In the great strategic movements of the opposing armies of the Civil
War they repeatedly traversed a large part of Virginia and Maryland to
the northwest of the route between Washington and Richmond. Like the
general coastal formation east of the Alleghenies, Virginia rises into
successive ridges parallel with the mountains. The first range of low
broken hills stretching southwest from the Potomac are called in
different parts the Kittoctin, Bull Run and other mountains extending
down to the Carolina boundary. From these, what is known as the
Piedmont district stretches all across the State, and has a width of
about twenty-five miles to the base of the Blue Ridge, being a
succession of picturesque valleys and rolling lands, the general
elevation gradually increasing towards the northwest, where it is
bordered by the towering Blue Ridge and its many spurs and plateaus,
with passages through at various gaps. The Blue Ridge is elevated
about fifteen hundred feet at the Potomac, but Mount Marshall, at
Front Royal, rises nearly thirty-four hundred feet, and the Peaks of
Otter, farther southwest, are much higher. Beyond this is the great
Appalachian Valley, which stretches from New England to Alabama, the
section here being known as the "Valley of Virginia," and its northern
portion as the Shenandoah Valley. This is a belt of rolling country,
with many hills and vales, diversified by streams that wind among the
hillsides, and having a varying breadth of ten to fifty miles in
different parts. Beyond it, to the northwest, are the main Allegheny
Mountain ranges. The opposing troops marched and fought over all this
country in connection with the greater military movements, and here
was the special theatre of Stonewall Jackson's exploits and his
wonderful marches and quick manoeuvres which made his troops
proudly style themselves his "foot cavalry." The memory of Jackson is
cherished by the Southern people more than that of any other of their
leaders in the Civil War, and his brilliant exploits and inopportune
death have made him their special hero.
In the Piedmont region, to the southeast and in front of the Blue
Ridge, are the towns of Leesburg, Manassas, Warrenton, Culpepper,
Orange and Charlottesville, all well known in connection with the
opposing military movements. Charlottesville, about sixty-five miles
northwest of Richmond, in a beautiful situation, was an important
Confederate base of supplies. Here are now about six thousand people,
and the town has its chief fame as the seat of the University of
Virginia and the home of Thomas Jefferson. The University was founded
mainly through the exertions of Jefferson, and has some five hundred
students. Its buildings are a mile out of town, and the original ones
were constructed from Jefferson's designs and under his supervision,
the chief being the Rotunda, recently rebuilt, and the modern
structures for a Museum of Natural History and an Observatory.
Jefferson was proud of this institution, and in the inscription which
he prepared for his tomb described himself as the "author of the
Declaration of Independence, and of the statute of Virginia for
religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia." Among
its most famous students was Edgar Allan Poe, and a fine bronze bust
of him was unveiled at the University in 1899, on the fiftieth
anniversary of his death. Thomas Jefferson lived at Monticello, the
old house being an interesting specimen of early Virginia
architecture, and standing on a hill southeast of the town. Here he
died just fifty years after the Declaration was promulgated, July 4,
1826, and he is buried in the family graveyard near the house.
Monticello is now celebrated for its native wines.
The Shenandoah Valley during the war was noted for the way in which
the opposing forces chased each other up and down, with repeated
severe battles. Here was fought, in June, 1862, the battle of Cross
Keys, near the forks of the Shenandoah. Jackson had previously
retreated up the Valley, but by a series of brilliant movements, begun
after the battle of Fair Oaks before Richmond, he was able to meet and
defeat in detail the various armies under Banks, Fremont, McDowell and
Shields, thus managing to foil or hold in check seventy thousand men,
while his own troops were never more than twenty thousand. Then coming
southward out of the Valley, he joined in turning McClellan's right
wing before Richmond at the end of June, afterwards following up Banks
in August, and defeating him at Cedar Mountain, near Culpepper; then
joining in the defeat of Pope at the second battle of Bull Run; then
capturing Harper's Ferry and eleven thousand men September 15th, and
finally taking part in the battle of Antietam two days later. When
Grant began his siege of Richmond after the second battle of Cold
Harbor, in 1864, he made General Sheridan commander of the troops in
the Shenandoah Valley, and fortune turned. Sheridan opposed Early, and
in September and October had a series of brilliant victories, the last
one at Cedar Creek, where he turned a rout into a victory by his
prompt movements. Sheridan had been in Washington, and came to
Winchester, "twenty miles away," where he heard "the terrible grumble
and rumble and roar" of the battle, and made his noted ride, the
exploit being so conspicuous that he received the thanks of Congress.
Early in 1865 he made a cavalry raid from Winchester, in the Valley,
down to the westward of Richmond, around Lee's lines, and rejoined the
army at Petersburg, having destroyed the James River and Kanawha Canal
and cut various important railway connections in the Confederate rear.
The Shenandoah Valley to-day is very much in its primitive condition
of agriculture, but has been opened up by railway connections which
develop its resources, and its great present attraction is the Cave of
Luray. This cavern is about five miles from the Blue Ridge, and some
distance southwest of Front Royal. It is a compact cavern, well
lighted by electricity, and is more completely and profusely decorated
with stalactites and stalagmites than any other in the world. Some of
the chambers are very imposing, and all the more important formations
have been appropriately named. The scenery of the neighborhood is
picturesque, and the cavern has many visitors.