Editing Woodstock, Virginia (section)

=== Civil War Era ===
Confederate military units raised in Woodstock included Company F (the Muhlenberg Rifles) of the [[10th Virginia Infantry]] (of whom 71% had German surnames)<ref name="auto13"/> as well as Company C of the [[33rd Virginia Infantry]], part of the Stonewall Brigade led by [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson]]. While the area had an active Confederate population, it also was home to many reluctant secessionists, Unionists and families religiously opposed to slavery and war ([[Mennonites]], [[Schwarzenau Brethren|German Dunkards]].) In addition, traditional enmity between the slavery-based plantation society in eastern Virginia and the small farm populations over the rugged Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains, where slavery was not as predominant an economic institution, meant that allegiances in the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia were often divided. Many of German descent in the Shenandoah Valley were generally or religiously opposed to slavery, even as others with German ethnicity served in the Confederate Army.<ref name="auto13"/>

The Civil War left no serious visible scars on the town,<ref name="auto5"/> although there was [[Partisan (military)|partisan activity]] and retaliation.<ref name="auto17">{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=5277|title=Woodstock Historical Marker|website=www.hmdb.org}}</ref> A few buildings were destroyed, notably the railroad depot and some warehouses along with a locomotive and some rolling stock.<ref name="auto17"/> No major battles were fought in the immediate vicinity of the town, although skirmishes and large troop movements were not uncommon. Recorded skirmishes in Woodstock were May 18 and 21, 1862; June 2, 1862; February 26, 1863; November 16, 1863; September 23, 1864; and March 14, 1865.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shenandoahatwar.org/a-chronology-of-armed-conflict-in-the-shenandoah-valley/|title=A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the Shenandoah Valley}}</ref> Various homes were used from time to time as staff headquarters by both sides, and as the occasional military hospital.<ref name="auto5"/> General [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson]] made Woodstock his headquarters during part of his [[Valley Campaign]] in spring 1862, using the small brick law office near the courthouse. Union General [[Phil Sheridan]] sent a famous telegraph message from Woodstock during his own [[Valley campaigns of 1864#Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley campaign (August–October 1864)|Valley campaign in 1864]], during which his army destroyed anything of military value to the Confederates, stating “I have destroyed over 2,000 barns filled with wheat, burned over 70 mills filled with grain and flour. I have made the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia so bare that a crow flying over it would have to carry its knapsack.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shenandoahcountyhistoricalsociety.org/view.php?history|title = Shenandoah County Historical Society}}</ref>

[[File:General Custer saluting Confederate General Ramseur at the Woodstock races, Oct. 9, 1864 LCCN2004660727.jpg|thumb|left|Prior to the [[Battle of Tom's Brook]] and the Woodstock Races, Gen. [[George Armstrong Custer]] rode in front of his cavalry and made a famous gesture of salute to Confederate enemy and West Point classmate, Maj Gen. [[Thomas L. Rosser]], sketched by Alfred Wall]].

One small but significant cavalry battle occurred 4.5 miles north of Woodstock, at [[Toms Brook, Virginia|Tom's Brook]] on October 9, 1864. The [[Battle of Tom's Brook]] followed a Union victory at the [[Battle of Fisher's Hill]]. After Fisher's Hill, Sheridan's Union cavalry pursued [[Jubal Early]]'s Confederates south to Staunton, after which the Federals withdrew, devastating anything of military benefit in their path, a campaign known in the Shenandoah as "The Burning."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Shenandoah_Valley_During_the_Civil_War|title=Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War|website=www.encyclopediavirginia.org|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref> Rebel cavalry harassed the withdrawal, until Union troopers under [[Wesley Merritt]] and [[George Armstrong Custer]] turned and routed the divided Confederate divisions of [[Thomas L. Rosser|Rosser]] and [[Lunsford L. Lomax|Lomax]] at Tom's Brook, 5 miles south of Strasburg and 4.5 miles north of Woodstock. The Confederate cavalry's disorderly retreat from battle became known as the "Woodstock Races", because the routed Rebel troopers fled back in disarray through Woodstock all the way to [[Mount Jackson, Virginia|Mt. Jackson]].<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.shenandoahatwar.org/visit/signature-sites/signal-knob-area-sites/toms-brook-battlefield/|title=Tom's Brook Battlefield – Shenandoah County Park – Shenandoah at War|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref><ref name="auto10">{{cite web|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/toms-brook|title=Battle of Tom's Brook Facts & Summary|date=March 2, 2012|website=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref> A total of 6,300 Federal troopers and 3,500 Confederates engaged in the battle, with Union casualties at 57 and Confederate losses at 350.<ref name="auto10"/> With the victory, the Union cavalry attained superiority in the Valley. The Battle of Tom's Brook preceded by ten days the dramatic, large-scale and climactic battle at [[Battle of Cedar Creek|Cedar Creek]] (just north of Strasburg) between Early and Sheridan,<ref name="auto10"/> which ended in a decisive Union victory that smashed any real threat of Confederate power in the Shenandoah or invasion of Washington DC via the Valley.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/cedar-creek|title=Battle of Cedar Creek Facts & Summary|date=January 14, 2009|website=American Battlefield Trust}}</ref> The Battle of Tom's Brook, and the "Woodstock Races," occurred in significant part along the Valley Pike, now Route 11.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto10"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=2933|title=Toms Brook Historical Marker|website=www.hmdb.org}}</ref>

About 20 miles south of the town, the [[Battle of New Market]] also had Woodstock context. In conjunction with spring 1864 offensives, Union Lt. Gen. [[Ulysses S. Grant]] ordered Maj. Gen. [[Franz Sigel]] to move down the Valley Pike from West Virginia to [[Lynchburg, Virginia|Lynchburg]], to destroy its railroads and canal while denying the rich Shenandoah Valley to the Confederacy. Receiving intelligence on these movements, Confederate Maj. Gen. [[John C. Breckinridge]] scraped together all available troops, including cadets from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington. Sigel's advance was slowed by Confederate cavalry and undermined by his own command jealousies and inept decisions, but on May 11 his cavalry captured a lightly defended Woodstock. The Confederates were forced out of Woodstock so fast that several telegrams between Breckinridge and his cavalry commander [[John D. Imboden]] fell into Union hands. These Woodstock dispatches revealed strength and location of Confederate forces as well as a rough time table for a cavalry rendezvous with the main Confederate force - potentially a game-changing intelligence coup. But rather than acting decisively, Sigel continued his cautious advance, allowing Confederates time to concentrate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/the-battle-of-new-market.html|title=StackPath|website=www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref> Breckenridge decided to attack Sigel's army, which had advanced from Woodstock. The Battle of New Market occurred on morning of May 15. Threatened by cavalry on his flank and rear, Sigel withdrew and retreated through Woodstock all the way to Strasburg. Sigel's army outnumbered Breckinridge's by 6,275 to 4,087. Union losses were 841 while Confederate casualties were 531.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/new-market|title=Battle of New Market Facts & Summary|date=January 16, 2009|website=American Battlefield Trust|access-date=January 8, 2020}}</ref> The Valley remained in Confederate control until Sheridan's arrival.