"What stirring campaigns this broad and beautiful plain,
stretching from the foot of the Blue Ridge toward the sea, has
known! How like a vast citadel, this Old Dominion above the
other confederate states to guard their capital! The parallel
rivers made a water barrier on the north where the Federals were
compelled to wade to victory; while the western front, a high
range of the Blue Ridge, stretched along the sky like a vast
wall, its purple ramparts frowning down in defiance, or the
nearer hills rising impressively up from the plain, forming in
the valley ways between well protected avenues for invading the
North." (footnote Shenandoah Valley--Pond.) Ages before any
battles transpired here, Nature threw up these beautiful
fortifications and arranged the field of battle.

The road approaches the valley through its rocky gateway of
Harper's Ferry where the Potomac, after breaking through the
vast wall of the Blue Ridge, is joined by the Shenandoah. Here
great rocks rise and tower above you and the broad stream is
filled with boulders of various sizes, making innumerable
cascades, which present a scene of rare beauty. After climbing
by many and various curves you finally reach the top of a
towering cliff and look down on the wondrous picture spread
before you. The confluence of these two rivers is one of the
many beauty spots of the valley.

The Gap was of vast strategic importance during the Civil war.
In nearly every instance the Confederates were aided by the
contour of the land in the "Valley Campaign." A confederate
advance here would lead straight toward Washington, while a
Union advance south would lead from a straight course to