Hey everyone, thanks for downloading the 145th episode of our Civil War Podcasts.

I'm Rich. And I'm Tracy. Hello y'all. We used last week's show to look at what all happened following the Battle of

Kernstown, which took place on March 23rd, 1862. And basically what happened is that Stonewall Jackson retreated to

Root Hill while the Yankees, led by Nathaniel Banks, followed him very cautiously and slowly. But then in mid-April,

when Banks finally did press forward with determination, Jackson withdrew from his position at Root Hill without a fight. And in fact,

further conceded, not only new market and Harrisonburg to the enemy, but also the entire valley as far south as the North River.

On April 19th, the valley army passed beneath the southern tip of Masanutton Mountain and then swung to the northeast,

crossing the south fork of the Shenandoah River at the Hamlet of Conrad's store, before making camp in the narrow Elkhruhn valley between the river and Swift Run Gap.

Jackson's men had covered 50 miles in three days. And again, we'll stress the importance of having some sort of map in front of you as you follow along with this story arc.

Since as we warned you, there's a lot of marching and counter-marching and more marching that goes on during Jackson's valley campaign.

And to truly understand what's going on, you really need a map so that you can see where these places are located, especially in relation to one another.

We've fairly recently recommended three civil war attest to you guys, any of which will help you follow along with the events of the valley campaign.

Although we will just say that actually, probably the best map as far as the big picture of what's happening is found at the very front of that time-life book,

decoying the yanks, that we recommended at the end of episode number 143.

So, and one more thing for those of you who like us are map geeks, and it's that if you get the National Geographic Civil War Atlas that we recommended, and turn to page 71 in it,

you can find the fantastic campaign map of the northern Shenandoah Valley that Jada Daya Hachkis produced for Stonewall in 1862.

And seeing it laid out there, and then a bit of it shown in detail, you'll really be able to appreciate what an impressive piece of cartography it is, and understand how beneficial it would have been for Stonewall to have it.

Okay, so that's probably enough about maps. So let's get back to April 1862 and...

And as we said at the end of the last show, Stonewall's withdrawal up the valley and then shift over to Conrad's store resulted in Nathaniel Banks completely losing track of him.

But on April 22nd, Banks nevertheless confidently told Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that Jackson had, quote, abandoned the valley of Virginia permanently, end quote.

On April 25th, the advancing federal's occupied Harrisonburg, and Banks was certain that Jackson had left the Shenandoah in order to join Joe Johnston's Confederate Army in its defense of Richmond against McCulloch's advance up the peninsula.

On April 30th, Banks assured Stanton that, quote, there's nothing more to be done by us in the valley.

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