Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into episode 153 of our Civil War podcast.

I'm Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Welcome to the podcast.

When we left Stonewall Jackson at the end of the last show, it was early June 1862,

and he was at the small village of Port Republic.

As y'all recall, Jackson and the Valley Army had narrowly slipped to the trap that Abraham

Lincoln had tried to set for them.

Stonewall had recognized his predicament and responded by driving his men to the limit

of their endurance.

At hard marching by the rebels and a woeful lack of aggression by the federal commanders,

allowed the Valley Army to make its escape through Strasbourg.

Having narrowly slipped through the Union Pinsers, the last thing anyone expected Jackson

to do was to turn and fight.

He certainly didn't need to.

For by early June, it could be fairly said that Stonewall had done everything that the

Confederate authorities and Richmond had asked him to do and more.

For two and a half months, he had managed by his aggressiveness and audacity and a growing

reputation for both to create a diversion in the Shenandoah Valley that had thrown a

sizable wrench into the federal campaign to capture Richmond.

So now having accomplished all that had been asked of him and as Fremont and Shield continued

...