Battle of Guard Hill

The Battle of Guard Hill, Battle of Crooked Run, or the Battle of Front Royal took place on August 16, 1864, in Warren County, Virginia as part of Philip H. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign of the American Civil War. According to Pachan, the Union's superior numbers and quality leadership routed the Confederate infantry, and the battle proved a watershed event in the Shenandoah Valley campaign.
HistoryNet's America's Civil War: Front Royal Was the Key to the Shenandoah Valley claims that the valley was vital both strategically and agriculturally to Major Gen. Stonewall Jackson during the early 1862. If he loses this valley, then Virginia would be lost, as well as the Confederacy. This valley was very important to the Confederacy due to the Massanutten Mountain where it bisected the valley into two and it is the key to Massanutten of Front Royal. This means whoever controls of Front Royal, will control the outcome of the civil war. In a mile and a half away from the town, the North and South forks of the Shenandoah River will unite to become one stream.

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