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The Valley Campaign
As the spring of 1862 arrived, former Virginia Military Institute professor Thomas J. Jackson received orders to drive federal fores from the agriculturally rich Shenandoah Valley. Jackson skillfully maneuvered his 17,000 men against larger but dispersed Union forces. He defeated portions of three armies and tied up nearly 60,000 Union troops that otherwise might have moved against Richmond. Federal commanders were stunned by the speed of Jackson's "foot cavalry," which marched a remarkable 646 miles in forty-eight days. |