This valuable stretch of land—called due to its rich soil and ample harvests—became the source of many conflicts between the Confederate and Union armies. Of the thirteen major battles fought here, none was more influential than the . On October 19, 1864, General Philip Sheridan's Union troops finally gained control of the valley, which eliminated the Shenandoah as a supply source for Confederate forces in Virginia, ended the valley's role as a diversionary theater of war and stopped its use as an avenue of invasion into the North. historian, preservationist, and author Jonathan A. Noyalas explains the battle and how it aided Abraham Lincoln's reelection campaign and defined Sheridan's enduring legacy.