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Stonewall Jackson's Valley campaign.
After the disastrous termination of
Braddock's campaign against
Fort Duquesne, in the summer of 1756,
Colonel George Washington, to whom was intrusted the duty of protecting the
Allegheny frontier of
Virginia from the
French and
Indians, established himself at
Winchester, in the lower Shenandoah Valley, as the point from which he could best protect the district assigned to him. Here he subsequently built
Fort Loudoun, and made it the base of his operations.
A grass-grown mound, marking the site of one of the bastions of the old fort, and Loudoun street, the name of the principal thoroughfare of the town, remain, to recall an important chapter in colonial history.
It was this old town that
Major General T. J. Jackson entered on the evening of November 4th, 1861, as commander of the “Valley District,” and established his headquarters within musket shot of
Fort Loudoun.
He had been made major general on October 7th, for his services at the
first battle of Manassas, and was now assigned to this important command because of the expectations formed from his capacity, as well as from the fact of his acquaintance with the country.
His district embraced the territory bounded north by the
Potomac, east by the
Blue Ridge, and west by
the Alleghenies.
Born and reared in
Western Virginia, and filled with a patriot's devotion to the land of his birth, he had manifested a strong desire to be employed in the operations in that region, and had cherished the ambition of freeing his former home from hostile domination.
The Confederates, during the summer, had in that region been unsuccessful.
General Robert Garnett had
