like an alternative universe where the south is winning the war.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3896443&forum_id=2#35428777)

very popular route for truckers, think peterman summers there

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3896443&forum_id=2#35428792)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenandoah_(film)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3896443&forum_id=2#35428809)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Appalachian_Valley#/media/File:Greatvalley-map.png

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3896443&forum_id=2#35428889)