ACHS Spring Meeting

Kevin Walker

CEO for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation

The Future of the Past: Jackson’s Valley Campaign and Battlefield Preservation

This presentation will focus on two pivotal battles at Port Republic and Cross Keys that led to the victory over the Union forces.

This program is free and open to the public.

Kevin Walker will present The Future of the Past: Jackson’s Valley Campaign and Battlefield Preservation. The Battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic were significant as being the final decisive battles in Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign, and took place on June 8^th and June 9^th respectively.  Two weeks earlier, Jackson and his army had forced General Banks from Winchester into full retreat to the Potomac.  Jackson quickly moved back up the Valley to avoid being caught between two more Federal armies and then proceeded to defeat them, one at a time.  Together, the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic the following day gave Jackson and his troops the boost they needed  to force the last of the Union armies to retreat from the Valley, leaving Jackson free to reinforce  General Robert E. Lee for the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond, Virginia. 

Walker made the point that the Valley Campaign as a whole is one of the three most frequently taught examples of well-executed military campaigns, not just in the United States, but also in military schools around the world. Walker stressed the importance of studying history, as it provides us with reminders of what actually happened in the past and serves as a caution for what could happen in the future, depending on our actions today.