Recrossing the Potomac River after burning Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Jubal Early’s Confederate cavalry skirmished with their Union pursuers at Old Town, Maryland and Green Spring Run, West Virginia on Tuesday, August 2, 1864. One element of Early’s command on August 4 skirmished with Union forces at Antietam Ford, Maryland, while on that same day his cavalry skirmished with their pursuers at New Creek, West Virginia. Clearly, the existence of Confederate forces operating in multiple areas of the Shenandoah Valley was unacceptable to the Union War Department. Soon, a new Union commander would be appointed and assigned the task of destroying the productivity and economic viability of the Shenandoah Valley. Destroying the valley would deprive the Confederacy of a convenient invasion route into the North, thereby further securing Washington, D.C.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.