Battle of New Market
For some time during the war, the Shenandoah Valley had been a series of problems for the Union Army. In 1862, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, in a series of six small battles, had tied up federal forces that could have been used against Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. Just a year later, Lee's army had used the valley to move north to invade Pennsylvania. In addition to providing the food necessary to keep Lee's army going, it remained a very real threat to Washington, D.C.. The Shenandoah Valley was strategically the left flank of Lee's defense of Richmond. Jackson had said early in the war, "If the Valley is lost, Virginia is lost."