Battles for the Shenandoah: A Death Valley Expansion

Battles for the Shenandoah: A Death Valley Expansion is a Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) series expansion for Death Valley, published by GMT Games. Four full battles are included. NOTE: this is not a stand-alone game. Ownership of GMT’s Death Valley: Battles for the Shenandoah is required to play.

McDowell, May 8, 1862 McDowell is considered the first battle of Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign. After his loss at Kernstown, Confederate General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson retreated up the Shenandoah Valley, finally stopping at Swift Run Gap to rebuild his army. By May of 1862, the threat from the north had diminished when two of the three Union divisions under General Nathaniel Banks were redeployed to support the Union advance on Richmond.

2nd Winchester, June 13, 14, and 15, 1863 2nd Winchester is the battle that cleared the way for Robert E. Lee’s Gettysburg Campaign. In June of 1863, General Robert E. Lee finalized his plans for his second invasion of the north. The supply line was to be routed through the lower Shenandoah Valley, then primarily occupied by a Union garrison at Winchester with smaller garrisons at Berryville and Martinsburg. Lee assigned the task of clearing the Valley to Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, now in command of II Corps after Jackson’s death at Chancellorsville in May.

Piedmont, June 5, 1864 Piedmont was the first Union victory in the Valley since Kernstown in 1862. The Confederate loss compelled Lee to send Lieutenant General Jubal Early’s II Corps to retake the Shenandoah Valley, effectively ending any hope Lee may have had for offensive operations around Richmond.